I must admit, I didn’t watch Downton Abbey when it was first on television. It has a very profound reason: it was a period in my life when I was not interested in watching television or series at all. As a result, I completely missed Downton Abbey. A few years ago, however, I wanted to catch up and tried to buy the box set, the Hungarian version though, because I tend to prefer an edition which has both Hungarian and English languages available. Well, it was impossible, everything was sold out and nothing to be found on the likes of eBay etc. I was really sorry, because since I moved to England, the social history of this particular era (well, not quite, but almost: from the late Victorian times until the Second World War) with everything that involves (servants lives, social life, etiquette etc) has become one of my favourite topics which I started to research intensively. 

How it all started…

As we visit different country houses and estates in England and we walk from the ball rooms downstairs, to the servants hall or up to the attic where the servants had their bedrooms, I can feel the history coming through the walls and I am sure if they could talk, they would tell many stories… It has been a few years now since I read the first book on this topic, yet for the time being the only film reference for me was ‘You rang, M’lord?’ And other English or Canadian films.

I cannot recall how we ended up with the idea of buying the box set in English, but in the end we did buy it at end of March 2019. As there was nothing interesting on TV, we decide to watch all the seasons and episodes. Hmmm. That’s a challenge!

You know what? I  do not mind now at all that I missed Downton many years ago. Firstly, because the topic and the era of Downton touched me in this period of my life and made me research it now, secondly because I did not have to wait days or weeks for the next episode and more importantly, I did not have to wait for adverts. We watched at least three episodes every night, at the weekends even more until early in the morning. We managed to watch all seasons and episodes in two weeks and once we have finished, it felt odd having nothing reasonable or sensible to watch.

The truth of a story lies in the details

There have probably already been, thousands of posts praising Downton and explaining why it is a brilliant series. It has been written about many times, how well it reflects the Edwardian era, the fact that they tried to use as many original clothes as possible, that an expert explained every details to the actors for example how far they can pull out a chair from the table and how they should move, that they used original motorcars, that they spoke a language of the time and they did not touch or hug each other because it simply was not fashionable. Downton has become the King of period drama for all of these reasons and I believe if it ever captures you, it will get under your skin.

It was a pleasure to see visually what I have read about so far, the series confirmed (almost) everything perfectly. I watched it also with a ‘professional’ or ‘historian’ eye. Of course there have been many books about the series and I have only read two of them. Although they were written by the writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, I did not find these books particularly exciting or authentic. However, since March I have read a few books about the era, which made me realise many elements of Downton Abbey are based on the lives of real aristocrats in Britain. This is not an issue by any means, it rather shows and justifies that Downton is indeed a true reflection of the era.

My only concern when watching the series in English, was that I will not enjoy it as much as I would in Hungarian, but I was completely wrong. I could not have enjoyed Mrs Hugh’s Scottish accent, Tom’s Irish accent and O’Brien’s, Daisy’s and Thomas’s Yorkshire accent in the Hungarian version, as there is no distinction in Hungarian. Still, the Hungarian voices are always wonderful, but this time… well… I did not think Lady Grantham’s or the Dowager Countess’s voices were spot on. Elizabeth McGovern has a much softer voice in English and Maggie Smith’s voice is really far from the Hungarian actress, Erzsi Pásztor‘s voice. Do not get me wrong, I love her voice and she was brilliant in Anne of Green Gables where she did Marilla‘s Hungarian voice, or many other roles in different films and series. She is brilliant, but not for Maggie Smith, I am afraid.

Can you have a favourite character in such a great film…?

But let’s just leave the Hungarian voices for a moment. Can one have a favourite character in a brilliant series in which all the characters seem to be perfectly spot on? Hardly! However, I am sure everyone of us has a secret favourite or favourites who we like a tiny bit more. I love Maggie Smith’s performance and her always polite but ironic punchlines. The other one I like a lot is Thomas. Yes, him. I know what you are going to say and I agree. He was really nasty at the beginning and perhaps we all wanted him out of the series and could not wait for the moment to come. Downton Abbey is a so called Bildungsroman which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonists and indeed every character goes through changes. In my humble opinion, Thomas is one of them who goes through the biggest and possibly the hardest change and that deserves respect. Besides, allegedly it is always more difficult to play a negative character than a positive one.

From Bampton to Highclere

Having watched the series the next tasks sort of became obvious: visiting the filming locations. And how lucky we are to have almost all of them around us, within one hour driving distance. When we visited Faringdon in April, on the way back we popped in to Bampton, which is the home of the Downton village scenes. I can not put it into words how happy I was when I saw the spiral of that distinctive church, the little place in front of the church with the huge oak tree and Mrs Crawley’s house. I was hopping around like a little rabbit, although it was just one of the many limestone villages of Oxfordshire, even if the scene was spoilt by cars.

As far as Downton Abbey ie Highclere Castle is concerned, I have been thinking about visiting it anyway, but never made it. The castle is open to the public on certain days only. This year, I did not miss it and managed to secure tickets.

Whenever I visit a place that is close to my heart, or has some sort of significance, I am close to tears. Highclere Castle was no exception. However, I was very disappointed as it started to drizzle just right before we entered the grounds, but as soon as I saw the famous towers, I had a huge smile on my face and forgot about the weather, but within minutes the sun appeared and blue skies showed Highclere in all its glory.

How did it feel  standing in front of Downton Abbey? ‘Surreal but nice‘ as William (Hugh Grant) said in Notting Hill. 🙂 That is the thing about England: no matter where you go in the country, you can be sure to bump into a filming location of a world famous movie.

Interesting facts about the castle and Downton:

• Highclere Castle has 300 rooms of which 61 rooms are bedrooms. Even today there are some 50 rooms which are uninhabitable and need renovation.
• During the Great War the castle was opened as a convalescence hospital and Lady Almina, the Fifth Countess of Carnarvon offered her services as a nurse – just like Lady Sybil did in the series.
• George Herbert, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon found Tutanhamon’s tomb with his friend Howard Carter in 1922. It is said that the Mummy had a curse on him for bringing artefacts from Egypt to Britain. Maybe this is why he died one year later…?
• Before Downton Abbey, in 2009 the owners of Highclere Castle, Lord and Lady Carnarvon were struggling to save the building and they needed in the region of 12 million pounds for renovation.
• Lord and Lady Carnarvon live in the castle during the winter season and they move to one of the cottages in the grounds during the summer when the castle is opened for the public.
• Lord Carnarvon is the Queen Elizabeth the II’s godson.
• The servants quarters downstairs have long gone and accommodate the Egyptian exhibition. The kitchen, the servants hall and servants bedroom scenes were filmed in a London studio.

I have been to quite a few country houses in England and I know that all of them are different and have a unique ambience. Therefore it is pointless to compare them. However, I did notice a few things.

Positives:

• If anything, this castle should feel extremely commercialised, but it does not. Even the Downton craze is displayed in a very subtle and elegant way, I think. We did not have the feeling that we were pressurised to buy anything (I think you do it anyway when you are there, especially if you are a Downton fan), and everything was very relaxed. This makes a huge difference as we have been to places where we felt everything was done for the masses and was commercialised. Whether this is because Highclere is still a family home and lived in, I don’t know. Maybe! Like I said, even Downton appears in a reserved way and that is quite right. The castle should reflect the history of the Carnarvon family and not purely Downton. Having said that, I am not sure how popular Highclere would be without Downton. Although being a Jacobethan country house makes it unique. I am sure many people would equally develop feelings to any country houses that appears in a series.
• The food in the restaurant/café was very good and they offered different meals to what you are used to at country houses. Again, they are right to do so, as a place like Highclere can not afford serving bad quality food. It should be spotless so that your experience becomes even nicer and you will never forget it.
• Surprisingly all the guides in the building seemed to be extremely knowledgeable and knew much history of the house and objet d’art. It is worth talking to them as you can learn other stories as well. For example we learnt that Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham) has become a friend of the Carnarvon family and he is very much into the history of the castle, so much so, that sometimes he guides guests around the castle himself. We also know now, the 2019 film was shot in October 2018 at Downton/ Highclere and the crew – which consisted of some 230 members – only spent 15 days filming at Highclere.
• The shop again was lovely because it was not full of Downton souvenirs. Don’t get me wrong, there were pens, T-shirts, fridge magnets or bookmarks with Downton theme, but you could not find books or DVD about Downton.

What we missed though…

• Was a map of the grounds. It would have been nice to get a map at the time of the entry, or to have at least a display by the entrance so that you can check how to get around the estate.
• It would be nice to be allowed to make at least some photos in the building. I do appreciate it is still a family home, but still… However, it is not necessarily a bad thing to pay attention and take in everything you see rather than seeing everything from behind your phone or camera. It was funny to see the ‘red room’ where Kemal Pamuk died or Lady Edith’s room. It is a shame you can not go to the rooms, but I understand they try to preserve those that are used today or used for the shooting.

~

All in all it was a wonderful day and I even the weather changed from drizzling cloudy miserable to sunny and pleasant. I could not have wished for better. As a Downton fan Highclere Castle is definitely a must.

By the early Victorian era, the mistress of every wealthy household had to represent the family in a stylish way.  Her appearance at events, balls or even at home had to be immaculate. For her perfect looks, she needed help which was provided by the Lady’s maid.

A Lady’s Maid was so much more than a housemaid. Perhaps today the Lady’s Maid could be called stylist, however, to my mind the Lady’s Maid had more skills: she was an excellent hairdresser, a beatuy therapist, seamstress and a friend. Before commencing a career in a household a Lady’s maid was often trained as a dressmaker or a hairdresser. The more skills she had, the better chance she had to become the Lady’s Maid in high society.

Position in the household

The Lady’s Maid belonged to the indoor servants and to the so called ‘Uppper Ten’ (house steward or butler, housekeeper, chef or cook, valet and Lady’s Maid) who – because of their access to upstairs and contact with the family – were in a privileged situation and had more respect.

The Lady’s Maid exceptional position in the household was reflected in her room as well: she had her own room on her own and it was furnished relatively comfortably, meaning she had a bed, an ottoman, a Japanese screen, bath, washstand, a tailor’s dummy, a sewing machine and kits and later on an electric socket for an iron.

In higher society French maids were preferred, however, some mistresses found the French harsh and too quick-tempered, so that they rather employed Swiss maids who were said to be calmer and to have good organisation skills.

Main duties

The main tasks of a Lady’s maid was to ensure her mistress’s look was immaculate. She helped her in bathing, combing, making different hairstyles and more importantly getting dressed. If necessary, she mended or sewed clothes, removed staines and cleaned jewellery. It may seem a bit odd today that someone needs help to get dressed, but in the days of bustles, several petticoats, corsets, hats and dresses with many buttons in the back we can admit it is impossible to do it without help. On top of that, until the end of the Edwardian era, ladies changed six times a day. Having said that, it gives an idea as to how many clothes, dresses, accessories and baggage was packed by the Lady’s Maid for her mistress whenever she went on a trip – on which of course the Lady’s maid had to accompany her.

Beside her main duties, the Lady’s Maid was a companion or even friend of the lady of the house. She looked after her health, foibles and weaknesses. A good Lady’s maid protected her mistress’s secrets and remained a loyal employee at all times. Therefore, it was essential for the Lady’s maid to be discrete, reliable, trustworthy.

Perks

The Lady’s maid perks were to get her mistress’s old clothes, or those ones that were out of fashion, which she could sell at a second hand shop. But perhaps the most welcome perks was travelling. Depending on the wealth of the mistress, the Lady’s Maid had the chance to travel around the country, Europe or even the world as she always had to accompany her employer. Yet, this job was not all fun at all: when the lady attended an event. The Lady’s Maid had to stay up and wait for her mistress to arrive which often happened early in the morning (3-4am) to help her getting undressed, washed and combed.

Career

The next step in a Lady’s maid career could be the Housekeeper even if a Lady’s Maid did not necessarily know much about running a houshold. This however, required a compromise: career or private life. As a Lady’s Maid she had to spend several years or even decades in the position to gain trust and get the necessary skills and experience which did not leave too much room for a private life and suitors. Especially in the Victorian era, when the woman had to quit her job at the household if she married a male servant.

O’Brien in Downton Abbey chose career after having worked more than 20 years in service. Whether she has ever had the chance of getting married, we don’t know. Knowing her character, I would doubt it…

This topic is huge and just like the previous architectural styles, those were also complicated, however I shall attempt to give a brief, yet detailed enough overview of these styles.

Historical background

It was not only industry that went through a massive development during Queen Victoria’s reign, but the population doubled as well, which resulted in a massive expansion of towns. Therefore, building and rebuilding of houses was essential. Due to the industrial revolution, the wealth generated began to spread through society and aristocracy as well as the wealthy industrialists who spent their money on their estates. Even the middle classes wanted to express their status in society upon their suburban terraces or villas. Perhaps it is interesting to mention, that after 1800 the design of buildings are split between architects, who learnt everything from their masters in their studios and engineers who studied engineering at universities. As a result, buildings like Brunel’s Clifton Bridge in Bristol, is a masterpiece of engineering and not architecture.

Styles

It is not easy to follow the different developments chronologically, because they appeared simultaneously.

1) Classical Traditions

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, antique Roman and Greek styles were popular beside the Regency style. Classical architecture continued, however, the Italianate (which was based on the style of the Renaissance palazzi and Tuscan farmhouses), was favoured. An excellent example of the Classical style is Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight (1845-1851). Typical features are asymmetry of elevation, often with a tower as an accent. Windows are often linked in pairs or threes. Roofs are usually low pitched with eaves carried on long brackets. The Italianate is often used in the design of country houses and in grand terraced houses in West End, Pimlico, Belgravia or Kensington.

2) Gothic Revival

Just like the Classical style, Gothic Revival too continues in the Victorian era. The architect, Augustus Pugin believed it was a duty to use medieval forms and as such only the Gothic or the Tudor style was acceptable. No wonder that the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) that was meant to symbolise and advertise national traditions and values, had to be built in a national (domestic) style. Therefore, the preferred mode of Gothic between 1830-80 was Tudor-Gothic and Elizabethan or Jacobean styles which were simply merged in Tudorbethan. Typical features were mullioned windows, pointed windows, tracery, tall roofs, gables, turrets, painted bargeboards. A distinctive feature is Polychromy, different coloured bricks or stone used to make patterns around window arches or diaper patterns on the wall. Gothic Revival appears in such tremendous buildings like the Houses of Parliament, yet, it was more likely to be the style for middle-class houses or vicarages.

3) Arts and Crafts Movement

William Morris the British textile designer, poet, novelist and translator is associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris established a firm to produce furniture, upholstery, wallpaper, stained glass and carpets. He believed, as long as the artist does not become a craftsman again and a craftsman does not become an artist, art cannot be saved from the machines. Morris hated machines and preferred hand-made crafts. His concept was good, but it was impossible to carry it out on a long term. Morris‘s students, as well as young architects, established the Arts and Crafts movement that aimed to integrate decorative and fine arts in architecture and design. The main architects were C.F.A. Voysey and Edwin Lutyens.

3.1) Old English

The sub-genre of this revival is called Old English, used from the 1860s. Typical features were half-timbering in the gables over bay windows, asymmetry, hanging tiles, terracotta plaques (popular motif was the sunflower) tall chimneys which are all picturesquely combined.

4) Queen Anne Style

Introduced by the architect Norman Shaw in the 1870s, the style is not to be confused with the architectural style during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1709). Shaw wanted to turn away from the Gothic Revival and evoke a domestic classical manner of the mid 17th century in England. Characteristics are red brick, white painted woodwork, Dutch or “shaped” gables, windows that have the upper sash divided by glazing bars, but the lower part as a single sheet and the very distinctive “Ipswich” window. The Queen Anne style was essentially a middle class style.

 

5) French revival

Alongside, but mainly favoured by the wealthiest people, the French revival (or Neo-Renaissance) showed a renewed interest in Parisian buildings. The French chateaux style’s characteristics were: high pitched roofs with mansards and peppercorn turrets.

6) Neo-Georgian

Perhaps it is not surprising and is understandable that after this architectural carnival, people showed interest in domestic, classical architecture again. Neo-Georgian houses return to symmetry of the facades, brick walls in Flemish bond, hipped roofs with dormers and pedimented door cases.

House types

1) Country houses

Country houses functioned mainly as a place for entertaining and field sports, the house had to cope with multiple functions which meant not only the family and servants had to be separated, but family from guests as well. As a result the piano nobile disappears and the following rooms appear: dining room, drawing room, library and other rooms for family activities. Going further, the Victorian house multiplied the number of rooms with their own functions for use at different times of the day: breakfast room and morning room, smoking room and music and game rooms etc. In many houses, the nursery was on the upper floors closer to the servant’s quarters, but men and women also were separated with the masculine world of the business room, study, library, smoking room, billiard room vs morning room, drawing room and boudoir.

2) A house in the country

Not to confuse it with the country house. This one did not have a large estate and saved on the maintenance costs. These houses were mainly built in counties surrounding London (Home Counties) for businessman who worked in London. With the expanding railway network they could easily get to the City every day, or use their house in the country as a weekend or holiday retreats. These buildings were smaller and had less rooms: entrance hall, drawing room, dining room, kitchen on the ground floor and bedrooms on the upper floors. These villas were set back from the road to have more privacy and had bigger gardens which for the first time in architecture became an important part of urban environment. Houses were given names to emphasize their grandeur: Albion, Richmond, Belmont were popular names.

3) Terraced house

In the mid and late Victorian period, large terraced houses were very similar to the Georgian ones, but they might be 5 or 6 storeys and the kitchen was moved to the rear extension. Mews behind the terrace were common.

Medium-size terraces were only 2 storey with a cellar and an attic. From 1875 they had a longer rear wing that gives these houses a distinctive L-plan with 2 rooms and staircase in the front and kitchen and back parlour in the back. The terrace house is arranged as a mirror image of its neighbour, doors paired, chimney flues in the party wall.

In small terraced houses the entrance from the street is directly into the front room.

One of the main improvements of the Victorian architecture was to add a flushing toilet on the bedroom levels in large and mid houses. In small houses, however, this was not the case and in fact it was even worse than one can imagine

4) Workers and model housing

The working class still did not live under proper circumstances and the cheapest possible housing form the so called back-to-back houses were so bad from health and hygiene point of view that the Public Health of Act permitted to ban them. These were 2 houses, each one room deep, against each other, rather than 1 house with a front and back room. Toilets and water supplies were available in the courtyards and were shared with multiple households. I have always thought the house of my grandparents in Budapest where toilets were available in the corridor only was horrible. Now I think, in my grandparents house at least every household had a separate one. Back-to-back houses were mainly built in industrial towns like Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham. Many were demolished, those which survived are museums today.

To resolve the housing problems of the working classes, the concept of model villages emerged. The idea was to design a model form of a Cottage, which could be reproduced to make long terraces. Lord Leverhumle provided his workers at his soap factory a model village called, Port Sunlight.

5) Garden Cities

In late Victorian times to effectively escape from the city and from the unattractive conditions, the concept of a Garden City emerged. A garden city should be healthy and offer the comfort of a city. They were built in suburbs or close to towns and used all the different architectural styles. The first one was Letchworth Garden city followed by Welwyn. In Hungary the Wekerletelep in Budapest and MÁV-telep in Dunakeszi are examples of the garden city.

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I know it is too much to take in and the different styles of the Victorian and Edwardian era might be confusing. To sum it up and to help, I would say everything that looks like this, could be deemed as Victorian:

And everything that looks like this can be considered as Edwardian:

Well, I hope this helps to spot the different house styles and you find them as beautiful as I do. 🙂

When we hear the word “housekeeper”, we normally think of somebody like Mrs Doubtfire or Mrs Hughes from Downton Abbey but definitely an (older) lady doing the work around the house and running the household for a fee. That was not the case in English manor households on big estates. In this post, we will see what the housekeeper’s responsibilities were, but before that, let’s recap what the hierarchy in households looked like.

Hierachy in the household

As I mentioned before, on top of the household was the House Steward, followed by the Butler and then the Footman. The Housekeeper reported to the House Steward and was the next person in the hierarchy. Just like the House Steward the Housekeeper was employed by the grandest and wealthiest houses, not only because of financials, but also because the mistress of the house was often far too busy entertaining or attending official events, therefore having no time left to look after the household. In middle-class homes this position was not fulfilled and duties were done by the mistress and/or the Cook and Butler. (No housekeeper in “You rang, M’lord?” either.)

Housekeepers were referred to as “Mrs”, irrespective of being married, or not and often worked in this positions for decades. She did not wear a uniform, yet she could be spotted and recognized immediately, mainly because of her bunch of keys that she would keep in her hand or carrying on her belt.

Her duties

She was responsible for employing and dismissing housemaids, teaching new recruits their jobs. The Housekeeper also looked after storerooms and supplies purchased in bulk such as flour, coffee, tea, soap and candles and household linen (bed-sheets, covers, towels, tea-towels, tablecloth etc). The household linen had three categories: best, family and servants. The Housekeeper would check the textiles coming back from the laundry and put those aside that needed repair. She also would move household linen from one category to another if it was necessary.

She also supervised the big house cleaning which was done once or twice a year and made sure servants did the job properly and everything was spotless. She would also supervise the inventory and the cleaning of china which was done on this time. She also would inspect china and again set aside those which needed mending.

Household books, invoices, expenses and qualities were checked by the Housekeeper together with the mistress of the house. It goes without saying that the Housekeeper had to be a very reliable and discrete person as she would be the right hand of the mistress.

Just like the House Steward, the Chef and the Butler, the Housekeeper too was a well respected member of the staff and as such she too had her own room, which was far more comfortable and cosy than those of other servants. In many houses the Housekeeper’s room was called the “pug’s parlour” referring to the Housekeeper’s morose and disapproving facial appearance. I think, this is really spot on, isn’t it? 🙂

Lord Grantham, Lady Chatterton, Baron Merton, Countess of Grantham, Lord Meldrum, The Honourable Mr. Teddy, Sir Ralph Shawcross…

You can hear different titles of the English aristocracy just like Lord, Earl, Baron, Viscount, Lady etc in many films. I must admit the English peerages have never been clear to me and it started to annoy me, so I looked it up.

Like many other things in England, peerages are not simple either. In fact, they are rather complicated, therefore, I attempt to sum it up the best as I can to give you the essence of it without being exhaustive.

Basics

01.

Titles of the peerage are created by the reigning monarch.

02.

There are two types: peerages for life which cannot be inherited and heritable titles: Life Peers and Hereditary Peers.

Life Peers

From time to time the reigning monarch created life peers that could not be passed onto someone else by inheritance. For example the bishops of the Church of England belong to the House of Lords, however, neither their title or spiritual function could be inherited.

Hereditary Peers

The title is always owned by one person only, meaning the son of an Earl is not considered as an Earl. (Remark: in Hungary it would be.) When the current holder dies, his title passes to his eldest, legitimate son. If he does not have sons at all, the title would pass on to the next male relative in line. If there is no heir to inherit it, the title becomes known as “extinct”. (Interesting how different these things were back in time: in Hungary the daughters of a peer would inherit both the title and the wealth.)

03.

Every peerage belongs to the House of Lords, but not every Lord has a peerage.

What does it mean? It means that lord is an umbrella term which includes both the aristocracy (peerages like Earls, Dukes etc) and important members of the state like prime ministers and spiritual leaders like archbishops, bishops etc. In other words: the latter are not aristocrats, so not “blue blooded”, they get their title because of their important function.

04.

Peers have five ranks in Engalnd in the following, ascending order of hierarchy:

Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess and Duke. Interestingly, in my home country, Hungary there are 4 ranks of peers only: Baron, Earl, Duke and King. We lack of the ranks Viscount and Marquess. The below chart shows the female counterpart of every rank plus how to formally address them.

The names of peers often consist of 4 elements:

Other interesting facts:

• A peer can hold several titles, meaning if an Earl becomes a Marquess he can retain both titles, but will use the highest rank.
• The son of a Duke, a Marquess and an Earl always uses the father’s second highest rank.
• Every legitimate wife of a peer is entitled to use the female counterpart of the rank, but it does not apply the other way round: husbands of female peers are not entitled to use it.
• The official title of the Mayor of London is The Lord Mayor of London.
• Judges of British courts are called My Lord.
• You could ask what about the title Prince. Well, this could be the 6th rank of peers, however, there is only one rank of that kind: the Prince of Wales.
• Baronets and Knights belong to the class Gentry and they are not peers.

Coronation Robes

Now that we know the basics of the peerages in England, let’s have the icing on the cake! I noticed at the home of Lord Nuffield, the founder of the Morris Mini car, that he and his wife owned a coronation robe. As I am always up to a little bit of fun, I put the costume on, but more importantly, I made a bit of research why they had a coronation robe at all.

Every peer had coronation robes and coronets (not crowns!) which they only ware at Coronation(s).

I must admit, I was not aware that peers are differentiated by their robes as well. The main difference is the coronet – see below drawings (no royalty-free image available, hence I drew it myself).

1) Duke – 8 strawberry leaves
2) Marquess – 4 strawberry leaves, 4 silver balls
3) Earl – 8 silver balls with strawberry leaves
4) Viscomt – 16 silver balls
5) Baron – 6 silver balls

This is not the only thing that reveals the rank. The number of rows of the spots on the ermine cap of the robe, also does that. A duke has 4, a Marquess has 3, an Earl has 2 and a Baron has 1 row of spots. Equally in case of a peeress not only the spots were symbols of her rank, but the length of the train (longest 1.82m, shortest 91.44cm) and the width of the ermine edging.

On top of this, peers had another robe which they wore (and still do) in the House of Lords. These were striped most of the times.

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Wow, I have to say. Mainly because it is incredible that these old traditions are still alive in the UK. This is very strange for somebody like me who comes from a country where we do not have monarchs and traditions linked to it. Although the peerage system is much more complicated than explained above and I am sure Meghan Markle has to do some more in-depth study, hopefully this post helps to understand films like Downtown Abbey much better. 🙂

Well, I am not married and I do live in Maidenhead, but not in the early 20th century. What does this expression mean? Let me tell you.

The Eastern tip of Berkshire is an interesting mix: you have the elegant and affluent Windsor, Eton and Ascot and the less affluent is Slough in the middle. Although Maidenhead is mentioned together with Windsor (Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead), it is not getting too much attention and is a sort of indifferent town. Unfortunately, this is partially down to the demolitions in the 60s when Maidenhead lost many of its character houses and was left with modern buildings.

Maidenhead at first glance…

I must admit, I was not impressed with Maidenhead when I first came here and found little or no beauty in it. I found the town was grey and depressing with no character, shops close at 5pm and even in the shopping mall you would not find any large shops, as these are mainly located in the nearby towns. As time went by, I realised I started to like the town. Of course you could say, with time we all start to like things and it is true, however there was something else in my case. Have you ever been in a situation where you realised that you only needed to scratch the surface a tiny little bit to find it is not too bad beneath? It is like when you buy a piece of painted furniture, you polished it and find beautiful wood beneath. Maidenhead was similar. (OK, not an antique, expensive, Chippendale chair, but a reasonable one.) The one who seeks, finds they say. Well, I too found interesting things in Maidenhead and I am not even able to sum them up in one post! Therefore, let me only show you around that part of the town where I live: the Riverside.

In the 19th century

Maidenhead was a market town and made its wealth from the tolls coaches had to pay on their way to Bath and Bristol or London. Although the railway appeared in 1838 in Maidenhead destroying the town’s income, it brought a new business in the form of the mid and high classes who happily left London behind and spent the weekend in Maidenhead. The town became a popular place for outings and boat trips along the river Thames, especially after Ascot Sunday. Such an event was painted by Edward John Gregory in 1897. The impressionist artist spent 10 years finishing his painting and he also put himself in the picture: he is the man sitting in a boat on the right hand side looking over his shoulders. Apparently, the dress of the lady sitting in the front with a dog was fashionable in the 1880s and the attire of the rest of the crowd is from the 1890s which supports the theory it took Gregory 10 years to finish the painting. The picture captures a busy Sunday afternoon (which is its title) and shows us how busy, popular, Maidenhead once was. The picture is in the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

“I am off to Maidenhead…”

Undoubtedly, the most beautiful and affluent part of Maidenhead is the Riverside. Perhaps because there are still some big houses with character to be found, there are huge trees along the river and Boulter’s Lock, the weir, small islands and the curvy Thames which is only 1.5m deep (told by a local fisherman) at this part, make it charming.

Apparently the most beautiful houses were built by the officers of the “royal guards”, for their mistresses, as the ladies were not allowed to stay for the night at the Guards Club, which was on the other side of the river, in Buckinghamshire. This was also the reason for the number of hotels built in the Riverside (the most famous were: the Skindles – which became notorious for adulterous assignations, Thames Hotel, Ray Mead, Riviera Hotel) and the Gaiety Girls were lodged here as well. (Gaiety Girls were singing and dancing in Edwardian music hall and comedies playhouses and often rich gentlemen and aristocrats were standing at the stage door waiting for a Gaiety Girl. Therefore, a part of the Riverside is called Gaiety Row. I do not think after this the expressions „Are you married… or do you live in Maidenhead” and „I am off to Maidenhead” which often were followed by winking of an eye need explanation. 🙂

To the North of the beautiful Georgian Maidenhead Bridge, built from Portland stone is the Bridge Park, which could seem to be an ordinary and boring park, but it is not, in fact it has treasures! The rustic fountain reminds me of street fountains in Paris, but there is something else in this park. Here once stood the Hungaria River Club. My my, it turns out that the place I live has a Hungarian relation. No idea why it was called “Hungaria” or if there are any other Hungarian relations, but I will find it out! I found a video about it, dated 1933 – have a look!

Today Maidenhead is not famous for entertaining and it might not be a bold statement to say it is not really famous for anything. However, it can not be said there is nothing interesting in Maidenhead. There is, you just have to seek for it. If somebody wants a break from the usual sightseeing tour and comes to Maidenhead for a relaxing day, I am sure walking on the Riverside would be a perfect thing to do. Maidenhead is becoming more popular on the property market as it is close to London and has direct railway link to the city. The council too realised town development is needed and the area around the Library is already beautifully renovated and the town centre will be finished by 2019.

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Maidenhead Riverside is a very beautiful place to wander along slowly, to admire the beautiful houses, feed the ducks, geese and swans, be intrigued by the pleasure boats and their inhabitants passing through Boulter’s Lock. If you let your mind wander back to the days of Horse and Carriage the ambiance of the riverside is still there to be felt and enjoyed.

 

The kitchen is the heart of the home.

When we visit a grand house, I am always looking forward to seeing the servants quarters and the kitchen. The Victorian and Edwardian kitchens are amazing: you can see the technology that was available and used, the different types of copper pots, pastry moulds and details. As I walk through the kitchen, I can see how busy it probably was back in time and realize work must have been difficult in the kitchen. Therefore, the chef and the cook were high up in the hierarchy of a household, however they were not on the top, that was the House Steward. In terms of salary, the chef and the cook took the biscuit.

Why?

Obviously cooking was essential the the household, therefore a cook was needed, however that was not the only reason for hiring one. Entertaining was very important in the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and at a social event where kings, politicians and other famous guests turned up the food had to be flawless as it also represented the host and his household. Having an excellent cook was essential. Grand houses like Uppark and Petworth would have parties at the weekend when 20-30 guests were entertained, at bigger events the house accommodated 60-70 guests.

The Chef

Only the grandest houses could afford employing a chef who were very often French (NB Queen Victoria’s chef had Italian origin, Charles Emle Francatelli.). You could ask the question why did these grand houses have French chefs. It has several reasons: after the French revolution, servants spread all over Europe as their employers were either sent in exile or executed. The other reason why they were popular was because their cooking skills and expertise was far better then many of the English. All in all having a French chef was a status symbol those days, however, it happened that the English noblemen did not like the strange dishes that the French chefs cooked. In that case the French chefs put their “huff-hat” on and left. On this note I can recall a scene from the Canadian series “Road to Avonlea” where the Scottish director of the White Sand Hotel, Simon Tremayne has a debate with the French chef, Pierre Lapierre. The subject of the debate was haggis which was ordered by the Scottish director, but the French chef was reluctant to prepare it, finding this dish disgusting. Obviously the Scottish director finds oysters, snails and other quirky dishes of the French disgusting.

The Chef earned £120 or £150 per annum which was a generous amount. To put it into perspective, the House Steward too earned £120 but the scullery (kitchen) maid earned £9-12 per annum. The job of a chef was not easy and was rather stressful, so he earned his money to say the least and he had other perks as well. Do not forget, food was not preserved in those days yet, fridges did not exist, so keeping everything fresh was difficult. On top of this, the chef had to amaze the Lord of the house (and his guests) with new recipes all the time, in days when cookery books were not widely spread. A highly valued chef at grandest houses could hire a roast and a pastry cook and several kitchen maids to help out in the kitchen. His perks was to have a little room next to the kitchen where he could have a rest (or a doze 🙂 ) or work on new recipes.

The Cook

We can talk about two types of cooks, the plain cook who could prepare simple dishes, roasts, soups and deserts and served at middle class families and the professional cook who had better skills and could prepare foreign dishes and cook for 12-18 or even for 24 people. Professional cooks had kitchen maids as help in the kitchen and were often women in their 40s who climbed up the ladder and started their career as scullery maids just like Mrs Lipton in “You Rang, M’lord?”. (Alright, she probably was older than 40 but she did mention in the episode “Royal Flush” when she was to cook for 18 guests for a dinner party that “Oh, such a humiliation, nobody talked to me like that since I was a scullery maid.”)

Daily duties

Even the everyday tasks of a cook were depicted in „You Rang, M’lord?” well: the cook got up at 6:30am, by that time the rest of the servants had made the fire and prepared breakfast for the staff. The servants normally had breakfast at 7:30 so that they could prepare and attend the family’s breakfast around 9-9:30am. The cook received the daily supply from the gardener, grocer, fishmonger or butcher in the morning and started to prepare the lunch. The lady of the house discussed the weekly menu with the cook, (this is missing from “You Rang, M’lord?” as Lady Meldrum died and the daughters were not interested) and once a week the cook had to show the accounts, unless there was a housekeeper at the house whose task this was. In case of a social event the menu was discussed days before the event and preparations started as soon as possible, to get ahead of the game. On the day of the event the cook did not stop between 5 and 9pm. To deliver every dish perfectly, a big event required extra attention even from an experienced cook and it was exhausting.

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If we think about it, there were no kitchen appliances back in those days and they had to do lot of things with their own hands, so cooking was indeed a tough job. On top of this if the family did not like the dishes, it was the cook to be blamed so the cook had to please the entire family on a daily basis, so respect for them. This stress is still there for chefs today I presume, the only difference is they have many more kitchen appliances, which makes their lives easier.