Below Stairs

This presentation is based on the period from the 1880's up to and including the outbreak of the
Great War in 1914.

The presenters take on the role of the Housekeeper and Butler, transporting their listeners back to a period when domestic skills formed the backbone of respectability. This was the age of class consciousness, family morals, invention, and of course that Victorian Goddess of domesticity, Mrs Isabella Beaton.

Above: A Chaterlain, which hooks over a waistband and is used to carry a purse or scent bottle etc.

Above: A Roasting Jack

 

 

Using their extensive range of household items, and first hand knowledge of cleaning methods used during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries give the audience another perspective on keeping your home 'ship shaped and Bristol fashion'.

Why were wages so low or based upon a a male servants looks or height? All these aspects of domestic employment are answered during our presentation.

All of our talks include a host of popular sayings, and many curiosities, costumes and memorabilia relating to the subject. Each presentation lasts approximately an hour with time for any questions and closer inspection afterwards.



What must it have felt like to have left home at the tender age of 12 and become a scullery maid, expected to be the first to rise on those cold dark mornings, and the last to retire to bed, once all your chores had been completed.

 

 

Above: Late nineteenth century dress.

Join in our "guess what it is" competition at the end of the talk.