Life Below Stairs: 1939 to the Present

We view domestic service today as an undesirable job, owing to the class divide it has come to represent, and this is reflected in the portrayals of mistresses and servants in books and on the screen. But what do we really know about how girls felt when taking up these positions in other people’s houses, or how they were treated?

Pamela Horn uses firsthand accounts and reminiscences, as well as official records and newspaper reports, to extract the truth about the lives and status of men and women in domestic service from 1939 to the present.