# Are there any servants' journals/diaries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371 "2012-12-28T11:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/1 "2012-12-28T11:07:22Z")
I mean real, authenticated journals, not fiction, kept by people who were servants before the Great War. Reason I ask, I’ve been watching the original Upstairs, Downstairs. Someone mentions that Mr Hudson, the butler, keeps a journal. Someone else says “You could publish it someday!” as if the idea is ridiculous. But I was :eek: for a second, thinking, “Imagine if he did. Imagine what it would be worth!” And there might be such journals. I would imagine if there are any, the writers of Downton Abbey, Up/Down and so forth would probably refer to them a lot. Anyone know of any published non-fiction, like “This is the diary of Mary Smith, housemaid to the Richenfat family from 1851 to 1900”? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/2 "2012-12-28T13:25:50Z")
There’s [The Lady’s Maid: My Life in Service](http://josbookjourney.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/the-ladys-maid-my-life-in-service-rosina-harrison/). Not so much a journal or diary as a biography of a sort. It’s a retrospective written by a woman who was a maid to Nancy Astor. I’ve read it, and very much liked it. There’s also [Below Stairs](http://www.amazon.com/Below-Stairs-Inspired-Downstairs-ebook/dp/B005LVLZEI/ref=pd_cp_kstore_0), which is supposedly the book that inspired Upstairs, Downstairs. I haven’t read this one, but now I want to. Also similar is [Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey](http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Almina-Downton-Abbey-ebook/dp/B0060AY7Z8/ref=wl_mb_hu_m_3_dp), though it’s told from the Lady of the house’s perspective, not the servants. Not at all what you’re asking for, but a good perspective of working-class life in post-war England is [Call the Midwife](http://www.amazon.com/Call-Midwife-Memoir-Birth-Times/dp/0143123254/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356701070&sr=8-2&keywords=call+the+midwife), both the book and the series. Very worth the read (or the watch, though I like the book better), even if the initial prospect doesn’t sound very interesting to you. It didn’t to me, but it’s a lot more about what life was like in 1957 London than it is about midwifing, and that worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_ch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Dan\_ch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_ch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/3 "2012-12-28T13:33:57Z")
["Hannah\_Cullwick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Cullwick) (1833–1909) was a Victorian era diarist and domestic servant. She is known for her unusual relationship with Arthur Munby, which they both documented in diaries, letters and photographs". ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/4 "2012-12-28T13:48:38Z")
There’s [What the Butler Winked At: Being the Life and Adventures of Eric Horne, Butler](http://www.amazon.com/What-Butler-Winked-At-Adventures/dp/1594161372/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356701733&sr=1-1&keywords=eric+horne). At the link, Amazon offers similar titles. Reviews are mixed. I haven’t read it, but learned about it in [The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm](http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Summer-England-Before-Storm/dp/0802143679/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356701899&sr=1-1&keywords=perfect+summer), by Juliet Nicolson. Tom Stoppard used it for historical & social background while writing the script for Ford Madox Ford’s _Parade’s End_, shown on BBC last summer & coming to HBO Real Soon Now. I really enjoyed the book because it covers more than the upper classes (& their servants)-although you do see life inside those Unnecessarily Large Houses. The summer was unusually hot & sunny, which people enjoyed at first; then the deaths began. There was also serious labor unrest. (Maybe the dullards of Downton thought everything was just ducky before the Great War; it wasn’t.) I learned a lot & it was an entertaining book. As I said, Amazon loves to offer more in that genre; the success of _Downton Abbey_ has prompted the release (& re-release) of books explaining What Lord Fellowes Didn’t Know–or Preferred to Ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/5 "2012-12-28T16:41:53Z")
Those who enjoy _The Perfect Summer_ might also want to read [_The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age_](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Silence-Britain-Shadow-First/dp/080214540X/ref=la_B001HPS99Q_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356712788&sr=1-2). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/6 "2012-12-28T17:45:24Z")
[Dinner Is Served](http://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Is-Served-English-Butlers/dp/B00076F0FM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356716660&sr=8-1&keywords=dinner+is+served) is the memoirs of a man who spent his life in service, including to Winston Churchill. He was a reference for Gosford Park so his words certainly live on in the new Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/7 "2012-12-28T17:52:28Z")
There are two television series called The Victorian Kitchen and The Victorian Kitchen Garden, made in the 80s, in which people who were formerly in service (a cook and a gardener) try to re-create the places they used to work. Like Arthur Inch’s book this is memoir and not journal, but still fascinating. There is another I’m trying to dig up; a manual for butlers, written by a good one, and quite old. I’m afraid it might’ve been called Robert’s Rules of Service and my search results get swamped with Robert’s Rules of Order… ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/8 "2012-12-28T18:28:35Z")
Not in Front of the Servants by Frank Dawes has a lot of interesting information. It’s not a journal, but has interviews and letters from people who were servants. It’s still readily available online. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-servants-journals-diaries/645371/9 "2012-12-28T21:01:17Z")
Great suggestions, all! Thank you.