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  • Housekeeper

    Hello.

    I have just discovered that the daughter of a wealthy family was a housekeeper on one of the census.

    She was aged 32, but she did marry at some point after this (I don't know when it was though).

    The thing is though, on the same census her family have got four servants of their own, and none of the other daughters ever went into service.

    This was at the time of the 1901 census, and I have a family photo from 1900 which shows the whole family and she is on it, so looks as though she hadn't fallen out with her family.

    Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

  • #2
    My great-grandfather's siblings mostly had a few servants and the men were mainly professional people, but one of his sisters was a housekeeper all her adult life. Mind you, having looked at her photos you would have thought she was the lady of the house! She worked in the same household for several decades. As her boss was a bachelor I did wonder about their relationship! lol

    I'll post up a photo in a minite!

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    • #3
      Tom

      Depending on the size of a household, Housekeeper could be quite a prestigious job. It was well paid and did require a lot of skill.

      In very grand households, a Housekeeper would have a maid to wait on her!

      However, sometimes it isn't possible to determine whether "housekeeper" described a woman's PAID employment, or just her occupation within the household, as in household duties.

      My great great aunt is described in 1891 as "housekeeper". She is the eldest daughter and her mother is dead, so I assumed that meant she ran the household. I still don't know, though, as in 1901, she is a housekeeper in a non-related family (rather than visitor, etc), so she could have been THEIR housekeeper, or someone else's.

      OC

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      • #4


        I think she looks pretty scary! lol
        Attached Files

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        • #5
          Reading OC's post - I meant to say she was the only servant in her employers house for most censuses. From memory there was a maid on one as well.

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          • #6
            This was her in 1900:




            Just double checked the census, and she was described as a servant. There is another servant there whose occupation is just given as Domestic Servant.

            Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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            • #7
              Housekeeper or governess were just about the only respectable paid jobs available to women from genteel backgrounds in that era.

              A Housekeeper was seen as socially miles above a shopgirl, for instance.

              OC

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              • #8
                Thanks OC, I knew a Governess was a job for ladies from genteel backgrounds who had fallen on harder times and I have quite a few in my tree myself.

                The thing that is making me wonder though is why she went to be a housekeeper. The family were very wealthy and they would have easily been able to keep her at home, and they kept their other daughters at home. Maybe, at the age of 32, she wanted some independance and to get away from the family home and a job as a housekeeper was the best bet.

                Another thing that is annoying me about her is that I cannot find her marriage. I know she married, her great great nephew has told me, and I have found her in the death indexes with her married name (back in the same registration district her family lived in) but I cannot find the marriage in the indexes.

                Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

                Comment


                • #9
                  Having said that, I have now just found her marriage! lol

                  Her husband is down as Charles F when I'd been told he was Fred.

                  LOL

                  Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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                  • #10
                    I think you've hit the nail on the head - she wanted some independence from her family and this is the only job they would allow her to do, or the only job she WANTED to do, lol!

                    OC

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Merry Monty Montgomery View Post
                      Reading OC's post - I meant to say she was the only servant in her employers house for most censuses. From memory there was a maid on one as well.
                      Only "living-in servant" - we will never know for sure if there was additional daily help in these establishments. (I suspect often there was.)

                      Jay
                      Janet in Yorkshire



                      Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Janet in Yorkshire View Post
                        Only "living-in servant" - we will never know for sure if there was additional daily help in these establishments. (I suspect often there was.)

                        Jay

                        I just meant she wasn't a housekeeper with a full staff under her! Yes, there might have been daily help too, but no butler, footmen, parlourmaids, housemaids, cook kitchenmaids etc etc. Her employer was a solicitor.

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                        • #13
                          Three of my great great aunts became joint "housekeepers" for their dead sister's husband in the 1920s. They lived under his roof until they died, which was long after he died.

                          They had a charwoman, who came in daily to do the "rough", and the washing all went to the laundry.

                          This was in a four bedroomed house, not a great mansion!

                          OC

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Tom Tom View Post
                            Having said that, I have now just found her marriage! lol

                            Her husband is down as Charles F when I'd been told he was Fred.

                            LOL
                            Tom he could have been known by his middle name. Charles Frederick .. maybe

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                            • #15
                              Yes Sue, I imagine thats what happened

                              Thanks again OC.

                              Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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                              • #16
                                My 4 x great aunt was listed as "housekeeper" to a man who was a cooper in London. They eventually married so I expect it was a respectable way of them disguising their "living in sin" lol!

                                She came from a well educated well off family so would not have been listed as his servant on the census.


                                Joanie

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                                • #17
                                  One of my many Church of Scotland ministers was 39 in 1881 with a 19-year-old housekeeper. They married in 1882 and she's shown as "minister's wife" in 1891 and 1901. The marriage isn't mentioned in the Fasti (CofS equivalent of Crockfords). There was "no issue" of the marriage, so far as I know.
                                  Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                                  • #18
                                    And there is my 'Housekeeper'

                                    Appears in the household of a father and 20 year old son, both ag labs, with her six week old illegitimate baby.

                                    Over the next 3 censuses she is still there as 'Housekeeper' but having illegitimate children on a regular basis.

                                    Either very understanding 'employers' or one of them had something to do with it ;)

                                    The strange thing is that I can find no reason why, if one of them was the father, they couldn't legally marry her!
                                    Avatar....My darling mum, Irene June Robinson nee Pearson 1931-2019.

                                    'Take nothing on its looks, take everything on evidence. There is no better rule' Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

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                                    • #19
                                      Correction: I've found a birth on SP (the same quite unusual name) but the image was completely unreadable. GROS responded very quickly and will email me a fresh scan. I do hope the original register entry is legible, as it should give me some new leads.
                                      Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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