Zoom Talk: Victorian Life Upstairs and Downstairs with Judith Hill

In Britain throughout the 19th century and until WW1, domestic service was the largest single occupation of women.

Large domestic staffs had characterised the great houses of the nobility for centuries, what was new in the 19th century was the growth of domestic service which paralleled the growth of middle classes. In addition, the view was held that the employment of domestic staff was in itself a sign of respectability and an indicator of social status.

A large family, the large over furnished house, lavish dinner parties and the economic ability to keep one’s wife in genteel idleness, were essential attributes of the institution of the Victorian middle-class family. As a result there was the need to employ domestic servants on a large scale and there was a very strict hierarchy of servants and their duties.

Dr Judith Hill is an elected member of the Royal Historical Research Society. Now a freelance lecturer and researcher, she formerly lectured in history at the University of Surrey. Dr Hill has written widely on 19th century British History covering topics such as the Captain Swing Riots; cholera and emigration to Canada. She has taught 19th century British History and 16th and 17th century British History and Art History.

Recording available for 2 weeks for logged in society members. Handout also available.

Log in from 7.15pm and chat with other participants before the Talk starts.

Please ensure you use your real name when joining our Zoom events. Participants appearing as 'Zoom User' or similar will not be admitted, as this helps us prevent scammers from joining.

To Get the Zoom Link

A Zoom Register has been created to cover attendance at any and all of the zoom events. Any society member who would like to be added to the register needs to submit their name, email address and membership number via  https://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/contact.  You only need to register once. Please don't leave this until the last minute.

Once a month the zoom links for the Zoom talks, discussion groups and workshops during that month will be sent by email to those members on the register. Members who have registered can then attend as many of the Zoom events as they wish with no need to make a specific booking for each one.

All Workshops and Discussion Groups are members-only events.

But Society membership only costs £10 a year (£12 joint members) https://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/about/membership/our-membership