Downton Abbey

Even if she had been allowed to work after she married they would not have wanted to see her when she was expecting. She would have been sent off to live in the little cottage. My gran was in service as a housemaid and she was expected to hide away from the family when she was working. She stood in cupboards and behind doors when she was cleaning if she heard the family coming. The children used to try and steal up on her. When she was cleaning the stairs they delighted in kicking her dustpan so all the dirt fell out.

I caught up with this last night, and I enjoyed every minute. I know it was highly improbable, but it's fiction, we're not actually supposed to believe it!
I love that it was so happy ever after, that Mary and Edith seem to be building bridges, that Thomas is becoming nicer (especially now he's got the top job!), that Carson (grudgingly) admitted he would make a good butler, that Anna finally has her little Master Bates, that Mrs Crawley triumphantly stole Lord Merton from his witchy DiL and married him to boot! Oh and all the budding romances - Daisy and Andy, Mrs Patmore and Mr Mason, Baxter and Mr Molesley, Branson and the bouquet catcher (was that the school teacher who came a cropper with Lord Grantham once or twice?)
Watching Downton Abbey is like curling up in a cosy armchair with a mug of hot chocolate. Of course it's loaded with sugary sweetness. So is chocolate, but I'm sure we all enjoy that little guilty pleasure!
It is comfort viewing, not to be confused with historical documentaries.

Yes, I think that this is right and that married women did have to leave their jobs! Maybe exceptions could be made at the discretion of the household they worked in.

I always thought that married women had to leave their jobs.
My grandmother was a schoolteacher, and had to give up work when she got married in 1921.
My mother in law was in service in the 1930s and was sacked without a reference because a man was heard in her room. It was her dad talking to her!

Yes I know but dare not comment

Perhaps Mrs Hughes could have looked afterwards baby Bates if Nanny had proved tricky?!! After all she and Carson were on the verge of retirement, and although ladies maids were easily replaced, Mary and Anna did have a particular rapport that neither of them would have wanted to lose, so Mrs Hughes could have been the answer?!!!! Seriously though, this must have been a problem with married servants and I wonder what arrangements were made for their children, or did they have to leave their positions? Does anybody know?

Lullydully, didn't see it at first, but - hilarious! don't apologise...

I thought Downton great, such a load of posh codswallop just what I needed. I finished off the evening eating Christmas pudding leftovers, drinking even more prosecco and watching 'The Bridge' TV drama at its best..... even with the subtitles. Back to Slimming World on Wednesday!

No Ana, it was not fact it was a lie

I was always a bit sorry that Downton didn't make more of the Nanny characters, it could have been very interesting.
The dynamics between Nanny, Upstairs and Downstairs could have made for some interesting storylines!

It wasn't a snide comment, it was obviously a statement of fact.

No Ana, it was called for, I have never claimed to - know best on any topic so why did you have the need to say it ? It was your snide comment which was uncalled for

Hang on, that's no way to talk to anyone ab, why do you always take this tone and always know better than everyone else. We're allowed our opinions however futile they appear to be to you.

That was entirely uncalled for, Anniebach.

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Oh well, you know best of course, Anniebach...

Lady's maids were easier to replace than Nanny, and Nanny wouldn't have given a toss about marigolds parentage , she was a ward of Lady Edith , end of for Nanny

They sacked one Nanny for picking on little Sybil and treating her as inferior because her father wasn't upper class.

I guess Nanny would have done what Lady Mary required of her, and that would have been that. After all, Marigold whose parentage was slightly suspect as far as Nanny was aware, was integrated into the family nursery, without question, so as a baby, could young Bates, if that's what the family wished, without any input from Nanny, bearing in mind Nanny could be replaced, and still can even these days!
Looking at those small boys, I couldn't help but be aware of how they were exactly the right age for WW2, so right at the end of the day you could, and probably would have a tragedy.

Yes, Nanny had her meals served to her, she would not eat in the servants' hall. She had to have a bath every morning and clean clothes before she dealt with the babies/children. She had nursery maids to help in posher households.

I agree about the costumes - they were quite delightful!

Downton managed to keep up its complete separation from reality to the very end. In spite of the shortage of men after WW1 all the female characters managed to grab one. Very watchable but with no historical accuracy whatsoever.

Maybe we'll have a catchup special next Christmas!

In the pecking order nanny topped lady's maid

Who?

Rosequartz, how many bedrooms in the Abbey , few it seems for lady Mary to have to give up her bed and her bed not our bed !

Nanny would have had an attack of the vapours if a Maids baby was plonked in her nursery , The nanny would not even eat in the servants hall.

The village I lived in as a teenager and where many of my family had lived for generations had two country houses just outside the village, even in the fifties the nannies , governesses etc would not have permitted their charges to mix with the village children . Julian Barnes made the final episode into a comedy

The camera work was excellent