Swept under the Carpet? Servants in London Households 1600-2000

Nice exhibition at the Geffrye Museum examining the history of servants over a four hundred year period.

The museum used their period rooms and added the echo of the servants who would have been working there. Each room had a story for example the 1745 room included a travelling case to represent the high demand for servants at the time and how often they moved jobs. However it showed the case open as the implication was the lady of the house was searching the bag as a silver spoon had gone missing. The 1870 room represented a family who had recently returned from India with an Ayah for the children.

The show pointed out that in the 17th century most young people left home to work in another household and this was how they learnt their place in society and how to run a home. Being a servant was seen as a respected job. However by the late 18th century servants were seen as drudges and ridiculed.

I loved the section on the 20th century as I assumed there wouldn’t be much to say after about 1920 however it covered the serviced flats of the 1930s where there were often communal servants to do the cleaning and laundry on site. Some flats also had a meal delivery system. It also talked about the fashion in the 1950s for families to have Au Pairs from Europe.

Closed on 4 September 2016

 

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