Edwardian Country House life TV series

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

I didn't see the series, but I read the spinoff book and enjoyed it. In fact, I bought it when I saw it at a remainder sale at my bookstore. A fun read.

 

[Martin Williams]

I watched the 'Edwardian Country House' series when it was first broadcast several years ago and found it captivating - altogether the most successful and informative variant on that whole 'Big Brother-meets-Costume-Drama' theme which has proved to be so popular in its various guises over the past decade. The producers did a masterful job of re-creating the conditions of both 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' life, so much so that it was painfully apparent that the Olliff-Cooper family fell all too easily into their roles as turn-of-the-century toffs and alienated many members of their staff hopelessly! This may have been unattractive but 'Sir John' argued (quite legitimately in my opinion) that the whole experiment would have been rendered pointless if they had approached it with their anachronistic, twenty-first century sensibilities intact. That was the main, and unavoidable, flaw in the whole concept, I suppose. The staff - particularly those lower down in the pecking order - were simply unable to shed their modern expectations and democratic attitudes and chafed agonisingly against the Edwardian-style restrictions placed upon them. Two scullery maids, I seem to recall, departed the house in misery and exhaustion within the first week. In the real-life socio-economic conditions of 1905-1910, with the workhouse (at best) or the streets (at worst) beckoning, I suspect they would have been simply too glad of the job to have retained that particular kind of pride!

One way or another, it all made for compelling viewing. The companion volume is great, too.

 

[monica e. hall]

My grandparents, who were servants in a fairly notable household (Sir Alfred Duff Cooper, doctor to the Royal Household, parent to a notable politician and society daughter-in-law in WW2), probably because Duff just remembered and liked her. They seemed to have just left in the 1910s. I don't know why. I guess it was to do just their own personal circumstances, and nothing to do with their masters. My granny, however, continued to know Duff and Diana until just before WW2. Granny doesn't have seemed to have been very keen on Diana, and seems to have felt quite justified in expressing her opinions.

"Diana. Hummph!"

 

[Martin Williams]

I recently polished off Philip Ziegler's biography of Lady Diana (which was first published whilst she was still very much alive) and, frankly, I was glad to return her to the shelf. From the time of her debut into Society in 1911, she trod a very, very fine line between aristocratic eccentricity and down-right weirdness. She must have been a truly exhausting wife and friend to have - let alone a mistress! Certainly, the stuffier members of the English upper crust (to say nothing of the middle classes) were justified in looking at her slightly askance.

I'm about to add a link to some contemporary photographs of Diana Manners/Cooper to one of the Duff Gordon threads, where they'll be more 'at home' than here.

 

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

From Martin, above: "The producers did a masterful job of re-creating the conditions of both 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' life, so much so that it was painfully apparent that the Olliff-Cooper family fell all too easily into their roles as turn-of-the-century toffs and alienated many members of their staff hopelessly! This may have been unattractive but 'Sir John' argued (quite legitimately in my opinion) that the whole experiment would have been rendered pointless if they had approached it with their anachronistic, twenty-first century sensibilities intact. That was the main, and unavoidable, flaw in the whole concept, I suppose. The staff - particularly those lower down in the pecking order - were simply unable to shed their modern expectations and democratic attitudes and chafed agonisingly against the Edwardian-style restrictions placed upon them. Two scullery maids, I seem to recall, departed the house in misery and exhaustion within the first week. In the real-life socio-economic conditions of 1905-1910, with the workhouse (at best) or the streets (at worst) beckoning, I suspect they would have been simply too glad of the job to have retained that particular kind of pride!"

Reading the experiences of the downstairs staff, I thought their dissatisfaction wasn't a flaw but a benefit of the experiment and of the show itself. I grant that the servants back in 1900 would have expected the hard work and harsh conditions and so did not complain or left to take their chances in the industrial towns. The dissatisfaction of the program's Country House servants showed mores and conditions have changed between employer and service staff.
Weren't there a couple of trade-unionists or Socialists at the fete, talking to the villagers and servants about rising up and demanding better conditions? It occurred to me that the labour movement may have been gaining strength and getting out of diapers at the turn-of-the-20th. Maybe some of the staff of the Edwardian Country House in 1900 felt the same dissatisfaction as the staff of the House in 2000