Scullery maid

The popular period drama has even sparked romance off-screen...

When we think of the Victorian era we usually think of voluptuous gowns and embroidered evening wear, women in bustles and tailored silhouettes. For the upper classes this is true, women did waltz around in these status showing dresses, however, this wasn’t the case for the majority of ladies.

Download this stock image: Engraving of two young scullery maids washing dishes in a victorian kitchen - 2F6A4XY from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

Scullery maid Daisy Downton Abbey.

To commemorate the end of Downton Abbey, we’re looking at how fashions changed over the course of the series, at least on the major female characters (sorry, boys!). Don’t miss the rest…

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The Scullery Maid 1866 Charles Joseph Grips oil on panel, dimensions 27 × 20.5 cm (10.6 × 8.1 in) Exhibition history: (probabl...

They all look so jolly on television, forging friendships in the basement and occasionally laying the table upstairs. But most twentieth century servants in Britain did not live as well as those in Downton Abbey.

If you’ve got ancestors from England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland, the chances are at least one of your foremothers was a domestic servant. Even after the Industrial Revolution, in fact until the First World War, more women worked in domestic service than in any other job. It was often the only kind of employment open to poor young girls. And, as well as the obvious help with running a household, having one or more servants was a sign of social rank. They were a visible signal that you had…

Here's some kitchens to make you think about how bad it really is the next time your dishwasher dies and you have to wash dishes by hand. ...