Downton Abbey and the lost world

Americans are now watching the last series of Downton Abbey. In the days of the landed aristocracy and a large domestic servant population, the life of the domestic servant could offer a degree of predictability, security and comradeship; it could also be demeaning, exploitative and cruel, depending on the family and the boss.

As soon as the servant class could it decamped to other jobs and better opportunities. The old Establishment was gone (with death duties and a poor economic outlook down on the land) and the traditional life of the aristocracy dribbled away with the last debutante.

For approximately 70 years those who otherwise would have been in domestic service had both opportunity and freedom to make of themselves what they wished. Some thrived, others didn’t. Some got an education, some didn’t. But with the safety net they were free and reasonably secure.

Until now. The British working class is now back where it started, but in a much more dire situation. The well-paid factory jobs are no longer there. Retailing is in the hands of the big battalions. If you have a job it is based on a one year contract. Paternalism has vanished, and there is no loyalty or care shown by management for the workers. The old idea of noblesse oblige has gone. If you are young and educated you are still fine, but watching Downton, you realise that those older people, now struggling to make a living, have lost something human, even if it is politically incorrect to say so.

One Comment

  1. This is an absolutely fascinating post, one of your best. It’s interesting to see a different take on servant life in early 20th century Britain. If those you served were kind, being a servant was one of the best jobs available for working class people without much of an education. Although working hours were long, wages weren’t too bad by the standards of the time. And if you were lucky, your employer may have helped you if you fell ill or had a child- other employers working in more impersonal environments wouldn’t have been as generous.

    I’m not sure if I agree that the working class in Britain is in a worse position than 70 years ago. Firstly, it’s undeniably true that the working class is much smaller now- both in absolute and relative terms. Places like Manchester or Sheffield, that were once homogeneously working class, are now much more mixed. People can travel much more easily if there is no work to be had where they live. Science and technology have allowed talented people to become much richer, even if they originally came from a poor background. And access to higher education is better now, there are more people from the working class going to university than ever before.

    However, if you don’t have very many skills, I understand that modern Britain is a miserable place to live, because it is so unequal. A hundred years ago, people were much poorer, but at least they stood in solidarity with others who were poor. Now that because there are fewer poor people, those who are poor feel left behind. Meanwhile, Britain has become very unforgiving to those to remain poor, not only by reducing financial support, but through cultural snobbery- poor people are often viewed as ignorant and unsophisticated. There has also been an increase in xenophobia in working class areas, such as the EDL in Wolverhampton or anti immigration rallies in Dover.

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