Story: Veronica and Aunt Miranda. Chapter 1.

by Jackie J

“Veronica? Veronica, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Nothing, sorry. Was I staring? Pass me the sauce please, Miranda.”

Miranda chuckled passing the sauce boat. 

“Nothing? You have been watching Jane all evening. It’s the same whenever you come to stay with me. I meant to ask you about it the last time you were here at Lowercroft. Does she fascinate you, Veronica? What could keep you engrossed about a maid going about her work? I fail to understand."

Following their meal and sat in the parlour having drinks Miranda watched Veronica’s eyes dart to the doorway when Jane entered with her tray and a soft smile grow across Veronica’s face watching Miranda’s maid curtsy.

“Clean glasses for you, Miss.”

Jane left the room and Miranda stared across at her niece watching the maid leave.

Promising lady-to-maid idea in a 1923 book

A book by turn-of-the-century British humorist E.V. Lucas, Advisory Ben (1923),  features an interesting lady-to-maid subplot about a rich girl who seeks work as a parlourmaid so that she could learn good manners and pick up tips from a "good family" that would employ her. The novel is about a fictional servant employment agency "The Beck and Call" and this is just one short episode that, as far as I am concerned, could have been an entire book, but well.... Here it is:


Mrs. Hill-Owen (she told me) had not been gone more than a few minutes when a Rolls Royce purred up to the door of “The Book- lover’s Rest,” and a richly dressed young woman emerged and made her way upwards to “The Beck and Call.”

Ben, chancing to be in the front office, received her in person, and asked her requirements.

“I want,” said the girl, “an engagement as parlour-maid.”

“You want?” Ben exclaimed. “But for someone else, of course.”

“Oh, no,” said the girl. “For myself. I want to go into service.”

“Come inside,” said Ben.

“I must get this clear. You want,” she said, when they were seated, “a situation as a parlour-maid?”

Story: Maid Jenny and Her Mistress. Chapter 8 and Epilogue.

by Jackie J

Marianne had been quite uncomfortable with Jenny’s cavalier attitude to Sister Agnes taking Lucy from Long Lawns to her convent. She should have also taken note of the warning bells rung loud and clear by her pupil. Jenny had been quite assertive. In fact, very assertive in dismissing Marianne’s concerns and reservations, preaching back to Marianne the implicit demarcation protocol regarding Lucinda Lancaster that Marianne herself had reminded Jenny of many times. Lucinda Lancaster, the Mistress of Long Lawns, was away, travelling overseas; it was her maid Lucy who had been taken to St. Catherine’s convent by Sister Agnes. Warning bells yes, not necessarily from what was said but how it was said. Marianne had become passive and lost control of the matter, allowing Jenny to adopt such a dominant role. How could Marianne had missed this subtle yet telling dynamic in Jenny?

Having articulately and assertively quashed and silenced Marianne’s reservations of being protective of her friend, Jenny had been the one who closed the conversation. She continued to take the lead by opening the parlour door suggesting that they should work with the flowers study. Following Marianne towards the library, Jenny smirked at her first manipulation of her tutor. It felt good, empowering. Jenny’s scheming to retain her privileges at Long Lawns well advanced in its gestation.

Marianne was impressed by Jenny’s sketches and how quickly she became familiar with the common native species of plants and shrubs. Jenny had even delved into plants familiar in areas of Africa! 

It has been four days since the Long Lawns maid had left with Sister Agnes for St. Catherine’s convent. Marianne made some sandwiches at the request of Jenny and sat on the veranda. Jenny smiled then laughed.

Downton Abbey Ladies Switch With Maids

Harper's Bazaar strikes with a lady-to-maid photo shoot with Downton Abbey cast.  The show itself did play a little bit with the lady disguised as a maid trope so no wonder. 

At a stuccoed country house location in the middle of West London, the world of Downton Abbey is being turned upside down. “Oh, I could get used to this,” says Sophie McShera, a.k.a. kitchen maid turned cook Daisy Mason, as she lounges on a velvet sofa in pink organza Dolce & Gabbana, while a toned-down Elizabeth McGovern, a.k.a. Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, serves tea. “I’m usually carrying trays and wearing a gray sack!”

Next door, in another ornately appointed room, Michelle Dockery, a.k.a. Lady Mary Crawley, has stepped into the shoes of her trusted lady’s maid, Anna Bates, while Joanne Froggatt, the actress who plays her, ponders which designer shoes to wear. “After so many years of playing Lady Mary, it was fun to switch roles and play a maid for Bazaar,” says Dockery. “Anna waited on Lady Mary so faithfully over the years—dressing her, mending her clothes, and brushing her hair. It was nice to be able to wait on Jo for a change.”

Sadly it's a bit bland and the maids are dressed in designer dresses and there is little of it. Could have been a lot more fun if they went further with the idea - there are so many options! I know I would have had a blast if it was me doing the photoshoot. Still worth a look, our imagination will do the rest.

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Royal Maid Game or Life Imitates Art Again

The Daily Mail, admittedly an unlikely source of lady-to-maid material, published excerpts from what it described as "aristocratic memoir", an upcoming book by Lady Anne Glenconner titled Lady in Waiting. As a prominent member of British aristocracy (her father was Earl of Leister and her mother was the daughter of Earl of Hardwicke), she was one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour at the 1953 coronation.

Needless to say a short chapter titled "The day Prince Philip asked me to dress as a maid!", accompanied by a 1949 photo, immediately caught my attention:


In 1949 my grandfather died, which meant that my father succeeded to his title, becoming the 5th Earl of Leicester.

I was 17 and Carey was 15, and we spent that summer cycling to the cinema in Wells-next-the-Sea twice a week with our mother. In the evenings Carey and I would go off to the local American aerodromes where the big bands would perform.

That same summer, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had married Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and often came to Holkham to shoot with my father, rang up my mother one day with an unusual request.

Story: Maid Jenny and Her Mistress. Chapter 7.

by Jackie J

Bundled into the rear compartment of Sister Agnes’s carriage, Lucy was in a state of shock and panic. Looking out the small window, she watched Long Lawns disappear behind the tall fir trees that bordered the grounds of what was her home. It all happened so quickly. Why didn’t she shake free of Sister Agnes’s firm grip of her arm? In truth she had tried but to no avail. Why didn’t she scream out her true identity to stop this madness before being locked in the back of this carriage? Why did Mrs Sunderland not stop the woman, say anything, do anything to prevent what amounts to no less than her abduction? And that sly grim behind the look of concern that she saw on her Mistress's face when she agreed for the nun to take her away to the convent! What was she thinking? And why, like Mrs Sunderland, did she do nothing when matters escalated and she was being dragged from Long Lawns?

The compartment in the carriage was cramped and Lucy sat on the small wooden bench and put her head in her hands. Possessed? What madness! She could not help those feelings. She told the nun how she felt and thought she could trust her! Perhaps more in desperation than hope Lucy looked out through the grill on the door at the rear of the carriage. Was her Mistress's carriage following to explain everything to Sister Agnes and take her back to Long Lawns? However, there was no sign of a pursuit, just a dusty empty roadway with the carriage rattling its way to the seclusion St Catherine’s convent.

Story: Maid Jenny and Her Mistress. Chapter 6.

by Jackie J

Having been served breakfast then attended during her morning bath and helped to dress by her maid, without a word of what had occurred in the kitchens following her return from Meadow Hall, Jenny smiled at Marianne whilst she read through the letter she had composed to be sent to Mrs Catherine Wilberforce accepting her invitation to attend her annual garden festival.

“Perfect Jenny. Just perfect. We must get this in the post without delay.”

Marianne watched an extremely meek maid Lucy enter the parlour to serve tea, curtsy, and then retreat back to the kitchens.

Marianne chuckled.

“Your maid looks rather glum this morning. What is wrong with her?”

Marianne laughed but not without a degree of veiled concern, when Jenny explained about the previous evening when she returned to Long Lawns.

“In front of you? My goodness! What is happening to this woman? We may have to seek help for her when this is over. Don’t worry about the ball gown. I appreciate the gesture, but trust me, you would look good in sack cloth."