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Description
This programme consists of a filmed interview with Mrs McClelland who was in service in households where large numbers of servants were employed. The interviewer is Dr. Paul Thompson, reader in his...tory at Essex University. He pioneered a social history project which involved taping interviews with a large number of old people in England and Wales. Mrs McClelland was born in 1900 in Greenwich. Her father was a Thames waterman and there were twelve children in the family. She got a scholarship to domestic science school and when she left at the age of fifteen she went to work for the Countess of Connaught in Chelsea. She changed jobs frequently in order to improve her conditions of work. She talks here mainly about her work as kitchen maid for the Salisburys at Hatfield House and as cook for the Rutlands at Belvoir Castle. She describes in graphic and sometimes amusing detail, the menus, the ways of preparing the food and her relationships with the other servants and her employers.
This programme consists of a filmed interview with Mrs McClelland who was in service in households where large numbers of servants were employed. The interviewer is Dr. Paul Thompson, reader in his...tory at Essex University. He pioneered a social history project which involved taping interviews with a large number of old people in England and Wales. Mrs McClelland was born in 1900 in Greenwich. Her father was a Thames waterman and there were twelve children in the family. She got a scholarship to domestic science school and when she left at the age of fifteen she went to work for the Countess of Connaught in Chelsea. She changed jobs frequently in order to improve her conditions of work. She talks here mainly about her work as kitchen maid for the Salisburys at Hatfield House and as cook for the Rutlands at Belvoir Castle. She describes in graphic and sometimes amusing detail, the menus, the ways of preparing the food and her relationships with the other servants and her employers.
| Module code and title: | D301, Historical sources and the social scientist |
|---|---|
| Item code: | D301; 10 |
| First transmission date: | 11-09-1974 |
| Published: | 1974 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:30 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Claire Falkner |
| Contributors: | Paul Thompson; Lucy McClelland |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Domestic service; Historical sources; Social science |
| Footage description: | Mrs. McClelland begins by relating her home life, family size etc. She explains her ideas about class - what she means by 'society'. Her first job was with the Countess of Connaught - she explains her feelings, her duties etc. Moving on to her service at Hatfield House with the Marquis of Salisbury, she discusses her job, vegetable maid, the food she prepared etc. McClelland goes on to enumerate the staff and outline the relationship they had with the employers. Finally she looks at her job as cook at Belvoir Castle, stating how much she enjoyed being in service. Credits. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/71442 |
| Production number: | 00525_2137 |
| Videofinder number: | 179 |
| Available to public: | no |
