Miserable Life of a Victorian 'Slavey' Maid (19th Century London House Servants)

SdĂ­let
VloĆŸit
  • čas pƙidĂĄn 16. 07. 2022
  • The life of a Victorian 'Slavey' maid was hard, lonely and often dangerous. Pauper girls were discharged from the workhouse at a mere 14 years of age and had to find a means to survive. They could be recruited as slaveys and paid little to wash floors, clothes and cook food; or they could enter directly into service, often escaping the drudgery of a poor life and ill treatment at the hands of an alcoholic parent. In either case, slaveys were young, poorly paid and often worked at physically demanding tasks from dawn to dusk. In this video you will learn about slavey maids from an account made in the 1880s - discover opinions and prejudices held by employers and even the report writer about the young girls who suffered this life of drudgery.
    📣 JOIN to support the channel as a Member: / @factfeast
    👍 Support the channel (donations): www.paypal.com/paypalme/FactF...
    Do you like history? SUBSCRIBE and click the bell icon to keep up-to-date. Please support the channel by sharing this video on social media đŸ“Č ✅ It really helps the channel grow so we can bring you more content to watch đŸ“ș Thank you
    Check out Worst Jobs in Victorian History (Playlist): ‱ Worst Jobs in Victoria...
    Check out Criminal Past (Playlist): ‱ Criminal Past
    Check out Victorian documentaries (Playlist):
    ‱ Victorians
    Check out Edwardian Documentaries (Playlist): ‱ Edwardians
    Credits: Maid in thumbnail photo is a model and is used for illustrative purposes only.
    Narration - markmanningmedia.com
    CC BY - Postcard; poor children Croydon England, Members of the Matchmaker's Union, Little Gillians Croxley Green Parlour Maid by Wellcome Collection; The Servant during 19th century painting in high resolution by Edouard Manet by Rawpixel; Vangogh girl kneeling front bucket 1881 by ErgSap
    CC BY-SA - Room in Nidderdale Museum, Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, England by NiddMuseum
    #VictorianServants #VictorianServantsDocumentary #VictorianServantStories #VictorianMaid #Victorian #VictorianEraDocumentary #VictorianDocumentary #VictorianLondon #VictorianLife #HistoryDocumentary #FactFeast

Komentáƙe • 258

  • @FactFeast
    @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +65

    Enjoy this content? Please like, and share it out wherever you can đŸ“Č It really is a big help to grow audience. Thank you 👍

  • @joannaw5913
    @joannaw5913 Pƙed 2 lety +191

    According to the 1891 census, there was a young servant living in my (very modest) Victorian terraced house. She must have slept in the kitchen. given the size of the family that was living here at the time. She was 14 at the time of the census. I often think about her and the amount of work she had to do. there are 5 fireplaces plus a kitchen range to deal with, for starters.
    Thank you for this very informative video.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +29

      That’s very interesting and the maid in your house slept in the kitchen, just like the story told here. I imagine there were many young maids working in similar circumstances and it must have been very hard work. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

    • @geigertec5921
      @geigertec5921 Pƙed 2 lety +17

      I wonder if her spirit still walks the corridors at night.

    • @pamsloan84
      @pamsloan84 Pƙed rokem +4

      Think Cinderella. At least it was warm.

    • @pjewellful2012
      @pjewellful2012 Pƙed rokem +9

      Every time I here stories like these it just reminds me of how crappy so many people are, the fact that they treat these poor young girls worst than there farm animals. Just terrible how people can be so very unloving to children.

    • @lucyhartnett7330
      @lucyhartnett7330 Pƙed rokem +3

      What is her name please

  • @kaarlimakela3413
    @kaarlimakela3413 Pƙed rokem +59

    My old boss had a favorite grandmother who came to the US as a girl and, in England would earn six shillings a week and 'give four of them to the poor'.
    She would set him on her knee and tell him about Robin Hood.
    He was so inspired by her tales, he grew up to be a great attorney, helping people fight big corporations for death and injury awards. Rule number one was Never Take a Fake Case.
    He was heroic to me as well. He was inspired and inspirational.
    All because of a sweet old Irish maid and her storytelling. ❀

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +8

      That's a nice story. Thank you for sharing!

    • @fluffysheep8999
      @fluffysheep8999 Pƙed rokem +4

      ❀❀Äș❀❀l o😱

    • @dondamon4669
      @dondamon4669 Pƙed 4 měsĂ­ci +1

      Sounds like your grandmother was quite a liar as there is no way on earth she would be able to give her money away also robin hood isn't real and the equivalent of him today is in jail! Amazes me people look down at theives but admire robin hood

    • @nataliapanfichi9933
      @nataliapanfichi9933 Pƙed 2 měsĂ­ci +2

      ​​@@FactFeastdid some servants move up in life in real life or only in fiction? (Evangeline the maid in the first nanny macfee movie and Jane eyre both got out of poverty by marrying their masters or get married to some old gentleman after they get fired or quit the job , like miss turner from the HBO MAX series the guided age , who after losing her position because she was a ladie's maid that tried to seduce her minstress's husband and then married some rich old man.)

    • @nataliapanfichi9933
      @nataliapanfichi9933 Pƙed 2 měsĂ­ci

      ​@@dondamon4669​​​did some servants move up in life in real life or only in fiction? (Evangeline the maid in the first nanny macfee movie and Jane eyre both got out of poverty by marrying their masters or get married to some old gentleman after they get fired or quit the job , like miss turner from the HBO MAX series the guided age , who after losing her position because she was a ladie's maid that tried to seduce her minstress's husband and then married some rich old man.)

  • @TimmsMJ
    @TimmsMJ Pƙed rokem +88

    More people need to watch these videos, social history is so often 'skipped over' in formal education. My own Great Grandmother was the most amazing woman who fought tooth and nail to keep herself and her 7 children out of the workhouse. Her husband had abandoned her. Those children all grew up to be lovely people, despite the hoops and hardships. No privilege of any kind other than having a strong willed mother. Bless them all.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +10

      I'm sure she was a strong and determined woman to cope with such a difficult situation. Thank you for sharing.

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem +8

      Your Great Grandmother sounded like the perfect mother- loving, hardworking and devoted to her children. Bless her!

    • @nataliapanfichi9933
      @nataliapanfichi9933 Pƙed 2 měsĂ­ci +1

      ​​@@FactFeastdid housekeepers get to be the boss of the house if the boss wasn't around or does that only happen in fiction? (Mrs macgreedy and Mrs Medlock in Narnia and the secret garden get to order the staff and even the children who are living in the house around when the boss ant around) both are creepy old woman with permanent serius no nonsense looks on their faces and who wear almost exclusively black or brown dresses and walk around like the own the place even though the technically don't.

    • @ranisrikumar5735
      @ranisrikumar5735 Pƙed měsĂ­cem

      đŸŽ‰â€

  • @alicejackson771
    @alicejackson771 Pƙed 2 lety +47

    My grandmother went into service at 14 for a family who had an undertakers business. I never asked her about it but she must have had some lucky breaks. She married and her son became a senior official at the Bank of England. So sad that most of these girls won't have had any lucky breaks.

  • @johnbruce2868
    @johnbruce2868 Pƙed 2 lety +97

    The social history of Britain should neither be overlooked nor forgotten. I do appreciate how you describe the conditions and tribulations faced by individuals according to age and sex, each facing their own exploitation and struggle. The individual acts of kindness and compassion are so typically Victorian as well. This channel really is an education. Thanks.

    • @dondamon4669
      @dondamon4669 Pƙed 4 měsĂ­ci

      At least our history is not as bad as other countries like Spain,Italy, Africa, Denmark etc in fact we probably have the best history

  • @yelloworangered
    @yelloworangered Pƙed 2 lety +38

    The stories of how people suffered in Victorian times are so sad.

  • @alietheartist734
    @alietheartist734 Pƙed rokem +23

    The girl who ran away from the Major was just a lonely kid who was sad and homesick. What’s wild here is how the people writing this seemed to think having one’s spirit broken was a good thing. Also the landlady thing is wild. It just sounds like someone running a business who is admittedly cruel to the servant girl.

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem +8

      Breaking these poor girls' spirits was a "good thing" for the rich folk because it ensured that they had obedient workers who would do as they were told without question!

  • @angr3819
    @angr3819 Pƙed 2 lety +66

    My paternal grandmother went into service in London around 1913, age 14. A lady's maid. It was that or staying in Selborne, a then small village in a farming area in Hampshire. She hated farming. It seems she was treated quite well and was well liked.
    Contrary to how domestic servants are often portrayed she was well spoken. In fact all her family were, as it seems were a lot of servants. If they weren't already so they learned to be. Their employers didn't usually like to hear "Cor blimey" accents in their homes so the well spoken servants were expected to teach them.

    • @pjewellful2012
      @pjewellful2012 Pƙed rokem +8

      The fact that people would even judge you and still do to this day over your native dialect and accent is repulsive.

  • @katherinebrazonis7802
    @katherinebrazonis7802 Pƙed 2 lety +22

    It still amazes me, man's inhumane treatment of his fellow man.

  • @Contessa6363
    @Contessa6363 Pƙed 2 lety +36

    My grandmother and her sister were indentured from 8 years of age for several years in Budapest. When she was finally able to obtain her freedom she and her sister immigrated to the US. This was in 1912

    • @magesalmanac6424
      @magesalmanac6424 Pƙed rokem

      Immigrated to the US in 1912 you say? 😬 That could have gone terribly wrong. 🚱 🧊

  • @leerequiem
    @leerequiem Pƙed 2 lety +60

    Their humanity was taken away
    No family, friends or hobbies must have been the saddest most monotonous existence for these poor young women

    • @daphne4983
      @daphne4983 Pƙed 2 lety +8

      And the hard work and abuse!

    • @velinas_
      @velinas_ Pƙed 2 lety +2

      Their families were often abusive. The lower classes had and still often have the tendency to perceive their offspring, especially if afab, as a commodity and little else.

    • @shaunsteele8244
      @shaunsteele8244 Pƙed rokem +3

      this was a time when people were expected to take care of themselves from a young age... and if they couldn't, well too bad

    • @BeckBeckGo
      @BeckBeckGo Pƙed 2 měsĂ­ci

      @@shaunsteele8244 Correct, and this is why we consider ourselves more civilized now.

    • @janetpendlebury6808
      @janetpendlebury6808 Pƙed měsĂ­cem

      @@velinas_ It was necessity that caused young children to start work at an early age, it did not mean the parents did not love or care for their children. Lower class or not, parents feel the same for their children as the middle classes and aristocracy. Lower class children went out to work, the higher classes married their children off early for financial or social gain.

  • @-Reagan
    @-Reagan Pƙed 2 lety +63

    The saddest part about this is that it still happens, today right under our noses. There is human slavery, and mostly of girls from countries away from their own, hidden in houses, alienated further by language barriers and lack of their own passports which are kept by the slave owners who call themselves “employers”. When they’re abused, they have no one to tell, and they’re afraid. When they die, they disappear without being reported.
    The owners say a lot of the same things we heard here...
    Talking so much about how much a girl takes advantage of a man, (her employer who has full control over everything she does) but in the same breath insulting her for having a dirty, ragged dress, and apron. Blaming her for her own poverty they caused, and chastised for wanting more.
    Never giving a child a day off or letting it have any money or freedom to leave the house at all. Making her care for all the children, and even dress with a baby in her arms that’s as big as she is, being so young and starved.
    Condemnation of a child who runs away for loneliness and homesickness for her mother... why wouldn’t they just let her see her family? OH it would upset her for weeks??? Weeks she didn’t get to see them, again.
    Or she sees her mother even worse off than she, maybe because she’s not being paid enough to help her family, much less herself. Hire two girls so she wouldn’t be alone? It’s just sickening to me.
    Even giving a girl away when a woman sold her belongings to move. Then, having no sympathy or accountability for her, having given her without knowing or caring where she went. The girl who was abused and now pregnant. Don’t be blind. It’s still happening, just where you don’t notice.

    • @pjewellful2012
      @pjewellful2012 Pƙed rokem +5

      Absolutely! And many adult servants in rich homes almost never see there own children. I’ve always asked if your employer is that damn rich why wouldn’t more just move your kids closer for Pennie’s in comparison to how much they make in a month! It’s sickening that so many people have almost zero empathy. They never stop to consider how to make a servants life just a lil better as it would bring them so much more joy and less loneliness. But yes I agree this standard is still deeply embedded in the culture of the wealthy.

    • @pjewellful2012
      @pjewellful2012 Pƙed rokem +2

      And yes it sickens me as well I wouldn’t be upset at all if all people like this with no empathy just had bad endings.

    • @tunahxushi4669
      @tunahxushi4669 Pƙed rokem +1

      We can start with the NBA who have all their shoes and clothes made by slaves in factories in concentration camps in China. But it would be 'racist' to bring that up I suppose. And all those NBA players would have smaller contracts, and make less Dinero.

    • @danamichelle1290
      @danamichelle1290 Pƙed rokem +3

      You're absolutely right. Most people think this is stuff that only happens it other places.. breaks my heart. I encourage everyone to research signs of forced labor.

  • @andreawannop8670
    @andreawannop8670 Pƙed 2 lety +45

    I live in Hong Kong and this situation still exits commonly in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Middle East, where even people living in a 400 SQ ft flat with 4 other ppl, employ a Domestic Helper, even if they are in lower middle class jobs,, like a taxi driver or a shop assistant. In HK Helpers are from the Philippines or Indonesia. Where Helpers work for people who have a low income, conditions for the Helper are usually the worst.

    • @connynielson8686
      @connynielson8686 Pƙed 2 lety +5

      this is happening a lot in London...lower class foreign workers hiring native Brits as cleaners..some of them with degrees..

    • @nygothuey6607
      @nygothuey6607 Pƙed rokem

      Unfortunately those girls are often tricked by unscrupulous agents that make all sorts of false promises and then end up having to take large chunks of their pay to pay the debt to said agent. It's very sad.

    • @lol4lol993
      @lol4lol993 Pƙed rokem

      Yeah. Hong Kong is modern day Victorian England albeit half of the employers are far from high society. I've seen a grumpy housewife make her Filipino maid stand several feet away while she (the wifey) "indulged" in eating Mc Donald's with her kids; the maid kept watching them with an embarrassed look all over her face and she was carrying a handful of shopping bags - no,not from Chanel or LV or anything fancy ( they were In & Out, Maple and so on those local, budget fast fashion). And then, oh boy the mistress called the maid over and gestured her to discard all the wastage unto the bin! I was watching them from a distance amused and offended at the same time. Seriously, I wanted to give them brood a nice throttle 😂😂 To close the chapter, I saw them walk away with the maid pushing the stroller while still carrying the shopping bags. Felt bad for her.

  • @xandervampire195
    @xandervampire195 Pƙed rokem +20

    Excellent video. These are the parts of history which interest me the most, the everyday life of the average person. I always find that people focus too much on the history of the upper class and ignore the working class despite them making up the majority of the population. Sure, rich folk tended to be behind most of the big events in history but they don't provide us with an accurate representation of society at the time. For that, you need to look at cases like these.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +4

      Thank you! It's great to know you found value in watching this. Lots more videos about the lives of the working class and poor on my channel.

  • @walkwithmeASMR
    @walkwithmeASMR Pƙed 2 lety +30

    It had nothing to do with the colour of your skin in england most of the time. It was whether you were rich or poor.

  • @kerriethompson2073
    @kerriethompson2073 Pƙed 2 lety +141

    You mean the life of a servant isn't as glamorous as Downton Abbey portrayed it to be? I feel like I've been lied to! I'm being sarcastic of course.

    • @jonathanburmeister1946
      @jonathanburmeister1946 Pƙed rokem +8

      You do realize downtown abby depicts a relatively nice household?

    • @mrs.g7795
      @mrs.g7795 Pƙed rokem +11

      @@jonathanburmeister1946 ever heard of sarcasm? Damn bruh lmao went way over your head huh

    • @jonathanredacted3245
      @jonathanredacted3245 Pƙed rokem +3

      Lied to by a royalist no less

    • @weerobot
      @weerobot Pƙed rokem +2

      A Big House Would be Different Thuo...!!

    • @Metal_Horror
      @Metal_Horror Pƙed rokem +4

      @Jonathan Burmeister this guy can't even recognize sarcasm when it's EXPLICITLY POINTED OUT. Everyone point and laugh. đŸ€Ł

  • @brucegibbins3792
    @brucegibbins3792 Pƙed 2 lety +131

    When I see these videos depicting the lives of the poor, used and abused in big British cities I can't but help wondering how my English ancestors lived, worked and socialised. Many thousands escaped the awful lives they lead by emmegration to Britain's colonies where egalitarian societies were hoped for, but were only partially realised. Yet, still much better for many than the life they left behind.

    • @angelamary9493
      @angelamary9493 Pƙed 2 lety +2

      Wasn't just in Britain ..get educated

    • @johnbruce2868
      @johnbruce2868 Pƙed 2 lety +17

      @@angelamary9493 He didn't say it was. Get educated. Learn to read.

    • @Cozmo1090
      @Cozmo1090 Pƙed 2 lety +7

      @@angelamary9493 Calm down Angela.

    • @dezreenmacdowell9967
      @dezreenmacdowell9967 Pƙed 2 lety +2

      How do you become educated without the means to do so??

    • @derekkelly9944
      @derekkelly9944 Pƙed 2 lety

      With industrialisation your ancestors moved from the country to the cities.The trouble was city society was not ready to support all the children ....but see this in context...it was far preferable to the poverty and high mortality that was happening in the countryside when crops or farms failed....there was a steady income for 99 percent of the people who moved to the cities.in the period my family moved around the country to where the wages were....your family heard that the best wages were achieved by getting on a ship....it looks like they made the right choice for them

  • @brianedwards7142
    @brianedwards7142 Pƙed 2 lety +21

    I've come across the term before but I didn't really know there was a specific definition. Those poor sad girls.

  • @eleveneleven572
    @eleveneleven572 Pƙed 2 lety +44

    I have a picture of my mothers grandmother. She was a young irish girl working as a domestic servant in Birmingham.
    What strikes me is that she's a pretty petite girl but her hands look unusually strong, no doubt due to years of manual domestic duties.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +4

      Thank you for your interesting comment. I imagine that manual work was the reason, constantly on the move scrubbing floors or washing clothes, for example. It was hard physical work.

  • @gavinkurn
    @gavinkurn Pƙed 2 lety +18

    It's hard to believe that this still goes on today

  • @anniehope8651
    @anniehope8651 Pƙed rokem +11

    I heard that at least in my country (The Netherlands), rich(er) women mainly promoted this system of slaveys because of their own new status as middle class. They couldn't afford real staff, but they didn't want to do household tasks themselves either. For example, it was not done for the lady of the house to answer the door herself. She needed someone for that. So they established this system where they could have poor girls working for them for barely nothing, under the veil of 'helping' these girls.
    This video also tells how these organisations basically pull the girls away before they can find different occupation, leaving them no choice. That different occupation could be something worse, like prostitution, but also something better, like day maids.
    I do think though, that for many girls it was a way out of even worse circumstances, and at least it was a way of learning a trade, but I don't believe that the middle class women who hired them and started these organisations truly had the best intentions.
    My great grandmother was an orphaned girl who had to work as a slavey. After she married, her husband died within a year (Spanish flu) and she, now unmarried with a baby, had to work as a maid for the rest of her life because she never learned anything else. It has damaged her son (my grandfather) greatly.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +1

      A thought provoking comment and terrible hardship for your great grandmother. Thank you for taking the time to share!

  • @bostonblackie9503
    @bostonblackie9503 Pƙed rokem +10

    It amazes me that this really wasn't that long ago, not only in the UK but in other developed countries, yet no one today seened to know what went on in their great-grandparent or great great-grandparents day.

  • @twichmcvey6065
    @twichmcvey6065 Pƙed rokem +17

    So much of this seemed to blame much of the fears and sadness of the girls on the women they served. Much pain, fear and hurt was brought on by the males of the house, shops and streets for these unprotected and seemingly unwanted girls too.

  • @oppaloopa3698
    @oppaloopa3698 Pƙed 2 lety +18

    I love how you tell the stories of the good folks from the past. Not everyone was abusive or bigoted.

    • @yeoisa
      @yeoisa Pƙed 2 lety +4

      it’s a nice break from the sadness in the world

  • @PoisonelleMisty4311
    @PoisonelleMisty4311 Pƙed 4 měsĂ­ci +2

    Thank you for shedding light on the harsh realities faced by young girls in domestic service during the Victorian era. Your detailed account serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of supporting vulnerable individuals and advocating for their rights.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 4 měsĂ­ci +1

      You’re welcome. Thank you very much.

  • @mabel8179
    @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem +5

    My maternal grandmother, born in 1903, was from a large family who lived in a cottage with no running water ( she had to go and carry buckets back from a well and was a tiny person), no bathroom and an outside privy. In the 1920s she worked as a nanny and maid of all work for a middle class family. She was there for many years until she met my Grandpa and got married. Incidentally the cottage still exists!

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +1

      I'm sure she worked long hours as a nanny and maid. Thank you for sharing your story.

  • @emmaransford
    @emmaransford Pƙed 2 lety +19

    The exploitation of children is evil 😈 😱 😔

  • @Matelot123
    @Matelot123 Pƙed 2 lety +21

    Brilliant! The sad tale of an all too common life for so many children and young girls. I shudder to think about the kinds of treatment they received at the hands of unscrupulous masters. A sad tale of an all too common way of life that is, thankfully, mostly disappeared. Thank you!

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem

      Depends who you are and where you live. I've read about poor immigrant girls from developing countries recruited and "employed" by rich Middle Eastern families working for little or no money, passports confiscated, not allowed to go out and working from morning til night.

  • @robynneblissett6510
    @robynneblissett6510 Pƙed rokem +6

    Here to appreciate the top quality attention to the audio of your videos, it warms my soul. As well as the subject!

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem

      I appreciate that! Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.

  • @richsclageter521
    @richsclageter521 Pƙed 2 lety +7

    It seems from where I'm standing regarding the economy this topic could be closer now than we want to think about.

  • @NoName-sd9qc
    @NoName-sd9qc Pƙed 2 lety +10

    Thank you for taking the time & effort to share these.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      Glad you like them! Thanks for being a regular viewer.

  • @hufficag
    @hufficag Pƙed 2 lety +31

    Kinda reminds me of my ex-girlfriend in China, living in the village in a 19th century house without AC. Her mom works in a factory sweatshop making underwear and can barely provide her with money for school and lunch and hospital visits so I send her a few hundred bucks a month. Being a high school dropout, well if it weren't for this booming economy in China these few decades, there wouldn't be many good prospects except marriage.

    • @heyokaempath5802
      @heyokaempath5802 Pƙed 2 lety +6

      She's your exgf and you still send her money? You're an angel, Nick, a really good guy. đŸ‘đŸ»

    • @brucegibbins3792
      @brucegibbins3792 Pƙed 2 lety +3

      @@heyokaempath5802 perhaps this apparent largess had underlying benefits such as tax right offs for foreign aid payments?

    • @daphne4983
      @daphne4983 Pƙed 2 lety

      ❀❀❀

  • @Lauranna
    @Lauranna Pƙed 2 lety +8

    You make the most fascinating history videos. I could listen to them all day

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      It’s great that you enjoyed the narration! Thank you for viewing and taking the time to comment.

  • @susannahdyro9518
    @susannahdyro9518 Pƙed 2 lety +10

    I watched this again for a second time now I understand why they called them slavies. So very sad 😔

  • @mijiyoon5575
    @mijiyoon5575 Pƙed 2 lety +9

    Never heard this term *slavies* before ... *TY FF* I agree that children like to be around other children

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      It must have been quite a shock and very lonely for children that came from large families. Thank you for watching.

  • @aryanofpersia
    @aryanofpersia Pƙed 2 lety +9

    Amazing as always! Keep up the fantastic work, we love this channel!

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      I really appreciate your support, thank you! I’ve got lots more ideas for future content.

  • @ahuddleston6512
    @ahuddleston6512 Pƙed 2 lety +10

    Noooo! I'm an hour late!!!đŸ˜Č You've rekindled my fascination with the Victorian era.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +3

      Great! The Victorian era is fascinating... though, of course, dark and disturbing too. Thanks for being a regular viewer.

  • @tinyGrim1
    @tinyGrim1 Pƙed 2 lety +11

    Thank you. Hope you are well 🙂

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      I'm well, thank you. Much appreciated.

  • @samplastik13
    @samplastik13 Pƙed 2 lety +9

    Anyone who glorifies the past should listen to one of those

  • @francapascoe7822
    @francapascoe7822 Pƙed rokem +5

    Great episode I appreciate these episodes love history thanks so much

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem

      I'm glad you found the topic so interesting. Thank you!

  • @patricialong5767
    @patricialong5767 Pƙed 2 lety +7

    And you thought YOU had it bad, right? Listen to this video!

  • @susannahdyro9518
    @susannahdyro9518 Pƙed 2 lety +8

    Wow that is sad 😔 children should be children it is a very 😔

  • @Tatiana_Palii
    @Tatiana_Palii Pƙed 5 měsĂ­ci +1

    This reminds me of a short story by Chekhov. It's about a very young overworked slavey, who was so sleep-deprived that she strangled the baby she was supposed to look after, because it was constantly crying.

  • @lilybelle5930
    @lilybelle5930 Pƙed 2 lety +6

    I really enjoyed learning about this. Thank you

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      I’m really glad you found value in this topic. Thank you for your comment.

  • @joeasthope2064
    @joeasthope2064 Pƙed 2 lety +5

    One of my distance grandmas was put into service as a child

  • @michelelyons9410
    @michelelyons9410 Pƙed rokem +1

    This is the kind of thing that should be taught in schools. Everybody today thinks that black slavery was the only kind, but this kind was more endemic. These girls were not technically slaves, but in reality, their lives were exactly the same. Not only in the working conditions but in other ways. In rich households, the sexual abuse of female servants by the men of the rich family was typical. Rich men saw nothing wrong in raping and abusing servants, male or female. And if a girl got pregnant after being forced or raped? Well, the society then called them "bad girls" and "fallen women", as if they were to blame, instead of their male attackers. Often, girls in this condition would be thrown out into the street to starve. If the girl was lucky, she would be kept employed in the house, or in some other rich house, and her baby would be raised to be a servant in that house. It was common for some servants in rich houses to be the illegitimate children of the rich house owners, or of their rich friends. These people's lives were every bit as miserable as any slave brought from Africa.

  • @Khatoon170
    @Khatoon170 Pƙed 2 lety +18

    Last part of my research in addition their wages they were provided with meals and clothes accommodation was often given working in service provided opportunities for servants to progress professionally through hard work thrift little luck greatly majority of female domestic servants get married about 25 years old victorian age 1800 called maid scullery the maid performed most strenuous tasks in kitchen such as mopping scrounging surfaces cleaning dishes. Hannah cullwick born in 1833 died in 1909 she was diarist who wrote about relationships between Victorian servants their masters worked her life as maid servant in 1854 she met Arthur munby man of two world upper class author poet with lifelong obsession of law class women began their strange secret romance for eighteen years marriage she wrote diaries written on munby suggestions offer absorbing account of life blew stairs in Victorian England these diaries are remarkable historical document thank you for giving us chance to read learn new information improve our English language as well we appreciate your efforts as foreigners subscribers as overseas students stay safe blessed best wishes for you your family friends.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      An interesting story. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

  • @JudyFayLondon
    @JudyFayLondon Pƙed rokem +5

    Poor little girls.

  • @Perfidious_Hollow
    @Perfidious_Hollow Pƙed 2 lety +4

    Thanks for the vid!

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      A pleasure. Hope you enjoyed!

  • @lisamasters3655
    @lisamasters3655 Pƙed 2 lety +11

    Sad

  • @sleepyjones9625
    @sleepyjones9625 Pƙed rokem +3

    Poor babies what kind of sick fool could treat kids that way

  • @hufficag
    @hufficag Pƙed 2 lety +13

    16:27 She charges for his coal 3 times as much as she pays herself. In China here the landlord or the building manager usually charges double for electricity, pocketing the difference. Hot summers get expensive with AC, like hundreds of dollars for the wealthy, and using the fan for the normal people.

    • @kellyedey8573
      @kellyedey8573 Pƙed 2 lety +1

      Watch the video’s on china as you seem extremely taken by china, I wonder why?.

  • @jesney0842
    @jesney0842 Pƙed rokem +3

    Ugly and horrible life if you were born into a poor and destitute family.
    Awful.

  • @sammydingdong4540
    @sammydingdong4540 Pƙed 2 lety +15

    Never forget John Majors plea for us all to go back to Victorian values great for him and his type awful for everyone else.

  • @blueneeson9888
    @blueneeson9888 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    Thanks For Another Interesting Video From Blue

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      Much appreciated! Thank you for being a regular viewer.

  • @theresasalazar5822
    @theresasalazar5822 Pƙed 2 lety +5

    Cruelty to children

  • @PIERRECLARY
    @PIERRECLARY Pƙed rokem +1

    Another "good" one, showing the awful trap the young pregnant "in service" young teen was .... a catalogue of the " patent medicines" to get rid of " female obstructions" sold over the counter (unwanted side effects explained too) for a small fortune at the chemists' would be an enlightening subject for a video ...
    as usual a very good work! I love your channel!

  • @juliajs1752
    @juliajs1752 Pƙed měsĂ­cem

    Being taken in "without character" means without written recommendation from their previous employment. Having one's "character" withheld was the worst thing that could happen because few proper houses would hire someone who "obviously" had been dismissed for gross negligence, theft or other failures.

  • @janstaz
    @janstaz Pƙed 2 lety +11

    Hopefully if they got a nice house they might be ok. But I don't imagine many did.

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem

      There was one mentioned who had a nice situation as a lady's maid. On this occasion it was probably down to the lady of the house being a nice, kind woman, who may have been a bit lonely herself. She might have had a "family approved marriage"- that is cajoled into marrying a man she didn't love, but was well off and with the right social standing and with family approval. The house may have been several miles away from her family home and friends, so she too, might have had little social contact with familiar people and left alone a lot when her husband went to his gentleman's club of an evening, and perhaps he was a business owner and caught up with that in the day. The maid would have related to the loneliness of the lady of the house and perhaps they bonded over it.

  • @Cozmo1090
    @Cozmo1090 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    Great content as always man. Was there many social documentations of foreigners in serfdom era Russia? Just wondering if you know?

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety +1

      That's an interesting subject. I don't know of any sources, though that's not to say there aren't. I think a lot could be in Russian rather than translated.

    • @Cozmo1090
      @Cozmo1090 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@FactFeast Yes that's true I didn't think of that.

  • @julieweiner1623
    @julieweiner1623 Pƙed 2 lety +5

    Poor are always exploited by the rich. Nothing changes but the date

  • @peggybrem2848
    @peggybrem2848 Pƙed 2 lety +16

    I’m surprised that the churches didn’t do more to help & teach these vulnerable young ladies.🙏

    • @MarianneKat
      @MarianneKat Pƙed 2 lety +13

      Society at that time looked at those in poverty as deserving. There were church services provided to the poor, but it was barely enough to scratch the surface compared to the need.

    • @brucegibbins3792
      @brucegibbins3792 Pƙed 2 lety

      The Church was an integral part of the upper reaches of the British class system. Not known as an institution that offered much more than salvation in the afterlife if certain standards of behaviour were met. Now while there were ministers who administered to the wretched poor and outcast, there were costs involved.
      Not the least of which was the abandonment of alcohol, a common and easily obtained panacea at the time. This, along with the acceptance and acknowledgement that God is great and watching over them. A bitter paradox and a betrayal if indeed the word of God was believed. Booze offered a more immediate easing of their dreadful existence if only for the time when they became comatose from an excess of bathtub gin.

    • @alexf9381
      @alexf9381 Pƙed rokem +4

      Many christian charities did do exactly that at the time. But there were simply too many kids/teens in need. The numbers were too high for them all to be helped.

    • @shaunsteele8244
      @shaunsteele8244 Pƙed rokem +2

      the church did all they could, but they couldn't help everyone. This was a time before contraception was really a thing, and poor people were popping out 10-12 children without a means of providing for them.

    • @sandyn3384
      @sandyn3384 Pƙed rokem

      Are you kidding me? An ancient, misogynistic, archaic patriarchal cult caring about women and girls? Get outta here lol. Religion is the enemy of women.

  • @imagecollections6665
    @imagecollections6665 Pƙed rokem

    We have a terraced house built around 1900 . It has stairs into the attic room. When we moved in, 2 older relatives insisted that the top floor was where the servants would have lived lol.

  • @tinaleechooa1736
    @tinaleechooa1736 Pƙed rokem +3

    These are the kind of people who take advantage of anyone's innocence and poverty!

  • @Khatoon170
    @Khatoon170 Pƙed 2 lety +13

    How are you doing sir although the Victorian age as I mentioned very sad time especially for low class but deserves reading as always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s British census in 1891 founded that 103 milion of girls , women worked as domestic servants in Victorian England they were recruited between age of 10 and 13 after they had been through some elementary schooling . The maids had most grueling job of all they had to do all chores for house they often working from 6 in morning until 10 at night with very little off female servants they launder , sew , empty chamber post dust haul water for bath light fire shop helping mistress with appearance including makeup hairdressing clothing jewelry shoes . Female servants worked 17 hours with time off limited to church on Sundays morning one afternoon a week. They slept usually near kitchen they wear uniform called miss eat roast mutten veal Irish stew .mistreatment of servants was commonplace young maids were especially vulnerable to being sexually exploited once hired themselves in house hold in which strict unreachable hierarchy blew stairs

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      Thank you for sharing this information. Very interesting!

  • @meravbinyamin3203
    @meravbinyamin3203 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    It’s so sad,my heart aches

  • @angr3819
    @angr3819 Pƙed 2 lety +5

    Thank you

  • @emmaphilo4049
    @emmaphilo4049 Pƙed rokem +4

    You have a great voice👍👍👍👍

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem +2

      Great to know you enjoy the narration, thank you!

  • @devlevine2782
    @devlevine2782 Pƙed 2 lety +6

    Great GrandMother went into service at age 11

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      So young to have to work and leave your family. It must have been hard.

    • @devlevine2782
      @devlevine2782 Pƙed 2 lety +2

      @@FactFeast Mum said at least her Mum was fed,dressed and learned how to read and write abit. Heartbreakers just a child

  • @chrismiller6730
    @chrismiller6730 Pƙed 2 lety +2

    Forget victorian England,we and fellow poor people are virtually there

  • @brendapartin1159
    @brendapartin1159 Pƙed rokem +3

    This also happened in the USA.

  • @susanmyers1899
    @susanmyers1899 Pƙed 2 lety +1

    It was like that everywhere.

  • @pipa8471
    @pipa8471 Pƙed 2 lety +4

    It was merely luck was your only option in them days đŸ˜Ș

  • @Wheelchairspeeder
    @Wheelchairspeeder Pƙed 28 dny +1

    Next time my niece gripes about helping around the house ill show her dad this to show her she doesn't have it so bad loading the dishwasher and taking out the trash and cleaning the litter box isn't anything like a gal her age had to do in 1800s vs 2024

  • @cathywatson7261
    @cathywatson7261 Pƙed 2 lety +7

    Just like fighting for cna wages

    • @AFMMarcelD
      @AFMMarcelD Pƙed 2 lety +2

      I wholeheartedly agree Cathy, I worked as a cna for 4 hard years, it took me only a few days in the beginning of those 4 years to realize that I better go to school and improve or else I’ll b a CNA for the rest of my life, long story short, I huffed and puffed and put myself through Respiratory School, last year I finally retired after 39 years as an RT + 4 as a CNA although I was a CNA between 1979 through 1983 wages back then were as bad as they are now, I remember that as cna’s we worked so hard without concessions or consideration, the threat to get fired was very real.
      If you are a cna you too can enhance your future, everything is possible with commitment and an iron will, I had no parents to back me up nor pay for my studies, I did it, and you can do it too, no one’s better or stronger than you are.

  • @rollowarlin8450
    @rollowarlin8450 Pƙed 2 lety +6

    Back then they had children working naked in the hot coal mines with adults.

    • @missolesoul
      @missolesoul Pƙed 2 lety +2

      I have never heard of that. Was that in Great Britain? I can imagine it's true.

    • @leecooper1047
      @leecooper1047 Pƙed rokem +1

      That is sick! đŸ˜·

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem

      @@missolesoul Yes it is true. And boys were sent up chimneys to clean them, and of course many fell and died. Also children as young as 6 were working in the cotton mills going under the machines and picking up threads. About aged 12 some were working the machines too. Many got injured and lost fingers and even legs.

  • @alicerivierre
    @alicerivierre Pƙed 2 lety +10

    "Slavey"? I'm sure this doesn't relate to the term "slave". God that sounded gruesome! BTW, I was sarcastic in my first sentence.

    • @kellyedey8573
      @kellyedey8573 Pƙed 2 lety +1

      What is that about the physios that you would be sarcastic?.

    • @kellyedey8573
      @kellyedey8573 Pƙed 2 lety

      Video.

    • @heyokaempath5802
      @heyokaempath5802 Pƙed 2 lety +4

      I think that is exactly what it means, as if making the name sound cutesy makes it less horrid. Truly horrific.

    • @richsclageter521
      @richsclageter521 Pƙed 2 lety

      Room and board and a small wage in exchange for work say on a farm might be better than the cost of a car and gas and overpriced rent. Just saying......

    • @mrjones2721
      @mrjones2721 Pƙed 2 lety +4

      @@richsclageter521 Not when your workday was 18 hours long, you had one half-day off a week, and you weren’t allowed to have friends or to date. (Employers hated it when their maids had boyfriends.) Plus your employer had near-total control over you, including changing your name if your real name was “too fancy for a maid.”

  • @josephcieplak8920
    @josephcieplak8920 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    Which silent movie is that one?

  • @leesadexter7187
    @leesadexter7187 Pƙed rokem

    At 8.53 there's a hand on one of the girls shoulder..who's is it?

  • @leecooper1047
    @leecooper1047 Pƙed rokem +1

    This world is sick! đŸ˜·

  • @emmaphilo4049
    @emmaphilo4049 Pƙed rokem +1

    Inequalities are so disgusting

  • @miisu111
    @miisu111 Pƙed 2 lety

    What silet movie from scenes

  • @Armstrong.N
    @Armstrong.N Pƙed rokem +1

    We only hear about slavery, but at least slaves had a value. These people did not. They were expendable.

  • @jendagesse4524
    @jendagesse4524 Pƙed 2 lety +6

    Poor kids 😞

  • @ingvarhallstrom2306
    @ingvarhallstrom2306 Pƙed rokem +3

    Ah, the good old days, when the English had an empire and treated the poor like they treated the natives in the colonies....

  • @xXSKAVENXx
    @xXSKAVENXx Pƙed rokem

    Lord Nelson Approves of this.

  • @justsayain9794
    @justsayain9794 Pƙed 2 lety

    Dan Fielding has entered chat::

  • @EvanBear
    @EvanBear Pƙed 2 lety +2

    Oh so basically they're what I was to my family...

  • @osamabeenrobbin
    @osamabeenrobbin Pƙed rokem +1

    Handmaid's tale

    • @visuallyeducated
      @visuallyeducated Pƙed 9 měsĂ­ci

      Seriously đŸ€ŁđŸ€ŁđŸ€ŁđŸ€Ł handmaids tale is fictional . This actually happened.

  • @vickywitton1008
    @vickywitton1008 Pƙed 2 lety +2

    Thought they were called "maid-of-all-work"?

    • @mrjones2721
      @mrjones2721 Pƙed 2 lety +2

      That was the normal term. “Slavey” was crass and slangy.

    • @floraposteschild4184
      @floraposteschild4184 Pƙed rokem +2

      @@mrjones2721 Crass, slangy and more accurate.

  • @okie-kan9240
    @okie-kan9240 Pƙed rokem +1

    Gee alphabet agencies existed back then , wow.

  • @AngiesCousin
    @AngiesCousin Pƙed rokem

    Was the Daisy character of Downton a slavey?

    • @mabel8179
      @mabel8179 Pƙed rokem +2

      No, not really. She was working in a big posh house and most servants wanted this kind of position where you'd be better fed, have the chance to work your way up to housekeeper, or butler and have other servants to befriend.

    • @magesalmanac6424
      @magesalmanac6424 Pƙed rokem +1

      I think she would have been a scullery maid, still very hard work but nicer employers and treatment.

    • @SusanLynn656
      @SusanLynn656 Pƙed měsĂ­cem

      She was not a slavey. Her position was a desirable one in that ancestral home. Daisy was doing grunt work for the cook as well as learning the trade from her.

  • @LadyCash29
    @LadyCash29 Pƙed rokem

    Well, at least they were paid.đŸ€·â€â™€ïžđŸ€·â€â™€ïž

  • @denisedalton8399
    @denisedalton8399 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    I always thought the term was 'SKIVY'?

    • @johnbruce2868
      @johnbruce2868 Pƙed 2 lety +7

      The etymology of "skivvy" is uncertain, but I wonder if it had it's origins in "skive" or "skiver", either to avoid work or descriptive of a person who avoids work? The young women forced into menial domestic service were compelled to work long hours in horribly, boring, occupations for a pittance without compassion for their effort and personal circumstances. Any failure to work to the optimum was not tolerated. If they didn't comply,they were easily replaced and loss of the position, with bad references or no references, would have the terrible consequences of penury, destitution with people forced into prostitution. The word "slavey" exists separately in Victorian Britain but was probably intended for the same class of person. In short, given Britain was at the forefront of banning international slavey, it continued to employ the poorest and most vulnerable classes of its own citizens in a manner understood to be tantamount to slavery. Children in the mills and mines were treated in the same way.

    • @michaelsexton5573
      @michaelsexton5573 Pƙed 2 lety +3

      I've never heard the term slavey before

    • @mrjones2721
      @mrjones2721 Pƙed 2 lety

      Skivvy was a more common term. “Slavey” was considered crass.

  • @lanacampbell-moore6686
    @lanacampbell-moore6686 Pƙed 2 lety +9

    Fact Feast You Are An Awesome Educator & I Appreciate You Thanks For All Your Work!!!đŸ˜ŠđŸ€

  • @susannahdyro9518
    @susannahdyro9518 Pƙed 2 lety +2

    Can someone tell me why they call them slaveies

    • @daphne4983
      @daphne4983 Pƙed 2 lety +4

      Cause they were e seen as slaves

    • @susannahdyro9518
      @susannahdyro9518 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@daphne4983 thanks for clearing that up for me

  • @destaniedillard1001
    @destaniedillard1001 Pƙed rokem +2

    Hello

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed rokem

      Hello and thanks for visiting!

  • @Cozmo1090
    @Cozmo1090 Pƙed 2 lety +3

    Thanks! Have a tea on me man.

    • @FactFeast
      @FactFeast  Pƙed 2 lety

      Thank you so Much! That's really kind of you. I'll enjoy a tea :)

  • @dondamon4669
    @dondamon4669 Pƙed 4 měsĂ­ci

    Its crazy to watch this but know that Britain has the best history out of nearly every other country. Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Africa etc were all monsters compared to Britain