The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era (25 page)

Lady Mary, of course, is close to Anna, perhaps more so than to anyone else, other than her fiancé, Matthew. They may have more of a shared history than we realise. ‘Julian told me that it is possible that they would have played together as children,’ says Froggatt. ‘Or at least encountered each other. Anna probably grew up on the estate or nearby.’ It’s rather telling, then, that Anna never mentions her family. If they are local, why did no one come to her wedding? She never talks about them, yet one wouldn’t imagine her to be the sort of person to abandon her family. Either they left her to live elsewhere or they all died in some sort of horrible epidemic, which seems rather brutal, or she is someone who keeps herself entirely to herself. This latter seems to me the most likely. For all her kindness – which is true – something has made her close herself off from most of the world. Both she and Bates share this emotional reserve, however sweet and open they are with each other.

We catch Lady Mary at her most unguarded with her maid, as when she turned to her after discovering Kemal Pamuk has died in her bed. Then there was the time she held her sobs until her mother and sisters had left the room and only Anna remained, after hearing the news that Matthew had become engaged to Lavinia Swire. One wonders whether the feelings are reciprocated. ‘She has a close relationship with Lady Mary,’ says Froggatt. ‘But she understands that her world is not just about material things. Everyone’s life has its problems. And the problems faced by Lady Mary and the family can be huge. Worrying about preserving the house, the way of life, the traditions. She prefers the world that she knows.’

Now that Lady Mary is planning to get married, she wants Anna formally appointed as her own lady’s maid, but Mrs Hughes is unable to replace her as head housemaid quickly enough to release her. For now, Anna must juggle her duties, which is not an easy thing for her to do. Hierarchy permeates every part of Downton Abbey, and the housemaids are not excepted. As one junior maid of the early twentieth century recalled: ‘Wherever we went about the house together, such as to meals or to do the lunch and dinnertime tidying, the housemaids – Alice, Emma and myself – walked in single file; as we approached a door, I had to walk forward, open it, and stand aside while they passed through.’

The same divisions were applied to the housework. As a maid in another establishment described it: ‘We each had our allotted task [when tidying the drawing room while the family were having lunch]. In this house with three housemaids, Annie, the head, would straighten the newspapers and magazines … Florence, the second housemaid, shook up the cushions and emptied the ashtrays. I, being the third, swept the ashes into a pile under the grate, and folded the towels and cleaned the washbasin in the cloakroom.’ When cleaning the rooms in the morning, before the family had got up, the head housemaid was expected to undertake all the delicate tasks herself – dusting the most valuable objects and the finest pieces of furniture. In the new era of labour-saving devices, the head housemaid would be put in charge of these, too – not that Anna is terribly excited by them.

Awaiting her formal promotion, Anna must remain as head housemaid, and therefore in uniform. At least for this series she, and the other maids, have new uniforms for the first time since the beginning of the programme. This was done to give them a more contemporary look. For their black evening dresses, the hemlines are up and off the ankle for 1920, the skirt is narrower, and instead of puffed sleeves and a high neck, there is a collar. Their day dress, which they wear to do the cleaning in, is a more modern print, although in the same green as before, and there is a double-breasted button detail on the plastron (the front breast panel). The maids wear rather prettier T-bar shoes instead of ankle boots. Everything has a simpler finish to it and the head frills have moved forward.

For all the hard work of a head housemaid, it may be that there are elements of her career advancement Anna is happy to leave for the moment, as there will be many new responsibilities to take on when she becomes a lady’s maid proper. For example, if Anna were to join Lady Mary on trips or overnight visits she would be expected to oversee many of the practicalities of the journey, starting with the packing. As one lady’s maid recalled, this was a process fraught with trouble: ‘Choosing what to take wasn’t easy. Mistresses before they leave are apt to be a bit hasty and short with you with their “Oh, the usual things, you know what I like,” or “I’ll leave it to you, Rose,” but when you get to the other end and you haven’t brought what they want it’s a very different story, and you are to blame. I soon learnt to be relentless in my questions of them.’

Choosing what to pack was one thing; ironing and folding it all, quite another. A lady’s maid would take primary charge of her mistress’s finest clothes, petticoats and underclothes, all of which required hand-washing, delicate mending and ironing. Up until the First World War, ironing was done with heavy, solid, cast-iron irons, which had to be heated up on the stove. They often picked up smuts while they were being heated, didn’t stay hot for long and were consequently far from constant in temperature as they ironed. As one long-suffering maid recalled: ‘Either the iron was too hot, which caused a brown mark called a burn, or else it was too cold which caused a brown mark called iron mould, and well-meant efforts to remove either by dipping them in blue water merely turned the material pea green. It was a heartbreaking, back-breaking business.’

Bates and Anna’s relationship
has been tested time and time
again, but their relationship
strengthens with every challenge.

Once the luggage was packed, it was the lady’s maid who had to get her mistress’s trunks safely stowed onto the train or ship. Successful maids soon learnt that they were much aided in this if they handsomely tipped a guard or porter; then they, the cases and hat boxes would be well looked after. When boarding a train it was important not only to secure a good first-class compartment for your mistress but also to make sure that there was a good third-class compartment close by for yourself.

Edith
Bates is older than you and
you’re as happy as lovebirds.

Anna
Well, our situation is hardly ideal,
but yes, we’re very happy together.

Edith
Which is all that matters.
As I keep telling them.

With her husband in prison, the question of being married while in service is not raised for the moment. As Lord Grantham is so fond of both Anna and Bates, there will be no difficulty for them if they are united again under his roof (he has promised them a cottage on the estate). But in many large households, romantic relationships between the staff were frowned upon. This was partly a matter of morals, an area usually presided over by a straight-backed housekeeper and butler. Despite the best efforts to keep the sexes separate, ‘a lot went on’ between young footmen and housemaids. One butler warned all the young males under his care against ruining their futures ‘for the sake of five minutes’ excitement’. And it was worse for the maids: if they became pregnant they were dismissed. But even stable relationships were not always welcomed. In some houses they, too, were a sackable offence. Sir Colin and Lady Keppel’s housemaid, stepping out with the butler, had to make sure they were never seen arriving back at the house together – he would stay in the village to have a drink, returning later. Nevertheless, many marriages did take place between servants in these large households. It could scarcely be otherwise. As one Lancashire butler said, ‘You mostly married domestics; they were the only ones you ever met. Butlers always married a housemaid or a kitchen maid, or a lady’s maid sometimes.’

For a woman servant, marriage often meant the end of her life in service – but not always. It was only with the arrival of children that it became inevitable. With Bates behind bars, this does not look likely for Anna for quite some time. It will be a cause of sadness – one of Anna’s happiest moments was when Bates was telling her of his plans to get them a country house hotel, so that they could raise their children around them while they worked together. Until he is released, her own future is as bleak, as shut up behind steel doors, as that of her husband. Despite the many obstructions they have so far overcome to be together, this is the hardest one of all and depends on her alone to thwart it. But, surely, if anyone can do it, Anna can.

As a lady’s maid, Anna would have kept abreast of the
latest fashions in dress and hairstyles. Although the
new ‘Marcel wave’ was supposed to be a simple, low
-maintenance hairstyle, it took considerable practice to
get it right. Many lady’s maids practised on themselves.

The very limited social welfare
provided by the state in 1920 –
and the capability of many newly
emancipated upper- and middle-
class women – persuaded women
like Isobel Crawley to throw
themselves into charitable work.
One such initiative was the Personal
Service Association, founded by
Lady Salisbury, Margot Asquith and
others, for those women who wanted
to give time rather than money to
schemes of social improvement.