While there are popular and academic books on servants and domestic service, as well as television dramas and documentaries, little attention has been paid to the sources family historians can use to explore the lives and careers of their servant ancestors. Michelle Higgss accessible and authoritative handbook has been written to serve just this purpose.
Practical guide to the history of lunatic asylums and the lives of their patients.
Life in a workhouse during the Victorian and Edwardian eras has been popularly characterised as a brutal existence. This book establishes a true picture of what life was like in a workhouse, of why inmates entered them and of what they had to endure in their day-to-day routine.
Each section identifies the archives and records that family historians can turn to, and discusses the potential sources including the internet.
Michelle Higgs combines a rich narrative of the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian England that will fascinate social history lovers with original sources helpful for students of the period. This title will also appeal to the audience captivated by recent popular costume dramas such as Ripper Street and Downton Abbey.
While most domestic service memoirs focus on just one individual, this book will cover a range of 'forgotten stories' and different figures, from the boot boy to the butler, kitchen maid to lady's maid.