104625894 the servant problem

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manage servants. The change in the nature of domestic service meant that housewives were

forced to renegotiate their relationships with their servants. This renegotiation left middle

class women feeling that they lacked authority over their servants and within their home.

Selina Todd highlights that, based upon census figures, the numbers of women working

in domestic service actually increased between 1921 and 1931, due to the scarcity of other

jobs available for working class women, as the government gave priority in the workplace to

returning soldiers.7 The rate of decline of domestic service has been the focus of some debate

amongst historians, who argue that middle class fears of a disintegrating servant class were

unfounded. However, Judy Giles argues that the social implications of the servant problem

are in fact the most important aspect for historians to study. Giles argues that it is enough to

recognise that there was considerable middle class anxiety about the perceived lack of

domestic servants and the implications that this would have for the lifestyle of the middle

classes.8 Joanne Hollows agrees with Giles, arguing that while the rate of decline can be

debated, and the idea of a servant problem and the anxiety which surrounded it, was one of

the most significant aspects to middle class feminine identity at the time,9 regardless of

whether the problem was real or perceived. In order to understand the servant problem from

the middle class perspective, this essay will focus on a series of cartoons by Daily Mail

cartoonist W. K. Haselden, which satirize the new, uncertain position the middle class

housewife found herself in during the interwar years as she attempted to deal with the servant

problem. Alongside Haseldens cartoons, The Times reports on the servant problem will be

examined. As newspapers with mainly middle-class readerships, both theDaily Mailand The

Times are excellent resources from which to build a picture of the middle class reaction to the

servant problem. The essay will also reference E. M. Delafields novel, The provincial lady,

printed in 1930. The novel details the trials of an upper middle class lady as she attempts to

retain and manage her household staff. The novel was originally printed in the magazine

Time and tide, which also was written for a middle class audience.

W. K. Haselden was one of the most celebrated British cartoonists of the early twentieth

century.10 He had worked for the Daily Mirror since 1904, and by the interwar period, he was

well recognised and his cartoons received much attention.11 The cartoons, by nature, are

7S. Todd, Young women, work and family 19181950, (Oxford, 2005), p. 23.

8J. Giles, Women, identity and private life in Britain, p. 135.

9J. Hollows, Science and spells, p. 24

10D. L. LeManhieu,A culture for democracy: mass communication and the cultivated mind in Britain between

the wars (New York, 1998), p. 70.11Colin Seymour-Ure, Cartoons in B. Franklin,Pulling newspapers apart: analysing print journalism (Oxon,

2008), p. 75.


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exaggerated, firstly for comic effect and secondly to make their message instantly clear

within just a few frames. However, Haseldens work went beyond simple gags. Haselden

used his cartoons as light social commentary and thus his work is at the editorial end of

the cartoon spectrum.12Haselden rarely chose political subjects for his cartoons, preferring

instead to concentrate on the small ironies and amusing reversals of middle class life.13 Thus

the servant problem was a perfect topic for Haselden, due to the changing nature of the

relationship between middle class women and servants. The theme of his cartoons would be

instantly recognisable to theDaily Mails middle class readership, who would empathise with

the cartoon housewife as she struggles with servant keeping. As Colin Seymour-Ure explains,

Haseldens cartoons are reactive; they reflect current contemporary subjects.14 The cartoons

reveal important insights about how middle class housewives attempted to cling on to their

domestic service. For the benefit of the middle-class audience,15the cartoons poke fun at the

servants. Haselden portrays the servants new demands as unreasonable and ridiculous, and

the servants as lazy or incompetent. However, the middle class housewife does not escape

ridicule either, as the cartoons highlight the lengths which women were prepared to go to, to

keep their role as mistress of their home.16 While Haseldens cartoons exaggerate to

emphasise his point, these cartoons were a reinforcement of the notion that modern working

class women were more independent and less subservient than ever before.17

Haseldens cartoons reveal the feminine nature of the servant problem. Men are only

present as background characters, and it is the housewives who are depicted trying to deal

with the problem by themselves, or with the help of agencies or female friends. The man of

the house features in Fashion and furniture, however it is only to demonstrate his removal

from domestic matters.18 He makes a brief appearance from behind his newspaper to

distractedly agree to his wifes request that the maids uniform be changed. The cartoons

show that the servant problem affected the middle class housewife more than any other

member of the middle class family. Haseldens cartoons support Deirdre Beddoes argument

that the burden of dealing with the servant problem fell on the housewifes shoulders. 19 As

the cartoons show, it was the housewife who attempted to find new servants, manage

12Colin Seymour-Ure, Cartoons, p. 75.

13D. L. LeManhieu,A culture for democracy, p. 70.

14C. Seymour-Ure, Cartoons, p. 76.

15A. Bingham, Gender, modernity and the popular press in inter-war Britain (New York, 2004), p. 68.

16W. K. Haselden,How to find a maid, 1930.

17

A. Bingham, Gender, modernity and the popular press,p. 69.18W. K. Haselden,Fashion and furniture, 1923.

19D. Beddoe,Back to home and duty, p. 103.


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disgruntled servants, or cope without domestic service by taking on more housework

herself.20

As Haselden demonstrates, managing servants caused much anxiety for middle class

women. Without servants, middle class women felt that they were too tied to household

chores, which they were not trained to carry out and which they viewed as an unworthy

occupation for women of their status. In 1918, the Daily Mirror lamented that until the

servant problem is solved there can be no emancipation for women.21 The servant problem

reduced the amount of free time which middle class women used to visit friends, read, or

engage in charitable activities.22 Instead, they had to spend time trying to find suitable staff,

or becoming involved in some aspects of housework herself if suitable staff could not be

found. Delafields Provincial Lady expresses frustration at the terrific amount of time and

energy which she has to expend in exhausting23 searches to find new domestic staff at the

expense of her literary activity, while husband reads The Times after dinner, and then goes to

sleep.24 While middle class mens lives were largely unaffected by the servant shortage,

middle class women knew that if servants could not be found, her daily life would be

completely changed. The majority of letters printed in The Times, which discuss possible the

servant problem, are from middle class women who sign themselves as anxious and

suffering housewives, asking for help to deal with the crisis.

However, despite the heavy burden of the servant problem, middle class housewives did

not challenge the idea that the problem should be managed by them. Middle class womens

role and identity within the home and within society was inextricably linked to her role as

mistress of her household,25 and therefore they believed it was correct that the burdens of the

servant problem fell on her shoulders. Judy Giles argues that in fact, being able to talk about

the servant problem became a mark of social standing. Middle class women, who loudly

lamented the absurd shortage of servants and their trials in finding a satisfactory servant,

were identifying themselves as belonging to a specific social group via their insertion in a

domestic order that, whilst their responsibility, required only that they be there to enhance

and supervise it.26 Joanne Hollows agrees that the idea of the servant problem and the

narratives through which the importance of domestic service were understood, framed the

20Ibid.

21A. Bingham, Gender, modernity and the popular press, p. 95.

22J. Giles, Women, identity and private life in Britain, pp. 149151.

23E. M. Delafield, The diary of a Provincial Lady, (London, 2011), p. 5.

24

Ibid, p. 274.25J. Giles, Women, identity and private life in Britain,p. 149.

26Ibid, p. 137.


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construction of middle class femininity in a period in which domesticity was in a state of

flux.27 While the nature of domestic service was in a state of flux, the ability to complain

about the servant problem became a new part of the identity of middle class women and a

symbol of their middle class standing.

Another striking feature of Haseldens cartoons is that the servants depicted are

predominantly female. Contemporary opinion saw domestic service as a feminine job,28 and

after the First World War, domestic service was almost a completely female occupation.29

Haseldens cartoons also depict the middle class housewife dealing with just one maid rather

than a large staff of servants.30 Many families had ceased to employ butlers, chauffeurs or

footmen with the result that the majority of households employed only one or two maids, who

did all the work in the house. As the servant problem was dealt with by the middle class

housewife, the crisis therefore took the form of a struggle between housewives and their

working class female employees. Due to the reduction in the average number of servants kept

by middle class families, middle class women found themselves interacting with her servants

on a much closer and more frequent basis than had been the case with larger staffs. It was no

longer possible for housewives to maintain a distance from her servants. Instead, daily

interaction between servant and mistress became the norm. The servant problem thus became

the backdrop to a renegotiation of how middle class and working class women related to each

other.

Before the servant problem, mistresses had believed themselves to be responsible for the

all-round well being of their servants. They imposed standards of behaviour and morality

which were to be adhered to at all times while the maid was employed by her mistress. While

middle class women viewed this as part of their duty as mistress of their household, servants

often viewed it as interfering.31 However, the renegotiation of the relationship between

mistress and servant meant that the mistress had to consider the demands of her servant more

than ever before. Her relationship to her servant became more that of an employer and

employee, rather than an all-powerful mistress and her obedient, loyal maid. As the demand

for domestic service continued to outstrip supply, middle class housewives had to compete

27J. Hollows, Science and spells, p. 24.

28The Times, 30

thDecember 1920.

29J. Giles, Women, identity and private life in Britain, p. 137.

30

The Times, 30th

December 1920.31M. Glucksmann, Women assemble: women workers and the new industries in inter-war Britain (London,

1990), p. 252.


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against factories, shops, and offices for the labour of working class women who now viewed

domestic labour with distain.32

In Haseldens Fashion and furniture, the lady of the house asks her female friend for

advice on how to keep servants. The friend advises her that the way to persuade maids to stay

was to allow them to wear any dress they choose.33Haselden mocks the maids desire to

dress extravagantly while doing housework, however this is one example of how middle class

housewives were willing to make concessions to the demands of their maids in an attempt to

persuade working class women to stay in domestic service. Reports from The Times

reinforces the idea that middle class housewives were now more inclined than ever before to

accommodate the demands of maids. In 1919, The Times claimed that the post-war mistress

is prepared to be much more considerate in her dealings with her staff, whether large or

small, than she was before the war.34Servants now had shorter hours, their walking-out

hours are extended, and they can see more of their own friends than used to be the case.35 In

The trials of marriage after the war, Haselden shows how housewives were prepared to

reduce what was demanded from servants in order to make the job more appealing. Haselden

portrays the servant as very lazy, refusing to do even the simplest of household tasks before

finally saying, Oh, I couldnt undertake to do any work!36

Middle class housewives were willing to make certain changes to the way in which they

treated their domestic servants, however they lamented the loss of the traditional servant-

mistress relationship. The Times in 30thDecember 1920 said that, the old spirit of loyalty and

friendly feeling towards those whom they serve has largely died out. Their work is done

grudgingly and out of necessity.37 As servants were valued commodities, they use the threat

of leaving to make conditions more comfortable for themselves. The Times complained that

many [servants] have no scruples in throwing up their engagements at short notice,

whenever they see a chance of bettering themselves.38 This fear is echoed in Haseldens

cartoon, How to find a maid, where the maid leaves her current mistress for the offer of a

more exciting position in town.39 Haselden also highlights the competition between

housewives to find a good servant. The sense of competition for limited resources good

32M. Glucksmann, Women assemble, p. 252.

33W. K. Haselden,Fashion and furniture, 1923.

34The Times, 18

thFebruary 1919.

35The Times, 30

thDecember 1920.

36W. K. Haselden, The trials of marriage after the war, 1920.

37

The Times, 30th

December 1920.38The Times, 30

thDecember 1920.

39W. K. Haselden,How to find a maid, 1930.


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maids is something which has not been widely analysed by historians. However, How to

find a maidreveals just how important finding servants was to middle class women, that they

were willing to tempt their friends servants away from their existing positions. As Haselden

used his cartoons as a form of social commentary, clearly there is a strong element of truth in

the cartoon which readers would relate to.

Rather than the traditional mistress-servant relationship being resumed with the

implementation of better conditions for servants, middle class women expressed concern that

they felt tyrannised by rude and self-important servants. Glucksmann explains that often,

once middle class women had succeeded in finding suitable servants, they complained that

they were taken over by their [servants] who intimidated them and ran the household, when

really it should have been the mistress who exercised authority over the staff.40 Beddoe

agrees with Glucksmann, explaining that middle class women felt tyrannised by the new,

more confident type of servant who emerged after World War One.41 The shift of power

caused by middle class anxiety to retain domestic service left middle class women feeling

much lesspowerful in their sphere. Haseldons cartoons The trials of marriage after the war

and Recommendations: making friends into enemies both portray the extent to which the

mistress-servant relationship was changing, with the mistress having to adapt her orders to

suit the will of the servant.42 In The trials, the anxious housewife begs her prospective maid

to stay, saying that, I wouldnt ask you to do more than boil a little water occasionally.43 In

Recommendations, the housewife says to her temporary maid, please dont think I am

unappreciative!44 Even the posture of the housewife is weak and pathetic, compared to the

powerful stance and grim face of the temporary maid. Haselden also draws attention to the

temporary maids criticism of her mistresss household: such a state of dirt as everything is

in I neverdidsee!45Although the maids language reflects her working class status, she feels

free to pass comment on her employers house. Furthermore, the housewife does not

reprimand her for this, so anxious is she that the maid will not leave. Giles explains that the

growing willingness of women to stand up to their mistresses was in part a result of the

knowledge that there were other jobs available in shops and factories that did not require

references.46 There is no indication in Haseldens cartoons of the powerful middle class

40M. Glucksmann, Women assemble, p. 245.

41D. Beddoe,Back to home and duty, p. 61.

42W. K. Haselden, The trials of marriage after the war, 1920.

43Ibid.

44

W. K. Haselden,Recommendations: making friends into enemies, 1921.45Ibid.

46J. Giles, The parlour and the suburb,p. 73.


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mistress reigning over her household. Instead, the middle class woman is over-anxious to

please, concerned about demanding too much and almost desperate to retain her servants no

matter how ridiculous the conditions.

Similarly, the Provincial Lady expressed the concern that she was being tyrannised by

her servants. In the interactions between the cook and the Provincial Lady, the cook displays

little respect for her mistress. There is the implication that the Provincial Lady could issue

whatever orders she wanted, but the cook would simply continue to do whatever she wanted

to do instead. When the cook blatantly disobeys an order, the Provincial Lady does not

reprimand her in any way.47Instead, she remarks that as usual, cook gets the last words.48

Giles explains that middle class housewives concern about their increasing lack of authority

over their servants was a key feature of their changing identity during the interwar years. The

gradual erosion of middle class housewives supervisory role in the home left her

increasingly bereft of that power and control which had defined her place in the bourgeois

home.49Todd agrees with Giles that housewives anxiety over the servant problem was due

to their difficulty in defining and asserting middle class womens authority.50 As middle

class women had centred their identity upon their authoritative position in the home, the

servant problem caused a huge change to middle class feminine identity, as servants were no

longer prepared to be subservient and middle class women were left feeling tyrannised by

servants who she believed she should rule.

The decline of domestic service clearly had a momentous effect on the l ife of the middle

class woman within her home.51 As the shortage of domestic servants continued, middle

class housewives found that they were struggling to maintain their identity as mistress of their

household. Viewed from the perspective of the middle class employer, the servant problem

was one of the greatest issues of the 1920s and 1930s.52 Although servants were still

available throughout the interwar years, the nature of domestic service had changed

dramatically.53 Mistresses were compelled to standardise working hours, increase wages and

gradually accept daily help instead of residential servants.54 However, the changing nature

of domestic service was not just a matter of reorganising how middle class households were

47E. M. Delafield, The diary of a provincial lady, p. 266.

48Ibid, p. 274.

49J. Giles, The parlour and the suburbp. 73.

50S. Todd, Domestic servants and class relations in Britain,p. 200.

51N. Humble, The feminine middlebrow novel, from 1920s to 1950s: class, domesticity and bohemianism

(Oxford, 2004), p. 124.52

D. Beddoe,Back to home and duty,p. 61.53S. Todd, Domestic servants and class relations in Britain, p. 185.

54The Times, 28

thFebruary 1932.


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run. The servant problem left middle class women without obedient subjects to reign over. 55

The power dynamics between mistress and servants had changed and middle class women

could not be as authoritative in their dealings with their servants as they had been before.

Domestic service continued to be a symbol of social status, however middle class housewives

increasingly found that they had to participate personally in domestic chores, or work around

demanding employees, due to the fear that valued servants would give notice. The

relationship between middle class housewives and their working class employees had

changed irrevocably.

55J. Giles, The parlour and the suburb,p. 71.


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W.K. Haselden,The trials of marriage after the war.

Daily Mirror, 27 Jan 1920.
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=27?month_from=01&year_from=1920http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=27?month_from=01&year_from=1920http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haselden


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W.K. Haselden,Recommendations: making friends into enemies

Daily Mirror, 10 Mar 1921
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=10?month_from=03&year_from=1921http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=10?month_from=03&year_from=1921http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=10?month_from=03&year_from=1921http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haselden


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W.K. Haselden,Fashions and furniture

Daily Mirror,05 Sep 1923
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=05?month_from=09&year_from=1923http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=05?month_from=09&year_from=1923http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=05?month_from=09&year_from=1923http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haselden


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W.K. Haselden,How to find a maid

Daily Mirror, 20 Oct 1930.
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haseldenhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=20?month_from=10&year_from=1930http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=20?month_from=10&year_from=1930http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/day_from=20?month_from=10&year_from=1930http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/publication=Daily%20Mirrorhttp://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/artist=W.K.%20Haselden


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Bibliography.

Primary Sources

The Times 19181939

E. M. Delafield, The diary of a provincial lady (1930) and The provincial lady goes further

(1932) in E. M. Delafield, J. Cooper, The diary of a provincial lady (London, 2011)

The British Cartoon Archive (http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/)

Secondary Works

Beddoe, D.,Back to home and duty: women between the wars, 19181939 (London, 1989)

Bell, D., and Hollows, E.,Historicizing lifestyle: mediating taste, consumption and identity

from the 1900s to the 1970s (Hampshire, 2006)

Bingham, A., Gender, modernity and the popular press in inter-war Britain (New York,

2004)

Franklin, B.,Pulling newspapers apart: analysing print journalism (Oxon, 2008)

Giles, J., The parlour and the suburb: domestic identities, class, femininity and modernity

(New York, 2004)

Giles, J., Women, identity and private life in Britain, 19001950 (London, 1995)

Glucksmann, M., Women assemble: women workers and the new industries in inter-war

Britain (London, 1990)

Humble, N., The feminine middlebrow novel, from 1920s to 1950s: class, domesticity and

bohemianism (Oxford, 2004)

LeMahieu, D. L.,A culture for democracy: mass communication and the cultivated mind in

Britain between the wars (New York, 1998)
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/


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Todd, S., Domestic servants and class relations in Britain, 1900 1950 inPast and Present,

cciii (2009), pp. 181204.

Todd, S., Young women, work, and the family in England 19181950 (New York, 2005)

104625894 the servant problem

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