03166cam a2200361 i 4500 136684363 TxAuBib 20130501120000.0 120608|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u bl2013000462 9781250023216 1250023211 TxAuBib rda Powell, Margaret, 1907-1984. Below stairs : the classic kitchen maid's memoir that inspired Upstairs, downstairs and Downton Abbey / Margaret Powell. Below stairs : the classic kitchen maid's memoir that inspired Upstairs, downstairs and Downton Abbey. 1st St. Martin's Griffin ed. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1968. New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2012. 212 p. ; 22 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Orignally published: London : Davies, 1968. This work is a kitchen-maid's through-the-key hole memoir of life in the great houses of England. At fifteen, she arrived at the servants' entrance to begin her life as a kitchen maid in 1920s England. The lowest of the low, her world was one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5:30 am and went on until after dark. In this memoir, the author tells her tales of service with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye. From the gentleman with a penchant for stroking housemaids' curlers, to raucous tea dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress's nephew, this book evokes the long vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs. This is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman, who, though her position was lowly, never stopped aiming high. Arriving at the great houses of 1920's London, fifteen-year-old Margaret's life in service was about to begin. As a kitchen maid, the lowest of the low, she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30 a.m. and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids' curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress's nephew, Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. 20130501. Powell, Margaret, 1907-1984. Cooks Great Britain Biography. Working class women Great Britain Biography. Rich people Great Britain. Women household employees England Biography.