Mumbles Women at Work in the 1890s by Carol Powell M.A.

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During the late nineteenth century, Mumbles although suffering from a downturn in its traditional industries of oyster dredging and quarrying was at the same time emerging as a popular tourist destination. Additionally, whereas many Victorian villages had suffered a rural decline, Mumbles’ net population had grown as, even though some had left, many had come to live in the newer houses at Park Street, Gloucester Place, Woodville Road, Bay Street, (later renamed Victoria Avenue) or Rainbow Terrace (Stanley Street) and Overland Road, the Mumbles train enabling them to travel to work in Swansea.  By 1891, the population stood at 4,132, an increase of over 2,500 in the previous fifty years.

 Close on one hundred and twenty years ago, Mumbles had among its men and boys, many agricultural labourers, dredgers, fishermen and quarrymen, as well as boat-builders, shoemakers, blacksmiths, gardeners, victuallers and the proverbial butchers and bakers. Others were employed as coachmen, gardeners and grooms by doctors, such as David Protheroe of West Cross, industrialists such as Sir John Jones Jenkins of the Grange and his neighbour, solicitor, Charles Norton of Dan y Coed.

            But how did the women and girls earn their livings? As one Victorian writer, Richard Jeffries reflected, ‘The wheat is beautiful, but human life is labour’—and for the women especially, it certainly was. Many wives and mothers worked non-stop at home, without the help of what we today would consider essential modern aids.  The weekly schedule would have included clothes washing on Monday, ironing and mending on Tuesday, baking on Wednesday and Saturday, daily tidying of kitchen and parlour, thorough cleaning on Thursday and again on Saturday. This was in addition to looking after their children, providing three meals a day, collecting water and keeping the fire burning in the stove—a chore that itself would have taken at least an hour out of each day! Many, not merely the single or widowed, also needed to supplement the family income by taking on other ‘jobs,’ either working within the home or elsewhere. Most occupations open to them would have been in the domestic sphere and would have invariably meant taking on the double burden of work and household responsibilities, many families being dependent on their earnings. An examination of the 1891 census reveals their occupations.

Dressmaking

In Victorian times, ordinary working people would have either made their own clothes or purchased them  locally from dressmakers like Flora Michael, Annie Kitto and sisters, Sarah and Amelia Webborn or Mathilda Davies, who declared herself to be a ‘dress and mantle maker.’ Lilly Howells was a dressmaker’s apprentice. Frances John and Elizabeth Clement were milliners—hat makers, which was a very important trade in Victorian times, judging by the abundance of charming sepia-coloured family photographs, which show scarcely any female without a hat.

Farm Work

            There were upwards of twenty-three farms in the parish, most of the land around the still-separate hamlets of Newton, Norton and Blackpill, being either arable or used for grazing livestock. Farmer, Eleanor Long, now head of the family, had taken over the reins at Mayals Farm following the death of her husband, to earn a living for her two young children. Farmers’ wives such as Catherine Givelin, Mary Owen and Hannah Gwynne were of course, fully involved in the operation and were kept busy with household duties, as well as tending to the poultry, milking the cows, making cheese, and churning the butter—this in itself was a time-consuming activity needing skill as cream had to be separated from the milk by pouring it into shallow bowls, leaving it to settle covered with muslin cloths. Then, once separated, the cream would be skimmed off and left to ripen for two or three days, before agitating it in a churn until ‘the butter had come’—i.e. when it could be heard thudding into a lump. Excess moisture would be mopped off and then the butter would be made into small rounds, which would be worked into shape with butter pats and marked with a finishing touch of an individually-recognisable butter stamp.

            Margaret Bosworth, a widow, went round the doors selling milk—perhaps from a hand-cart or maybe accompanied by a pony and trap. It would be measured into the householders’ own jugs by the pint and, there being no such aids as fridges, milk was sold daily (sometimes twice a day). How many of us can remember the call, ‘milk-o,’ a sound lost to us in these days of supermarkets?  Sarah Lewis was a dairy maid at Blackpill and farmer’s wife, Rachel Richards a dairy-keeper at Llwynderw Farm.

 The Big Houses

            The Ladies of the ‘big’ Houses e.g. Constance Norton of Dan y Coed, Emily Meager of Brynfield or Lucy Francis of Llwynderw would have been expected to live out a  prescribed role defined by their class and would not have been permitted to  work.  As girls, they would have been educated in French, drawing, dancing, music and practical skills such as plain sewing, embroidery and accounts. Now, as married ladies, their days would have revolved around dealing with household accounts, calling on friends or hosting tea-parties, attending or hosting dinner parties, holding musical soirees or visiting the theatre. They would have socialised only with others of their class and at home, would have presided over the smooth running of their household and staff, as well as providing an heir for the family.

            In larger houses, every servant would have had their own special duties and the household—a hierarchy of its own. Second in command after their employers, Mrs. Beeton wrote that [the housekeeper] must ‘overlook all that goes on in the house and that every department is thoroughly attended to . . . that the servants are comfortable . .  . and at the same time, their various duties are properly performed.’ At that time, even more modest establishments could run to employing staff—Sarah Michael was housekeeper to Quaker philanthropist, Roger Beck at Rhyddings, Mary Jones to John Jones, an accountant of Bryn Derw and Ann Jones at Lilliput Hall.

            Mrs Beeton’s Hints to Cooks and Kitchen Maids recommended that cleanliness  was the most essential ingredient in the art of cooking, that they should always be punctual and that they should wear good-sized serviceable cooking aprons.’ Mary Griffiths and Margaret Jones were Cooks to Mr. Robert Hancorne of Troed y Coed and at Norton Lodge respectively. Elizabeth Gammon was the Cook and Sarah Davies, a Housemaid at the home of Henry Hasgard, Lieut. R.N. Officer at the Coast Guard. In larger households, Cook, the ‘head of the kitchen’ would have been assisted by a kitchen-maid and  scullery maid, who would have had to clean the kitchen and light the fire prior to Cook beginning her duties. The Cook would have had to plan the menus in advance and, in those days before refrigeration, make sure the required meats were delivered each day from the butcher. She would prepare the soup for the following day before preparing the lunch, followed by the making of the pastry, jellies, and creams for that day’s evening dinner. She would also have been in charge of preparing the nursery dinners and those for the servants’ hall. Her busiest hours would have been from five and nine o’clock when dinner was served. Once that was over, the rest of the kitchen work would have been done by the kitchen maids such as Elizabeth Borkett  at Dan-y-Coed, who would have earlier  in the day have already helped prepare vegetables, game and poultry, bake the bread, making the cakes for luncheon, tea and dessert and keeping the kitchen clean and tidy.  

            Lizzie Jones was a parlour-maid at Castle Mead (later the British Legion building) and Eveline Jenkins, a house-maid at Earlsmoor. A general servant at Brynfield,  Elizabeth Davis’ duties might have included anything from opening the shutters, black-leading the grate, lighting the fire, scrubbing the floors, sweeping and dusting, making the beds and emptying the slops, cleaning the shoes to cooking, laying the table and washing up.

             Elizabeth Hopkins and Ellen Gammon were employed as ‘nurses (domestic)’ perhaps not living in, Elizabeth John was ‘under-nurse’ resident at Brynhyfryd, Ernestine Pagot, a nurse at Llanfair and Margaret Wright, a nurse at Castle Mead House, working for Samuel Home, solicitor. They would have been in charge of caring for the household’s children from the time they are born, until they are turned over to the care of the governess.  They would have washed and dressed the children, fed them, taken them on outings and taken them to see their parents before putting them to bed.  Most live-in nurses had dinner brought to them in the nursery, but some dined with the other servants.

Mary Edwards was Governess at Langland Bay and Alice Allen at The Grange. Their duties would have been to teach the children until they were old enough to go away to school, college, or to a private tutor.  They would have probably been well-educated middle-class girls who needed to earn their own living.  But although they were expected to have the bearing and education of a ‘lady,’ they were usually treated as a servant. But, being neither an insider nor an outsider, often the other servants would resent them, as being too educated and too good for their ranks. 

            At each end of the working-class spectrum, Margaret Jones, Mary James and Annie Harris were ‘living on own means,’ while K.L., aged 70, M.L., aged 85 and E.T.,  aged 89,  all widows were ‘in receipt of parish relief’.

            In common with all females* in Britain, these women living their disparate lives in Mumbles, whether of independent means, wage-earners or working at home or both,  all had one thing in common—none had the vote. It was to be close on thirty years before those over thirty years of age would be eligible and a further ten before all people of either gender over the age of twenty-one would be enfranchised. (For more details on this subject, see my earlier article on ‘The Women’s Suffrage in Mumbles’ on this site).

            Many of their occupations have ceased to exist, as machines of various kinds have taken the drudgery out of housework and since the end of the First World War, very few people have been able to afford ‘live-in’ servants, perhaps employing someone  for a few hours a week only.  

* (and male domestic servants, bachelors living with their parents and those of no fixed abode)

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