A Tour of the Laundry - The Victorian Way

[Music] you see I have just written to our local Member of Parliament and I'm hoping he's going to represent our views in the next debate on women's suffrage no I say well don't you take an interest in these affairs mrs. crow come we don't know that I have the time I think that lady Braybrook is an example to follow she takes a great interest in all the local affairs you might have noticed after all the things she has done for the necessities children of warden all her charitable activities and so forth well I'll think about it oh look he's your applicant for the laundry oh good morning I see that you're punctual very good I daresay you'd like a tour of the service wing we shall go to the laundry directly [Music] this is the wet laundry now I understand you've been assisting your mother with her local cottage laundry but you will find this a very different proposition at oddly end you see you will have to deal with 600 towels every week for example and you must be quite robust because we do like our laundry maids to have stamina we would never take a girl fresh from school for example they simply don't have the right experience all the strength and we certainly wouldn't take somebody from the workhouse we are scrupulous about hygiene here at all the end for instance in one country house that shall be nameless do you know a case of scarlet fever was brought in with a laundry basket that would never happen here so we operate on a weekly laundry cycle here the laundry is delivered every Sunday evening by rail depending on where Lord and Lady brave would have been staying typically their London residents up a Brook Street or it could be Bournemouth all Scotland you must rise at 3:00 on Monday morning to make sure all the fires are lit then you can return to bed for a couple of hours and then rise again to take a cup of tea to your laundry superiors Ellen and Sarah you must make sure you show them all due respect at all times for your there jr. you must know how to identify various stains now lady Braybrook personal maid will deal with any stains pertaining to her lace for example but there are many other stains aren't there for example how would you deal with say ink stains of course you would use buttermilk wouldn't you and now let's move on to the coppers shall we there are many different types of treatment depending on the nature of the laundry for instance mrs. crow combs kitchen cloths will need a very hot boil so we put the washing in the copper here when it's quite an average temperature and then we wait for the temperatures to come to the boil mrs. crow comb as you will know maintains very high standards of Hygiene in her kitchen I'm sure you're quite ofay with wringing out excess water but you may well find that this mangle helps you in that process always be sure to use a mangle cloth and do be careful don't trap your fingers in it the laundry drying lawn is just out there behind the cloud hedge where the family's laundry can dry in privacy you do know how to bleach your laundry don't you we sometimes use the the rather quaint method of using the action of the Sun upon our linens to make them whiter quite often our linens are cream-colored and to reach the optimum level of white well we might have to to and fro for quite some months before we reach that white that we so desire we usually prefer our grass that we lay our linens upon to be of medium height and preferably on a frosty day and however long it takes well so be it patience is a virtue now we've done the washing and the ringing now it's time to do the ironing and the finishing now we like to iron things when they're slightly damp you must supply your own iron cloth you only pick up an iron without an iron cloth once I don't know whether your mother has one of these in her small laundry but if I ever see you using a box mangle to wring out excess water you will be instantly dismissed think of it as a flattening machine always use a mangle cloth and everything that comes out of it should be perfectly flat and perfectly shiny now we come to Saturday that's when we parcel up all the finished laundry we send it off to where it has to go and that means labeling it it's another reason why we don't use commercial laundry so so what we have to do is make sure it's dated numbered the house is going from the house it's going to so on and so forth now do you have any questions I'm sorry what was that do we have a washing machine no we certainly don't it's far too much effort why would we go to all that trouble does your mother have one do you want to do yourself out of a job so I think that we've seen all we we need to now I shall perhaps assure you into the servants hall and mrs. Kroger will procure you a cup of tea I shall read through your character and we shall give you your expenses for your fare thank you so very much for coming to see us we'll let you know [Music] you

Channel: English Heritage

Views: 1,137,612

Keywords: English Heritage, history, historic, historical, heritage, england, english, britain, british, uk, the victorian way, audley end house, crocombe, mrs crocombe, avis crocombe, victorian, cook, mrs warwick, housekeeper, fanny cowley, dairy maid, edgar ashman, gardener, cooking, bake, baking, food, kitchen, recipe, recipes, Kathy Hipperson, victorian era, downton abbey, how to, tasty, 19th century, tour, traditional, laundry, laundrette, clothes, clean, cleaning, routine, wash, washing, hacks, tips, roleplay, cosplay

Id: 2LXqVXl6dVY

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 06 2019