_________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Wales' hidden industry: Domestic service in South Wales, 1871- 1921. Howells, Carys How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Howells, Carys (2014) Wales' hidden industry: Domestic service in South Wales, 1871-1921.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43018 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ Swansea University Prifysgol Abertawe Wales’ Hidden Industry: Domestic Service in South Wales, 1871-1921 Carys Howells Submitted to Swansea University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 ProQuest Number: 10821408 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10821408 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract. This study examines domestic service as an ‘industry’ in south Wales between 1871 and 1921. The term ‘domestic’ has been interpreted as a description of duties performed rather than the place in which the tasks were carried out. As a result a broad depiction of the sector has emerged encompassing staff based in private households, businesses and public institutions. This approach has highlighted the importance of the sector in south Wales. It has also revealed significant changes in the nature of domestic service and the character of its workforce during the late-Victorian and Edwardian period. The absence of central regulation, the development of impersonal recruitment methods and the prevalence of traditional gender ideology have all been shown to have had a notable influence on contemporary perceptions of the sector and its function in Welsh society. The research methodology draws on both qualitative and quantitative sources to reveal domestic service as a multifaceted and dynamic economic sector. 2 Declarations and Statements. This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed... (candidate) Date .................................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed.............................................. ...................... (candidate) D ate ..................................... STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed... ...................... (candidate) D ate r^. J.Z.Q. .................................... 3 Contents List of Figures and Tables 5 List of Abbreviations 6 Introduction: Redefining Domestic Service as ‘Industry’ in South Wales. 7 I ‘Servants Wanted’: The Growth and Occupational Transition of the Domestic Service Sector. 34 II Changing Lifecycle Employment Patterns and its Impact on the Domestic Service Workforce. 65 III The Formalisation of Servant Recruitment Methods in South Wales. 89 IV Gender Ideology and the Domestic Service Industry in South Wales. 119 V ‘We Poor Unprotected Ones’: The Unregulated Nature of the Domestic Service Industry and its Impact on the Servant-Employer Relationship. 166 Conclusion 209 Appendices I ‘A Servant’s Grievance’: A Letter to the Western Mail from a Swansea Servant, 29 November 1892. 221 II ‘The Servants of To-Day’: A Letter to the Western Mail from A Deceived Mistress, 12 December 1892. 222 III Letter from Helena MacDonald to the Cardiff Lord Mayor regarding Bute Dowry. 224 IV ‘An Alleged Disorderly House at Aberdare’, Western Mail, 16 November 1887. 225 V ‘A Disorderly House at Aberdare’, Western Mail, 25 November 1887. 226 VI The average servant wages as offered in situations vacant advertisements. 228 Bibliography 229 4 List of Figures and Tables Figures LI Number of servants employed in Aberdare, Bridgend and Carmarthen. 42 1.11 Servant vacancy advertisements published in the Western Mail. 46 1.111 Servant occupation categories in the three case-study towns. 52 11.1 Servant age groups (%). 71 11.11 Comparison of servant age and gender. 79 IV. I Number of male servants in Aberdare, Bridgend and Carmarthen. 127 IV.II Servant birthplace. 143 V.I Servant-keeper occupations (%). 179 V.II Parental occupation of servants (%) 181 Tables 1.1 A comparison of servant salary in Wales and Britain. 61 II. I Average age of servants by gender. 72 II. II Average age for twenty frequently occurring occupations. 75 11.111 Average age of employers. 80 II. IV Comparison between number of servants engaged and family size. 82 II.V Servant marital status. 83 IV.I Male servants as proportion of domestic service workforce. 126 5 List of Abbreviations CCL Cardiff Central Library CRO Carmarthenshire Records Office GA Glamorgan Archives GTJ Gathering the Jewels GFS Girls’ Friendly Society GWR Great Western Railway LSE London School of Economics MABYS Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants NLW National Library of Wales PP Parliamentary Paper SAIHCA The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre Archives SWML South Wales Miners’ Library WGAS West Glamorgan Archive Service 6 Introduction: Redefining Domestic Service as ‘Industry’ in South Wales. Domestic service was an incredibly important industry in Wales during the late- nineteenth and early-twentieth century. For over a hundred years domestic service was the main form of female employment. Between 1871 and 1901 it accounted for over half of all occupied women and a higher than average proportion of men.1 While in England male domestics were in a minority of 1 in 22, in Wales they accounted for 1 in 10 servants.2 Despite the dominance of heavy industry in the area, domestic service also had a significant impact on the wider economy. In 1881 there were only 5,000 fewer servants in Wales than quarry and mine workers. However despite its scale, domestic service has failed to attract the same degree of scholarly attention as other economic sectors.3 Consequently, comparatively little is known of the character of this significant Welsh industry or the impact it had on the society in which it functioned. It has therefore largely remained hidden from the history of Wales. This study focuses on fifty years of its evolution, between 1871 and 1921, during which time the sector was numerically at its height and underwent a monumental degree of change. However, domestic service has proved to be a highly enduring sector that has lasted up to the present day and has been in expansion since the 1980s.4 The industry has been the focus of many British and American investigations owing to its size and its role as a principal site of contact (or indeed conflict) between different social groups on the grounds of class, gender, and ethnicity.5 As a result developments in domestic service have been perceived as indicative of wider trends in society. Yet, the sector in south Wales has often been overlooked except as a source of maids for English middle-class employers. This was partly the result of the dominance of heavy industry, which was thought to have limited local female employment options. Its neglect may also be attributed to the 1 J. Williams, Digest o f Welsh Historical Statistics, Vol. 1. (Aberystwyth: University of Wales Press, 1985), p. 96. 2 P. Horn, The Rise and Fall o f the Victorian Servant (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan Ltd, 1975), p. 84. 3 Williams, Digest o f Welsh Historical Statistics, p. 96; J. Williams, Was Wales Industrialised? Essays in Modem Welsh History (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1995), p. 40. 4 L. Delap, Knowing Their Place: Domestic Servants in Twentieth-Century Britain (Oxford: University Press, 2011), p. 3. 5 M. Patterson, Private Life in Britain's Stately Homes: Masters and Servants in the Golden Age (London: Constable and Robinson Ltd, 2012),