MARION KENT interviewed in 2004 about her life as Third Housemaid at Sudbury Hall in the 1930s; continued from an interpretation panel in SUDBURY COURTYARD: Housemaids at Sudbury Hall in the mid-1900s

The day arrived when I was told the Vernons would be returning to Sudbury [March 1933]. The dust sheets were taken off, the furniture and rooms ‘dressed up’ as we called it. The rest of the staff returned as well. The Cook, Kitchen Maid, Head and Under Parlour Maid, Lady’s Maid and Children’s Maid.

I shared a very large bedroom with the Children’s maid. We each had our own bed, and chest of drawers with mirror and shared a very large mahogany wardrobe with a large drawer at the bottom for hats. We always wore hats in those days.

When Lord and Lady Vernon were back at Sudbury I had to wear uniform.

My day began by taking the Head Housemaid a tray of tea at 6.30am. Then I would go downstairs to the middle hall, sweep the rugs with a stiff brush, fold them back and put out the small furniture on them, then sweep and dust the floor.

I had to wake the Lady’s Maid at 7am with a glass of hot water.

The Second Housemaid would be cleaning and polishing the sitting room floor and the grate, while I cleaned Lord Vernon’s study. It was also the Second Housemaid’s duty to clean the drawing room grate if it had been used. This was made of steel and took an hour to clean, as it had to be burnished. First it was cleaned with Brasso, emery paper and bath brick. Then it was dried off and rubbed with a burnisher until it looked like silver.

Again, the drawing room floor would have to be cleaned and polished, and if I had finished my jobs I would have to help with this task. The Head Housemaid would dust all the furniture and put it back in place.

I also had to clean the two porches and unlock and open up the front doors. If it was still dark, I would lock the inside door again. The ‘side hall’ also had to be cleaned, this was the luggage and tradesmen’s entrance. Three large steps ran the whole width of the hall and it was my job to scrub these and whiten them every day.

This was my work every morning before breakfast, which was served at 8.00am in the Servants’ Hall. We always had good plain food, but were only allowed about ten minutes in which to eat it.

My first job after breakfast was to clean the grate in the Lady’s Maid’s room and clean and dust the floor.

The Lady’s Maid would dust and polish her own furniture.

It was the responsibility of the Lady’s Maid to look after Lady Vernon’s needs, waking her at 8am, opening her curtains and taking her breakfast to her in bed. When Lady Vernon had finished her breakfast, her maid would ‘lay’ her bath. This meant draping a large towel over a chair and running a bath etc.

Meanwhile, I was busy cleaning all the staff rooms except the Kitchen Maid’s and Parlour Maid’s, who did their own. A long landing ran the whole of the Victorian Wing and I had to clean and polish this down on my knees. Two flights of wooden stairs also had to be scrubbed after lunch, which we ate in the Servants’ Hall.

My last job in the afternoon would be to empty the grate box and take more sticks up for the morning. (The ‘Odd Man’ chopped the sticks). Dusters were washed every day in hot water.

The Head Housemaid would come in and throw a handful of soda in the water, until one day I protested and told her I would not wash the dusters in the soda as it made my hands very sore (we didn’t have rubber gloves in those days).

If we were getting low on polish, I had to shred beeswax and dissolve it in turps. There were no ready-made polishes available, no gadgets to make life easier, just long hours and elbow grease.

My day usually finished at about 3.15pm. I would then change into my afternoon dress and lay the staff tea in the Servants’ Hall. It was usually bread and butter with jam and cake. We had supper at about 7pm.

When visitors were staying, the ‘Odd Man’ would carry buckets of coal (brought up in the hydraulic lift) to various coal bunkers on different levels of the house.

These bunkers were made of wood lined with lead. It was our job to fill the brass or copper coal scuttles from these and to light the bedroom fires at about 4pm and to close the curtains.

We would also ‘lay’ baths for visiting ladies and put fresh underclothes out for them to change into. They would choose their own dress. Baths and washbasins were cleaned again in the evenings. We filled hot water bottles and turned down beds and put hot water in copper pans covered with a face towel to keep the water warm until it was required.

All this was done when the gentry had gone down to dinner. Then there were sitting rooms and drawing room to be tidied, cushions plumped and ashtrays emptied.

In the evening, if there were no visitors, we would probably do household mending. This involved darning tea towels, table napkins, turning sheets side to middle, all by hand.

When it was about 9.30pm I would fill a hot water bottle and take a can of hot water to the Head Housemaid’s bedroom.

The cans used for the staff were enamel, those used for the gentry were made of copper and were cleaned every day.

When I had been at Sudbury for two or three years my brother, who was footman at Epperstone Manor in Nottinghamshire, said that I should better myself. He thought that he could get me a position as Second Housemaid at Epperstone.

I told the Head Housemaid about this and she discussed it with Lady Vernon.

It was agreed that I should take the place of Second Housemaid, working through the front of the house instead of cleaning staff rooms. My wages were increased and so I stayed on.