MARRIAGE, MOBIUTY AND DOMESTIC SERVICE

by Pénélope WILCOX

That the evils of drink and prostitution should excite fervid moral condemnation in Victorian England is unsurprising. Perhaps more unexpected was the widespread belief in domestic service as a cure for thèse and other social ills. The twin ideals of a woman placed firmly in the home where she belonged, combined with the notion of service to others may account for this belief. Whatever the reason, officiai and unofficial views expressed both by Church and State conformed in extolling the merits of domestic service as a means of rédemption from past vices no less than a préparation for future virtue. Admittedly the choice of employment for young girls was limited and the practical advantages of domestic service are obvious for homeless girls in particular. However, the overriding emphasis of middle-class lady philanthropists was on the moral worth of domestic labour (for other people of course).

Thus The Cottage Home for Little Orphan Girls (Cambridge) reported in 1876 that : « two eldest girls hâve gone into service... in Christian families, where due attention is paid not only to their practical training but also to their spiritual welfare ». Whilst The Cambridge Association for the Care of Girls was able to report in 1883 that « three of the most troublesome girls, on being taken to work in private houses, hâve become orderly... ». Condemnation of alternative employment for women was expressed in the pulpit : the Rev. Arthur Saville, preaching in 1883, declared : « But there is a custom which prevails in this parish, and one which I cannot too strongly reprobate... of young women working out in the fields. It is indeed contrary to every principle of delicacy to see young women leave their domestic duties, their household employments, to work in the fields, to do the labour of men. How can it be expected that they should afterwards be able to perform properly those duties which belong naturally to them ? How can it be that the bold girl- for working in the fields must make them bold- can turn out to be a modest servant, a careful wife, a respected mother. »

Lastly, the view of the state as expressed in the 1841 Census Report :

« It must be a matter of congratulation that so large a number of females should be comprehended in a class in which such