Manor House

Episode 3: The Servants Revolt

April 29, 2003 • 60 min

At the height of Edwardian opulence, a battle was brewing that eventually would transform the British political landscape. The Clarion, a political paper, published articles written from a socialist perspective. It also championed the right to leisure for the working classes — a key issue in a society where industrialization had replaced seasonal and weather-dependent work with unremitting labor for the masses. The newspaper spawned a network of social clubs for working men and women. In this episode, the staff crisis comes to a head. One of the maids is sick and the other servants bitterly complain about the family — and even about Morrison, the lady's maid — and demand better working conditions. The chef breaches etiquette and convinces Lady Olliff-Cooper and her sister, Miss Anson, to see the working conditions downstairs for the first time. Lady Olliff-Cooper also pays a visit to a local hospital, mirroring the tradition of philanthropic, upper-class women of the period. After five