Ruffled Mistresses and Discontented Maids
Ruffled Mistresses and Discontented Maids: Respectability and the Case of Domestic Service, 1880-1914, by Magda Fahmi NAC CAAP MG29 C58 Volume 1
"Most of the Canadians involved, however, appeared to be more concerned for the well-being of die employing households than for that of the emigrants themselves. Fear of importing "deviance" was rampant Not only were these women "foreigners," although white and usually English-speaking, but many of them were clearly trying to escape lives that were materially and emotionally impoverished."
Home Children & Girls Mentioned
Sarah Driscoll - arrived 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Jane Collis - arrived 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Sarah Cornford - I believe may have come through Charlotte Alexander,
Mary Cornford is listed that year with Charlotte 1889-05-17
Martha Pritchard
Amelia Fairbank
Lizzie Baker - 1891 Charlotte Alexander
Alice Wews - Charlotte Alexander
Laura Goodman Salverson
Martha Pritchard
Emily Lever - 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Martha Morgan
Elizabeth Crawley - 1888 - Charlotte Alexander
Rose Picking
Rose Picking obtained a position in Newmarket, Ontario in 1888 at age fifteen and by 1890 had married a "very respectable steady industrious man."
Elizabeth Harsley
Candace Rendell.
Laura Salverson
describing her days in service, likewise claims that "for girls like us the
dice were loaded from the start The ensign of the mop and the dustbin hung over our cradles.
No wonder thousands of us married any old fool!"
Emily Hyde Holland
Carrie Davies
shot her employer, Charles Massey, because he allegedly sexually assaulted her
Rose Manning - 1888 - Charlotte Alexander
Rose Alexander
Eliza Joiner
Emily Paradine
Annie Diamond - arrived 1883-06-19 Quarriers
Sarah Baxter
Winnifred Pankhurst
Mary WilliamsMary Lovelace
Mary Harvey - Charlotte Alexander girl
Ellen DayMaggie McCarthy
Annie Henry
Fannie Smith
Carrie Smith
Louisa Crossley
Elizabeth Waterson
Eleanor Almond
Annie Smith
Sarah Driscoll - arrived 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Jane Collis - arrived 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Sarah Cornford - I believe may have come through Charlotte Alexander,
Mary Cornford is listed that year with Charlotte 1889-05-17
Martha Pritchard
Amelia Fairbank
Lizzie Baker - 1891 Charlotte Alexander
Alice Wews - Charlotte Alexander
Laura Goodman Salverson
Martha Pritchard
Emily Lever - 1887-05-17 - Charlotte Alexander
Martha Morgan
Elizabeth Crawley - 1888 - Charlotte Alexander
Rose Picking
Rose Picking obtained a position in Newmarket, Ontario in 1888 at age fifteen and by 1890 had married a "very respectable steady industrious man."
Elizabeth Harsley
Candace Rendell.
Laura Salverson
describing her days in service, likewise claims that "for girls like us the
dice were loaded from the start The ensign of the mop and the dustbin hung over our cradles.
No wonder thousands of us married any old fool!"
Emily Hyde Holland
Carrie Davies
shot her employer, Charles Massey, because he allegedly sexually assaulted her
Rose Manning - 1888 - Charlotte Alexander
Rose Alexander
Eliza Joiner
Emily Paradine
Annie Diamond - arrived 1883-06-19 Quarriers
Sarah Baxter
Winnifred Pankhurst
Mary WilliamsMary Lovelace
Mary Harvey - Charlotte Alexander girl
Ellen DayMaggie McCarthy
Annie Henry
Fannie Smith
Carrie Smith
Louisa Crossley
Elizabeth Waterson
Eleanor Almond
Annie Smith
Even leaving aside such personal backgrounds, the peculiar nature of me occupation was itself conducive to actions construed as "deviant" Low wages and inescapable servility meant that the stigma attached to service was virtually unavoidable.
As Lucy Maud Montgomery noted in her diary in 1894:
Clara C, by the way, is in Boston now, working out as a domestic servant It is absurd. Clara herself never had any lofty ideals or ambitions but I simply cannot understand her parents, especially Aunt Annie, permitting such a dung. If she wanted to earn her living they were quite able to afford to educate or train her to some occupation which would not have involved a loss of social caste. The idea of Clara Campbell 'working out' ! It would be laughable if it were not so tragic.
As Lucy Maud Montgomery noted in her diary in 1894:
Clara C, by the way, is in Boston now, working out as a domestic servant It is absurd. Clara herself never had any lofty ideals or ambitions but I simply cannot understand her parents, especially Aunt Annie, permitting such a dung. If she wanted to earn her living they were quite able to afford to educate or train her to some occupation which would not have involved a loss of social caste. The idea of Clara Campbell 'working out' ! It would be laughable if it were not so tragic.
