what did it mean for someone to "go into service"? for people born around 1915?

Question

was it abusive or exploitative or something? did people have to send money home to families? anyone know anything about this?

Answer 1

my grandmother was "in service" in the 1930's. she was a maid in cornwall in a mansion house. i dont think it was a bed of roses because she had to work so hard but some good came of it as she met my grandfather who was in the r.a.f and stationed there. watch the film gosford park, its a really good film and i imagine its very acurate about life in service. x

Answer 2

I assume you mean domestic service, not military service. A large proportion of the workforce was employed then in domestic service: staffing the country's larger households and doing the daily chores. I don't believe it was necessarily seen as exploitative by the standards of the day. Indeed, it was probably the easiest kind of work for young working-class ladies to get, there not being the equal opportunities for them of today. Most would have lived in the big house, and probably many did send their families money home.

Answer 3

People born in 1915?How many are alive now?At that time there were no labour laws.The wages were depending on supply and demand and mostly in kind than in money.The system at that time was ok.Money was not much popular at that time.Influence of money started in or around 1930,immediately after the great depression.Labour welfare measures in UK might have started from Clement Atley's time only.Commerical Capitalism began with the growth of USA as the world power,pushing back UK.

Answer 4

Going into service meant working as a servant for a wealthy family. During the Edwardian period there was still a great class divide and the rich were very rich and the poor, extremely poor. Many of the poorer families allowed their children to 'go into service' as domestic servants. It enabled some families to gain an income from a child wothout having the expence of them living at home.

Answer 5

going in to service was when the poorer class went to work for the middle class or rich of this country the men would be doormen coachmen and stable hands the woman were scullery maids ,cleaners and cooks and chambermaids this practice came to a close in 1915 as the poor were drafted into the army and the rich had to
get off there backsides and start doing the jobs themselves when the war finished there were a shortage of men so they never went back to the menial jobs of licking others boots and went out and got jobs that paid better money hope this helps

Answer 6

To go to work for a rich family, usually in their house. The people in service would live in servants quarters. You cannot say it was or was not abusive, like employment nowadays it depends upon the personalities of those involved. Society was very different then..There was no welfare state & there was a huge difference in wealth between the rich & the poor so you might say that people were "forced" by economic necessity to do servant's work but is this different from people working in McDonalds or stackingn shelves in supermarkets out of economic necessity? I think not. My mum was born in 1914 & was "adopted" (there was no such thing as legal adoption then) by a farmer. Such children were used as labour on the farm. I think that was certainly abuse.

Answer 7

My Nan born 1912 was in service, this ment she work as some sort of servent it was in a big house in London, have seen the house though and I dont think its that big. She probably sent money home as her family is from Wales and were miners and she had 10 brothers and sisters (she was the youngest) and all the men came to the midlands to find work and homes for the family. Nan came here to visit relitaves and met and married Grandad so the frmily was most likly quite poor and would have needed Nans money to support them

Answer 8

People who were in service were people who went to work in big houses or wealthy families as servants. By 1915 this was beginning to become a rarity due to the First World War and the many folk away in the forces or factories. The classic TV series "upstairs Downstairs" showed characters who were in service (parlour maids, housekeepers, cooks, butlers) and characters who employed them.

Answer 9

To go into (enter) service as many of my friends have correctly identified was to enter someone's Household as a domestic servant, maid, pageboy etc, It had nothing to do with serving in the armed forces. The Services in the first world war (in England) were volunteers to a man or woman. National service (to be called up to serve in the armed forces) started around 1940 and continued untill early in the 60's.

Answer 10

Hi Helen. Yes, to go in to service was to work in a large house. Both girls and boys were able to go in to service and worked long hours at a very young age. I live in a country area and where I live the chance to go in to service was a good option for the kids in the locality due to there being very little else about.

Answer 11

In what context was the phrase used?

Without knowing that - my first thought would be that they were drafted or joined armed services. If they were born in 1915 they would have been in their early 20s when WWII broke.