Her ladyship's girl : a maid's life in London

A fascinating memoir of a Welsh servant girl and ladies' maid who lived and served in London between the wars. Anwyn Moyle was born at the end of the First World War in a small mining village in Wales. At the age of sixteen, she was sent to London to earn her living, where she found a live-in job as a scullery maid. Her day began at 5 a.m., cleaning grates and lighting fires, then she would scrub floors and polish the house - all for two shillings a week, one of which she had to send home to her mother. Things improved when she secured the position of lady's maid in a house in Belgravia, on five shillings a week. Anwyn was required to be a hairdresser, beautician, confidante and secretary. Reporting directly to the lady of the house, she was expected to cover up her mistress's affairs. Her time as a lady's maid was over when she was caught with a young aristocrat in her room and banished from the house, but Anwyn found further employment in a variety of houses, working above and below stairs. However, she found her niche in the jolly working-class atmosphere of the capital city's pubs. London between the wars and during the Blitz is richly evoked and, despite all her hardships, Anwyn never asks for the readers' sympathy. Her story is full of gregariousness and eccentricity, as well as being a poignant account of the history of a woman with an indomitable spirit and love of life. There seemed to be even more washing than the previous day and my hands were hurting from the hot steam. Cook came over to me with a frown on her face like a wet Sunday in Llewellyn. 'When you're asked, your name is Moyle, not Anwyn.' 'Why?' 'Because skivvies like you don't have first names.' Anwyn Moyle was born in 1918 in a poor Welsh mining village. At the age of sixteen she was sent to London to work as a scullery maid. Her long days of domestic service began at 5 a.m. cleaning grates and lighting fires, then she would scrub floors and polish the house - all for two shillings a week. Things improved when Anwyn secured the position of lady's maid in Belgravia and learned to negotiate the social mores of the privileged classes and keep quiet about her mistress's affairs. She went on to be a proficient cook, keeping a detailed diary of the fine foods that were served 'upstairs'. London between the wars and through to the 1950s is richly evoked and, despite all her hardships, Anwyn never asks for sympathy. Her story is full of gregariousness and eccentricity, as well as being a poignant account of the history of a woman with an indomitable spirit and love of life