With over 50% of Britain’s population “in service,” it’s no surprise that half the plot of the Downton Abbey series takes place below stairs.  The great estates could not function without an army of both indoor and outdoor servants.  Using period images, historian Tames Alan talks about what it was like to live and work downstairs on an estate such as Downton Abbey before the First World War.

 

Tames brings to life the people and activities downstairs.  Learn what was expected of those who entered service, from the complicated hierarchy between upper and lower servants and their duties to the high jinks downstairs that accompanied the long hours of drudgery.

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