The Housekeeper’s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House – Special Interest Event

Presented by Tessa Boase

Working as a housekeeper was one of the most prestigious jobs a 19th and early 20th century woman could want – and also one of the toughest. A far cry from the Downton Abbey fiction, the real-life housekeeper was up against capricious mistresses, low pay, no job security, and gruelling physical labour. Delving into secret diaries, unpublished letters and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories behind some of Britain’s most prominent households.

1.  A GOOD HOUSEKEEPER IS NOT EASILY GOT AT
Focusing on the Victorian Era, we discover more about this unique position by examining a bundle of letters discovered in the archives of Hatfield House, charting the meticulous hunt for a housekeeper to serve Queen Victoria’s prime minister, Lord Salisbury, in 1890. We then move to the story of Mrs. Sarah Wells – mother to the writer H.G. Wells – who kept a revelatory diary for the 14 years she toiled below stairs at Uppark.

2. DANGEROUS AND DISORDERLY – THE 20TH CENTURY
This period of change for British domestic servants is embodied by the triumphant figure of housekeeper Hannah Mackenzie, whose career spanned extremes of fortune and circumstance. We finish our morning by looking at the life of a contemporary housekeeper, Nicky Garner, of Holkham Hall in Norfolk. How has the role changed, and how has the English country house adapted to the modern world?

Dates and Locations

Sunday 16 August 2026 Murray River (NSW/VIC)

Thursday 27 August 2026 Adelaide (SA)

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