Reference
AU10/95/1
Title
Transcript of an interview with Dorothy Payne by David Devereux of Bedford Modern School Local History Group including the following:
- she was born in Gloucester and had previously been in service at Kings Weston House at Shirehampton near Avonmouth [Gloucestershire];
- she came to Ampthill in Nov 1927 aged 24/25 as cook housekeeper at Ampthill Park house which she found lit by oil lamps and without electricity;
- the Dowager lady Ampthill [Emily Theresa Russell [née Villiers]] had died on 22 Feb 1927 and her two daughters [Constance Evelyn Villiers Russell and Augusta Louise Margaret Romola Villiers Russell] lived in the house with nine live in servants and two from outside;
- positive view of a life in service and graciousness of the two Miss Russells;
- all work in reception rooms was done before 9am and free time was allowed in the afternoons;
- servants had their meals at 9.15am, 1.45pm for lunch, 4.15 for tea and 8.15 for dinner;
- Christmas Day was a holiday for staff;
- the working day was long but with regular breaks for rest to split it up; staff were off duty from lunch [sic tea?] time to 7.30pm or from 7.30 to 10.30pm every other day;
- Ampthill was a very quiet place "you could come through Ampthill 9 o'clock at night & never see a soul, everybody was tightly shut behind their window";
- she went to the Electric Kinema one evening and, as so few people were there no film was shown and the audience got their money back;
- staff at Ampthill Park would sometimes mix with those from Ampthill House, the two were run quite differently;
- once a year Millbrook Women's Institute held a garden meeting in the grounds of Ampthill Park House, it included a marionette show by Mr.Panshaw "I think he used to do the X rays at the hospital";
- also once a year the hospital fete was held in the grounds ending with an evening dance;
- a discussion on food, which was the same for both residents and staff;
- the house prepared to accept 30 evacuee children on the outbreak of World War Two but none were allocated, instead part of the house was requisitioned by the military, for a while it was headquarters of General Wyatt [?Brigadier ], the staff had to leave and DP thought that the maps for d day had been printed in the outbuildings, stables and garages; the household moved to Biddenham and one of the sisters [Constance] died before the end of the war [27 Sep 1942];
- most of the entertainment was for local families such as the Whitbreads and Sir Anthony Wingfield;
- on Sundays teas were given to the Rector and other guests such as the two Miss Bartons;
- the sisters had various cars over the years including a Napier, Wolseley, Morris and Ford; cars were used for staff convenience including a trip to Bedford to a pantomime at Christmas and tours around the country;
- discussion about the servants and obtaining a position;
- entertaining royalty at the London house including Queen Mary;
- she knew many of the Ampthill trades people including: [William Edward] Parmiter [ironmonger] and his wife and daughter and [Walter] Everitt the butcher; Horne & Simpson, the grocers, later just [John] Simpson; [Edith] Stanbridge [glass and china dealer]; [Henry] Barford [sic Barfoot] the tailor; [Ernest] Maycock the chemist; [Alfred Sedgwick] Ronchetti chemist [sic optician]; Frank Peck & Company Limited [drapers];
- she considered that Andrew Underwood had been a very beautiful child;
- one could make the journey from Ampthill to London by train for 2/11 and she used to accompany Miss Russell to London by car;
- Ampthill Park House belonged to the Duke of Bedford and was damaged during World War Two by the occupying troops;
- she stayed on in Biddenham and eventually bought a car of her own;
- church fetes did not take place at Ampthill Park but at Millbrook Rectory; the Park did host British Legion flag days, however;
- she still kept in contact with the younger members of the Russell family;
- church attendance was not compulsory but encouraged; the Miss Russells sat upstairs in the gallery at Ampthill church with most of the staff, though DP sat downstairs as she did not like heights; they used to frequently attend church at Millbrook too, usually for evensong; she still ran the Women's Institute at Millbrook;
- the family paid higher wages than normal to the servants;
- during the war a stick of bombs landed on the front steps and a heavy bomb landed near the railway and an oil bomb at the top of The Avenue; she saw her first V1 over Bedford;
- discussion of the layout of the rooms at Ampthill Park House;
- discussion of the food content of the various meals during the day
Date free text
18 Sep 1970
Production date
From: 1927 To: 1970
Level of description
item