Archive of the Month: "Upstairs, downstairs - college servants 1919-1939"
04 May 2010
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Posted by: King's College
Picture Cambridge between the World Wars, what do you see? Images of
black-robed fellows, top-hat sporting 'bulldogs' and hordes of young
men in crew jackets drinking champagne may spring to mind. But beneath
the glamour and glitz of the boathouse and High Table there was another
world.
This was the world of the gyp, the bedder and the porter. Instead of
Latin grammars, Greek anthologies and philosophical treatises the
people of this 'other' world turned to the more prosaic brush, pan and
tea kettle to complete their College obligations. They appear in
novels such as Porterhouse Blue and in films such as Chariots of Fire
as 'below stairs' types - or in college terms 'below
staircases'. College servants did everything from patrolling the
college grounds to polishing boots and boiling eggs. The college could
not have functioned without them.
This month's documents highlight the variety of tasks, posts and
responsibilities which were shared out among the college servants. Both
men and women worked within King's walls. Their roles were predictably
defined by gender and reflected the working environment in the outside
world.
College posts were highly coveted and were considerably better paid,
and often more secure, than agricultural or factory work. The College
provided the servants with meals, a pension and financial support if
they fell ill or were disabled. It also provided accommodation in some
cases. Most college staff were extremely loyal. They cheered on the
college boat at the bumps, and would stay for decades. Even today
retired staff are invited to an annual winter party and the Provost's
garden party. Long-serving staff retirements and deaths are recorded in
the College's annual report.
In his book, Five Years in an English University1
(written for an American audience in the 1840s) Charles Astor Bristed
chronicled the life of a Cambridge undergraduate. Although Bristed was
writing during the nineteenth century, not much appears to have changed
'below the staircases' in Cambridge colleges during the inter-war
period.
He describes the bedders or bed-makers as "the women who take care
of the rooms... For obvious reason they are selected from such of the
fair sex as have long passed the age at which they might have had any
personal attractions." (p. 16). The gyp, he says, is "a college
servant, who attends upon a number of students... [who] calls them in
the morning, brushes their clothes, carries parcels for them... and
waits at their parties and so on." (p.15). The word 'gyp' now only
refers to a 'gyp room', a kitchen provided for students.
1. Bristed's book has been edited by Christopher Stray. Stray. C. (ed.) An American in Victorian Cambridge. (Exeter, 2008)
Pictured (from top): Head Porter Albert H. Powell in 1939; Letter seeking employment at King's College, 1925.
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College posts were highly coveted and were considerably better paid,
and often more secure, than agricultural or factory work. The College
provided the servants with meals, a pension and financial support if
they fell ill or were disabled. It also provided accommodation in some
cases. Most college staff were extremely loyal. They cheered on the
college boat at the bumps, and would stay for decades. Even today
retired staff are invited to an annual winter party and the Provost's
garden party. Long-serving staff retirements and deaths are recorded in
the College's annual report.