Читать книгу The Real Life Downton Abbey - Jacky Hyams - Страница 13

 1870: first water closet invented in England (a room with a flush toilet).

 1876: invention of first telephone.

 1896: Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, owned by the wealthy Rothschild family, is completed – with its own internal phone system comprising handsets (for the family) and earpieces (for the servants).

 1900: the 17,000 acre estate at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, owned by the Duke of Portland, employs 320 servants.

 1900: 25 per cent of the population live in poverty; 10 per cent live below subsistence level and cannot afford an adequate diet. Many women can only feed the family by taking in washing or sewing at home – or pawning their own boots for food.

 1900: average working week is 54 hours.

 1901: census lists 100,000 servants whose ages are between 10 and l5.

 1901: 2 million people work as domestic servants – 5 per cent of the total population.

 1901: life expectancy for men: 45 years, for women: 49 years.