{"id":923,"date":"2020-10-19T12:13:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T12:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/?page_id=923"},"modified":"2020-10-19T12:19:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T12:19:04","slug":"upstairs-and-downstairs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/?page_id=923","title":{"rendered":"Upstairs and Downstairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cDEAR Freddie Feest\u201d<\/em>, writes Mrs Marjorie Beatie, \u201cyour two recent articles about notable women who\u2019ve lived in Worthing were most interesting, but how could you have overlooked the remarkable Rosina Harrison?\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
LIFE WITH THE ASTORS:\u00a0
Rosina (\u201cRose\u201d) Harrison retired to Worthing and\u00a0was eventually persuaded to write a book about her unique \u201cupstairs and downstairs\u201d life with multi-millionairess MP, Lady Astor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not only did she unexpectedly become one of the most travelled women of her generation but she led a remarkable \u2013 not to mention confrontational \u2013 life as personal maid to the fiery Lady Astor, Britain\u2019s first-ever woman member of parliament.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Freddie Feest replies:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI omitted Rosina Harrison from my shortlist because she lived in Worthing only during retirement. On second thoughts, because she was such an intriguing character and because so many other Worthing residents are also retirees, Rosina should be included. So here goes . . .\u201d\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rose, as Rosina Harrison quickly became known to all her Worthing neighbours, managed to keep her fascinating background a secret for six years after retiring to Worthing in 1968. Then, one day in the Post Office queue, she let slip that, after spending her life savings of \u00a3498 on a retirement bungalow in Worthing, she had told multi-millionairess Lady Astor:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m now a woman of property, the same as you.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The retired maid in Worthing who helped look after one of the most famous women in the world\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So who was this motherly, occasionally obstinate, white-haired lady of an uncertain age and forthright manner \u2013 and how did she come to tame the sharp tongue of Nancy, Viscountess Lady Astor, the\u00a0 American-born multi-millionairess, who, in 1919, became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons?
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rose, it transpired, had worked as a maid for Nancy, Lady Astor, for 35 years, when because of her wealth, outspokenness, political influence and the people she mixed with, she was probably the most famous woman in the western world.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lady Astor and Rose had a curious, abrasive relationship, and there were times when Lord Astor used to creep into an adjacent room to hear what they were yelling at each other.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once, Lady Astor lashed out with her foot at her servant \u2013 and Rose Harrison made a lightning grab at it to uproot her!
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhen you are living with a dictatorial woman, you have not got to be a little mouse,\u201d<\/em> Rose told a Worthing friend later. \u201cI had as much right on this earth as her, even though she\u2019s my employer. I didn\u2019t see why I should be spoken to like she used to speak to me. I couldn\u2019t take it.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many aspects of Rose\u2019s working life \u201cin service\u201d<\/em> were untypical, to say the least.\u00a0
Fortunately for social history, she was eventually persuaded to tell her unique, real-life \u201cupstairs and downstairs\u201d<\/em> story to a colleague of mine on the Worthing Gazette.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What a fascinating social document of those life-changing times it turned out to be, so much so that Rose eventually wrote a book about her unique working life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
OUT OF STEP WITH THE TIMES?:\u00a0 Viscountess Lady Astor MP, dancing with a sailor on Plymouth Hoe during World War Two. Rosina Harrison \u201clooked after\u201d her for 35 years and recalled, \u201cWhen you are living with a dictatorial woman, you can\u2019t be a little mouse.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before joining the grand Astor household, Rose had worked for another aristocrat, Lady Salisbury. \u201cShe had perfect manners,\u201d<\/em> recalled Rose. \u201cWhat a difference it was working for Lady Astor.
\u201cShe was an American and abrupt to a point in her way of speaking, I mean, her demands were never met. She would say, sharply, \u2018I want this\u2019 and \u2018Where have you been?\u2019 Well, I wasn\u2019t used to it and thought, I\u2019ll never be able to stick this.\u201d<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLady Astor couldn\u2019t keep a maid \u2013 she had three in the year that I was with Miss Wissie\u201d <\/em>(Lady Astor\u2019s daughter, the honourable Phyllis Astor, later Lady Ancaster). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rose Harrison got on well with Edwin Lee, the steward at Cliveden, the Astors\u2019 main stately home in England.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But when he told Rose that Lady Astor was going to take her off Miss Wissie and for herself, she burst into tears and said: \u201cI don\u2019t think I will be able to stick her.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut I had to take her on because I was given an ultimatum. Either take her on, or go. Behind my back, the staff gave me three months with her ladyship . . . Lady Astor used to say to me, \u2018When I took you on, Rose\u2019 . . . but I would point out \u201cLook lady, you never took me on \u2013 I took you on. You took me off your daughter. I wasn\u2019t going to let her get away with that . . .\u00a0 \u201cMany years later, her ladyship said to me, \u2018Promise you\u2019ll never leave me Rose\u2019, but I said, \u2018Oh, no, my lady. So much will happen to me in my lifetime that I may have to break such a promise. It\u2019s not fair of you to ask me.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut I did add, \u2018I\u2019ll never do the dirty on you and will never go behind your back or leave you in the lurch. I will always be straightforward.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
THE WAR CHANGED EVERYTHING: Portrait of Lady Astor MP. \u201cShe was an abrupt American in the early days and once even tried to kick me. But World War Two changed everything. We ended up as family,\u201d recalled Rosina Harrison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne maid of hers had run away but on principle I would never do that, as hard as I had to work. Lady Astor wasn\u2019t all that bad really but she did keep the staff running \u2013 all 26 of us.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0
Rose\u2019s burning ambition to travel was well met by the super-rich Astors, who, during the 1920s and 1930s, took her to America 20 times, to Europe, Turkey, Bermuda and a host of other exotic places.
\u00a0
By World War Two and the blitz, they were in Plymouth, where Lady Astor was the local MP and Lord Astor was for five years the Lord Mayor.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The city suffered appalling bombing during that time.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was in the mid-1940s, towards the end of the war, that Rose experienced the greatest changes ever in the \u201cupstairs and downstairs\u201d<\/em> life of the aristocratic English household.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFor the Astor staff and particularly the old faithfuls, of whom I had now become one,\u201d<\/em> she recalled, \u201cthe most striking changes were in relationships. No longer did the distinction of servant and master apply. We were all family. During the war, we had soldiered together, looked death in the face and suffered the loss of many friends.\u00a0We\u2019d been shown qualities no other circumstances could have demonstrated to us, and had shared emotions that would otherwise have remained hidden.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We\u2019d liked what we had seen and these ties were now as strong as those of class and birth.\u00a0
\u201cThey are bonds that few of us will ever know again. They gave my life a new purpose.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDEAR Freddie Feest\u201d, writes Mrs Marjorie Beatie, \u201cyour two recent articles about notable women who\u2019ve lived in Worthing were most interesting, but how could you have overlooked the remarkable Rosina Harrison?\u00a0 Not only did she unexpectedly become one of the most travelled women of her generation but she led a remarkable \u2013 not to mention confrontational \u2013 life as personal maid to the fiery Lady Astor, Britain\u2019s first-ever woman member of parliament.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Freddie Feest replies:\u00a0\u201cI omitted Rosina Harrison from my shortlist because she lived in Worthing only during retirement. On second thoughts, because she was such an intriguing character and because so many other Worthing residents are also retirees, Rosina should be included. So here goes . . .\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rose, as Rosina Harrison quickly became known to all her Worthing neighbours, managed to keep her fascinating background a secret for six years after retiring to Worthing in 1968. Then, one day in the Post Office queue, she let slip that, after spending her life savings of \u00a3498 on a retirement bungalow in Worthing, she had told multi-millionairess Lady Astor:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m now a woman of property, the same as you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The retired maid in Worthing who helped look after one of the most famous women in the world\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So who was this motherly, occasionally obstinate, white-haired lady of an uncertain age and forthright manner \u2013 and how did she come to tame the sharp tongue of Nancy, Viscountess Lady Astor, the\u00a0 American-born multi-millionairess, who, in 1919, became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rose, it transpired, had worked as a maid for Nancy, Lady Astor, for 35 years, when because of her wealth, outspokenness, political influence and the people she mixed with, she was probably the most famous woman in the western world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lady Astor and Rose had a curious, abrasive relationship, and there were times when Lord Astor used to creep into an adjacent room to hear what they were yelling at each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once, Lady Astor lashed out with her foot at her servant \u2013 and Rose Harrison made a lightning grab at it to uproot her!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhen you are living with a dictatorial woman, you have not got to be a little mouse,\u201d Rose told a Worthing friend later. \u201cI had as much right on this earth as her, even though she\u2019s my employer. I didn\u2019t see why I should be spoken to like she used to speak to me. I couldn\u2019t take it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many aspects of Rose\u2019s working life \u201cin service\u201d were untypical, to say the least.\u00a0Fortunately for social history, she was eventually persuaded to tell her unique, real-life \u201cupstairs and downstairs\u201d story to a colleague of mine on the Worthing Gazette.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What a fascinating social document of those life-changing times it turned out to be, so much so that Rose eventually wrote a book about her unique working life.\u00a0 Before joining the grand Astor household, Rose had worked for another aristocrat, Lady Salisbury. \u201cShe had perfect manners,\u201d recalled Rose. \u201cWhat a difference it was working for Lady Astor.\u201cShe was an American and abrupt to a point in her way of speaking, I mean, her demands were never met. She would say, sharply, \u2018I want this\u2019 and \u2018Where have you been?\u2019 Well, I wasn\u2019t used to it and thought, I\u2019ll never be able to stick this.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLady Astor couldn\u2019t keep a maid \u2013 she had three in the year that I was with Miss Wissie\u201d (Lady Astor\u2019s daughter, the honourable Phyllis Astor, later Lady Ancaster). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rose Harrison got on well with Edwin Lee, the steward at Cliveden, the Astors\u2019 main stately home in England.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But when he told Rose that Lady Astor was going to take her off Miss Wissie and for herself, she burst into tears and said: \u201cI don\u2019t think I will be able to stick her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut I had to take her on because I was given an ultimatum. Either take her on, or go. Behind my back, the staff gave me three months with her ladyship . . . Lady Astor used to say to me, \u2018When I took you on, Rose\u2019 . . . but I would point out \u201cLook lady, you never took me on \u2013 I took you on. You took me off your daughter. I wasn\u2019t going to let her get away with that . . .\u00a0 \u201cMany years later, her ladyship said to me, \u2018Promise you\u2019ll never leave me Rose\u2019, but I said, \u2018Oh, no, my lady. So much will happen to me in my lifetime that I may have to break such a promise. It\u2019s not fair of you to ask me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut I did add, \u2018I\u2019ll never do the dirty on you and will never go behind your back or leave you in the lurch. I will always be straightforward.\u201d \u201cOne maid of hers had run away but on principle I would never do that, as hard as I had to work. Lady Astor wasn\u2019t all that bad really but she did keep the staff running \u2013 all 26 of us.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rose\u2019s burning ambition to travel was well met by the super-rich Astors, who, during the 1920s and 1930s, took her to America 20 times, to Europe, Turkey, Bermuda and a host of other exotic places.\u00a0By World War Two and the blitz, they were in Plymouth, where Lady Astor was the local MP and Lord Astor was for five years the Lord Mayor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The city suffered appalling bombing during that time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was in the mid-1940s, towards the end of the war, that Rose experienced the greatest changes ever in the \u201cupstairs and downstairs\u201d life of the aristocratic English household.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFor the Astor staff and particularly the old faithfuls, of whom I had now become one,\u201d she recalled, \u201cthe most striking changes were in relationships. No longer did the distinction of servant and master apply. We were all family. During the war, we had soldiered together, looked death in the face and suffered the loss of many friends.\u00a0We\u2019d been shown qualities no other circumstances could have demonstrated to us, and had shared emotions that would otherwise have remained hidden.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We\u2019d liked what we had seen and these ties were now as strong as those of class and birth.\u00a0\u201cThey are bonds that few of us will ever know again. They gave my life a new purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-923","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/923\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worthinghistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}