Manor House. You in 1905


		"If I'd been born 100 years ago a woman of my class would almost certainly have been in service. And I'd like to know what that meant." Antonia, kitchen maid

You're a temporary worker!
- A Snapshot of your life as it might have been in 1905

Education
You won't go to school. Although your mother knows it's against the law not to send you, she's never found out.

Career Prospects
When you're young, you're almost blinded while working with lead in a factory. As a result, your ability to get work is drastically reduced. You manage to get repetitive manual work but sometimes you wonder whether it would be easier to follow your mother into prostitution. Another accident means that you're unfit for work and you leave to live in a workhouse.

Leisure Time
You have very little time away from work. You spend the little money you do have on food.

Living Conditions
You live alongside your workshop in a dormitory shared with eight other women – it is miserable, cold and cramped and you wash in the third class women's section of the public baths.

Marital Relations
You fall in love with a man in your factory but when you marry him you discover that he has a drink problem and can become violent.

Position in Society

	Your life as it might have been further UP or DOWN society's ladder.

Other Possible Occupations
Mill hand, Hosiery worker, Knitter, Farm worker, Fruit picker, Weaver

General Statistics

In 1901, 85 percent of women over 45 were either married or widowed
In 1911, almost half of all illegitimate children were born to women in service
'Unemployable' women would often end up at the workhouse, or as prostitutes

Background to You in 1905