DAISY MINNS — BELOW STAIRS

Copyright Valerie Martin 2011

First published in Along the Furlong, June 2003.

Part printed in Sussex Local in May 2011

Daisy Minns lived in an era when the kitchen maid knew her place and the only person beneath her below stairs was the scullery maid.

Daisy was born in Buxted in 1893 and her family moved first to Chailey and then to Handcross in West Sussex. Her father was a dairyman and carter on various estates and Daisy left full time education in 1909 and was employed as a kitchen maid. For the first two years of this career she was at Nymans — a property in Handcross in West Sussex.

Later, Daisy set her sights on Findon. When Colonel William Margesson, the Lord of the Manor of Findon, died in 1911, his son, Colonel Evelyn W. Margesson (1865-1944) inherited the mansion of Findon Place and Daisy was taken on as his kitchen maid. She arrived in the village on the appointed starting day and made her way to the manor. The property was surrounded by fields as far as she could see — set half a mile from the village and the shops, next to St. John the Baptist Church. Behind the manor, Church Hill rose steeply and away in the distance Chanctonbury Ring could be just seen on the horizon.

In 1914, Edwin John Spencer and his wife rented the mansion, grounds and stables from Colonel Evelyn Margesson and Daisy stayed on as their servant in the kitchen. In those days the household at the Manor of Findon comprised a butler, footman, cook/housekeeper, lady's maid, housemaid, under housemaid, sewing maid, kitchen maid and a scullery maid.

I will endeavour to give a little insight into Daisy's general duties during the days of the First World War. The young woman's routine meant that she really only had one place of work — in the kitchen. She was allowed upstairs once each day to attend any morning prayers that were held. Otherwise she spent her time between her bedroom high in the attic and the kitchen — and on occasions she could be seen trudging up the hillside to the ice house to deposit or collect any provisions the cook required. Ice houses predated refrigerators. They were underground chambers (or partly subterranean) with suitable insulation above. Ice was collected from local ponds and lakes in the winter and was placed in the ice houses of large estates where, if properly insulated, it would last the year through. A pleasant enough little outing in spring and summer for a kitchen maid with the birds singing, but not so welcome in the depths of winter. Daisy was assisted in her daily tasks by the scullery maid and would have seen that the younger girl kept the dishes washed and the kitchen clean at all times.

March 2003 — Almost a hundred years since Daisy entered the doorway. The now overgrown ice house of the Manor of Findon on the side of Church Hill.

 

Daisy rose each day at half-past six and washed and dressed, with her hair neatly tied back beneath her cap. In the winter, it was bitterly cold in the attic accommodation and her fingers would fumble. Her room was cold and dark as well as dismal, but in the summer the birds would be singing and the grounds of the old manor looked absolutely beautiful from the vantage point of her high window. She would make her bed and be promptly downstairs at work within half an hour of waking.

The next hour would be spent in preparing the servants' breakfasts, the early morning tea trays for the Spencer family and breakfast for the children. If any of the family walked passed her doing her chores, she politely curtsied and said "Good morning". Sometimes she received a reply and on occasions she did not.

There was no time for idle chit-chat or morning coffee. Daisy's next job involved the preparing of all the ingredients for the family's lunch and the servants' dinner. This included commodities such as bread, sauces and vegetable dishes.

Just prior to 1 p.m. the cook required her to make any final touches to the family's lunch — at the appointed time the footman and butler collected the prepared dishes for serving in the dining room exactly on the hour. She would then be expected to help the cook to store away any leftovers. Providing her work was finished, she was given permission to take time off between 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. She grew to know the real meaning of her quality time.

Duties resumed again in the kitchen at 4.30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. onwards her time would be found preparing children's meals and assisting the cook with the Spencer family's dinner and the servants' supper. It was all go in those days in the large manor house.

The cook then required Daisy to assist with any final preparation for the family's dinner at 8 p.m., which was served by the footman and butler in the dining room.

Supper was eventually served to the servants at 9.30 p.m. The rest of the evening, Daisy (by now exhausted) would be able to spend at her leisure — but she always had to keep an eye on the clock because she was expected to be up early the following morning to start her chores all over again.

In January 1917, the government announced the establishment of a new voluntary service, the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). The plan was for these women to serve as clerks, telephonists, waitresses, cooks, and as instructors in the use of gas masks. Perhaps it was the non-stop drudgery and hectic life at "the big house" that finally made Daisy put pen to paper in the spring of 1917 when she sad down and wrote a letter —


1 Mar 1917

Findon Place, Findon, Nr Worthing

Sir,

I have seen in the Daily Papers that several women are needed as Army Cooks for France.

Will you please forward me an application form.

I am twenty-three years of age & have worked in kitchens of large establishments for the past eight years.

Yours respectfully,

Daisy Minns


She received back an application form from the army which she promptly filled in and listed her employer's reference as “Mrs. Spencer, Findon Place, Findon, Sussex”.

 

Daisy in her army uniform with some of her comrades (she's the one on the far left).
 

After the First World War the intrepid Daisy set sail for Montreal where she worked for the wealthy Stewart family for several years.  In 1924 she made the arduous journey across Canada to British Columbia to visit a friend.  When she arrived in Vancouver, she fell in love with the man who picked her up from the station.

It must have been love at first sight because they were married the next day!  Her husband was Charles Ragsdale — Ron's Grandfather and the above photograph was taken just after they got married.  The couple lived the rest of their lives in the north west of the United States.  Daisy did not return to England to visit until 1973 when she was 79 years old. 

Her influence led her grandson, Ron, to later settle in England.

Continue if you would like to rad The Great War and the Margesson Family

This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.