Mrs Crocombe and Mrs Warwick Take Tea — The Victorian Way

We hope you enjoy this unusual episode of The Victorian Way. Here are the answers to some questions you may have about this video, from our expert historian. • How much of this conversation is based on real events? All of our videos are based on real events and people as far as we know about them. Thus, all of the people Mrs Warwick and Mrs Crocombe mention were real people, working in those positions (Katy Squires), or related to the Braybrookes (Sophia). However, beyond the bare bones information of the census and a few little extra bits, we don't know much about the day to day lives or beliefs of anyone involved, so we use quite a bit of creative license to illustrate themes and possible stories which might well have happened. All of the information behind the conversation is carefully researched, whether that's what life was like as a shop girl (yes, you did have more opportunities if you were tall and attractive), or the reasons someone might choose a vegetarian diet. In reality Katy (actually Kate Matilda) married a fellow servant, in this case a coachman, in 1888, which suggests she remained in domestic service. She and her husband had two sons, and when coaching declined as the motor car took off among the upper classes, the family decamped to Frant in Sussex, where they ran a pub. • Did Lord Braybrooke really weigh his guests?! Yes, this really happened. It wasn't totally uncommon - it was sometimes done at Sandringham as well. Nothing to do with grandstanding over food - Victorian scales weren't that accurate, so a few grammes here and there wouldn't necessarily have shown up. Plus, they weren't weighed again after dinner. It seems to just have been for a laugh. The vast majority of people wouldn't have had scales able to weigh people in their houses, so there is a show off element to it, but mostly it's a conversation opener. We still have some of the weight registers - not every guest is listed which may mean some refused. We know that in 1868 Lord Braybrooke weighed 10st 2lb and 8oz (about 65kg) and Lady Braybrooke was 7st 10lb and 8oz (49kg). • What's a vegetable goose? This is proof, if you were in doubt, that you really don't want to experience Victorian vegetarian food. It's essentially breadcrumbs with onion and flavourings, baked. Other versions used potato. It's worth noting as well that Mrs Crocombe certainly isn't proposing replacing the whole menu for Sophia, merely adding some dishes specifically for her. Meat was very prestigious, and vegetarianism very much a minority choice. If Lord Braybrooke had presented his guests with a wholly meat-free menu, he would quickly have gained a reputation as an eccentric and nobody would have come to dinner again. • Where are their table manners? Don't believe things you read in etiquette manuals! They were aimed at the upper middle class wannabes and social climbers. Mrs Warwick and Mrs Crocombe know who they are and they are not of the etiquette manual reading class (though Avis did eventually become middle class, in that she employed a servant of her own in later life). There are a lot of myths around tea taking, and most of them come from late Victorian and early 20th-century writers, desperate to highlight the differences between ever smaller class divisions. So throw out your beliefs about pinkies in and out, milk in first or last, elbows - and don't even start on the myths around the invention of afternoon tea! (Spoiler alert: not the Duchess of Bedford). • What's the 'still room'? The Still Room was originally a room where distillations happened. It got its name in the late Tudor era, when the lady of the house, together with her housekeeper, would distill medicines and make perfumes and confectionery. By the nineteenth century these functions had been lost, but the name stayed. It was part of the housekeeper's complex, and used by her to make jams and preserves, plus any household preparations such as hand creams and pot pourris. Bigger houses had a still room maid, whose role was to aid in this. The Audley End House still room is now part of the staff offices just off the housekeeper's room (now the cafe).

I've never seen two women so elegantly spill the tea and get nary a drop on the cloth.

Achievement Unlocked: Mrs. Crocombe will ALLOW Mary-Anne to make Seed Cake for the Top Table.

"Many a maid has left to look after a sick mother and suddenly a child appears" GUUUURL, I don't recall asking for SCOLDING HOT tea but more please!

English Heritage really gave their audience exactly what they want

And so it was said , that on that fateful October afternoon so much shade was thrown that a large jelly set too quickly and turned out slightly grainy, several dormice were observed entering hibernation and Lady Braybrook caught a distinct chill and was rather poorly till November.

"Many a maid has left to look after a sick mother and suddenly a child appears" 😱🤭👶

For this recipe you will need: - tea - cakes - the sun

"It's just the food won't be as good" Mic drop Mrs Crocombe is such a Queen Slay

Mrs. Crocombe in her natural element: cakes and judgemental wittiness. Best thing ever.

Is this "spilling the tea" the Victorian way??? 👀😩 I can't wait to see it! 🍵

These two really spare nobody 😩 Mrs. Warwick even threw shade at her mother’s seed cake.

Mrs Warwick really said “Sis you might be pouring the tea, but let me spill it for you” 💋💅🏼 Period

I love how quietly proud Mrs. Crocombe has become of Mary Anne, acknowledging how far the girl has come in the kitchen and glad to have her under her tutelage.

Poor Maryanne's seed cake wasn't as pleasing to Mrs. Crocombe as the seed cake at the train station. And we all know how she feels about purchased "travel picnic" items! (This was awesome. I hope you do more!)

Avis?! 😂😂😂😂 I feel like a grade school student that just found out their teacher has a first name!

Please make this a regular series. ❤️

Love these skits. It can become a type of soap opera

Spilling the tea, The Victorian Way!

Lady Egglington’s daughter has declared herself a Vegitariannnn…with side eye 😂 love it!! They talk about Kate leaving house service to work for a large store, I was thinking of the show Mr. selfridge on PBS masterpiece. Lol..