The real "Downton Abbey"

Yesterday I was going through some old family photo's for an idea that I have. I came across these, my other had given them to me about 20 years ago, she had marked the family members so that I would know who they all were. A couple of the photos go back to 1820. These are the one's taken of my grandmother, Mahala, when she was in Service. Daughter of Lucy Fox, my Great, Grandmother that was the cook at Osborne House for Queen Victoria. Mahala went into service before World War 1, she was in service to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, in what I am guessing was Chatsworth. I think that we think of Service in a different way now. But at the time there were no careers for women, barely any jobs. Service would have been one of the few jobs available to women, it would have been safe, secure, and hopefully interesting.. Mahala Rear right I had forgotten about the cricket team photo, but after the latest Downton Abbey series, clearly women had a cricket team from the estate too...