Margaret Powell
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Margaret Powell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1907 |
| Died | April 1984 (aged 76–77) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | Below Stairs |
Margaret Powell (1907 – April 1984) was an English writer. Her book about her experiences in domestic service, Below Stairs, became a best-seller. She went on to write other books and became a television personality. Below Stairs was an impetus for Upstairs, Downstairs, the basis of Beryl's Lot, and one of the inspirations for Downton Abbey.
Ellen Margaret Steer's father, Harry, was seasonally employed as a house painter and her mother, Florence, was a charwoman. Her parents and her grandmother lived in three rooms in Hove, Sussex and she had six siblings. When she was 13 and won a scholarship to grammar school, her parents could not afford to allow her to take it up.[1][2][3] She went to work in a laundry until she was 15 and became a maid, first locally and a year later in London. Since she had experience of cooking at home and hated needlework, she became a kitchen maid instead of a slightly more prestigious under-housemaid.[1]
After "set[ting] about [finding a husband] as if it were an extra household duty, like hulling five pounds of strawberries or mopping the linoleum floor",[1] she escaped domestic service by marrying a milkman, Albert Powell.[4] When her three sons were in grammar school, she became a maid once more. Eventually, "when I realised I had nothing to talk about with my eldest son, who was preparing to go to university", she took evening school courses in philosophy, history and literature, passed her O-levels at 58, and went on to A-levels, passing the English A-level in 1969.[5]
Writing career and later life
She published her memoir, Below Stairs, in 1968. It sold well, 14,000 copies in its first year, and was followed by other autobiographical books beginning the following year. She also wrote some novels.[1] She became a popular guest on television talk shows.[1][6]
When she died in April 1984 at 76 after suffering from cancer,[5] she left a substantial estate of £77,000.[1][7]
In her birthplace of Hove there is a bus named after her and a blue plaque on her house.[8][9]
