Ruth Mott
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television cook
Ruth Mott | |
|---|---|
 Mott in her role in the BBC's Wartime Kitchen and Garden | |
| Born | Mildred Ruth Pizzey 5 February 1917 |
| Died | 28 July 2012 (aged 95) |
| Occupations | domestic servant television cook |
| Spouse | Bill Mott (1942–1959) (his death) |
| Children | Bertha Mott |
Ruth Mott (5 February 1917 – 28 July 2012) was an English domestic servant who became a television cook and personality. Mott spent most of her life working in country houses with her television work not beginning until the age of 70, when her knowledge of a working Victorian kitchen was used for the television show The Victorian Kitchen.[1]
Mott was born Mildred Ruth Pizzey in Yattendon in Berkshire, England, in 1917 to Alfred Pizzey, a gardener,[2] and Bertha (née Sparkes), the youngest of three children. As a child she attended the local school, which was designed by the English architect Alfred Waterhouse.
When she left school, at the age of 14, she became a kitchen and scullery maid for the Manor House, owned by the Waterhouse family. Mott was part of a staff of eight, with a wage of £1 and 5 shillings a month. A year later, in 1932, staff cuts saw Mott leaving the employment of the Waterhouse family, finding alternative work in nearby Frilsham House. In 1936 she moved, this time to Lavington Park in Sussex, before circumstances saw her take up employment for Countess Iveagh at Elveden Hall in Thetford.[3][4]
In 1941, Mott took work at a house in Ashampstead to be closer to her parents, both of them then suffering from ill health, in Yattendon. In 1942, she married Cecil Ronald "Bill" Mott, whom she had known since her teen years. Bill was serving in the British Army at the time. They moved in with her parents to take care of them and Mott took a job collecting insurance premiums for Prudential.
When her daughter Bertha was born in 1945, Mott became a housewife, only returning to employment in 1957 when Bertha was in school. Mott took an office job in the day, and catered for local functions in her free time.
Bill died in 1959. Mott continued in her catering and office work until 1970 when she was offered a full-time role as cook-housekeeper at Basildon Park near Pangbourne for Lord and Lady Iliffe.[3] Mott continued to work full-time at Basildon Park until 1987, when she was 70, although she did casual work for the household after this date.
Mott died on 28 July 2012 and was survived by her daughter.[3]