A Trip to Scotland
Edith Faulkner tells Dorothy Thomson how she coincidentally met Daisy Reed (Dorothy’s mother’s maid) in Scotland when she was accompanying Lord and Lady Latimer of Shipton Court on holiday to Inverness.
They were able to travel the entire journey in the same carriages from Shipton station, shunting here and there to connect to different engines. It was an amazing adventure for the young maid, seeing the lights of Crewe, travelling over the Forth Bridge and arriving in Inverness for a reception with breakfast before going shopping.
Shipton Lodge Entertainment
The ladies discuss the meticulous planning that went into entertaining at Shipton Lodge. For example, notes were kept of guest lists and menus so that meals were not duplicated. Guest’s likes and dislikes were noted. Miss Johnson, the governess, would often undertake the elaborate floral arrangements because she had a flair for this.
Edith and Dorothy talk about the way governesses formed an important part of family life and then had to move on. Dorothy stayed in touch with Miss Johnson until her death. She had some private means apparently and Dorothy related an amusing rumour that Miss Johnson’s father had been the inventor of Bird’s Custard Powder but had been cheated out of his due.
Dancing at Shipton Court
Dorothy asks Edith if she remembers the dancing classes they held at Shipton Court. There were two classes for children during the afternoon and then one for adults in the evening. According to Dorothy, this was so that they could keep up with dancers from the village. The teacher was a Miss Fraser who also taught at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford.
Edith Faulkner in Service
When Edith first went into service in the late 1920’s, her salary was £12 a year. She worked for Colonel and Mrs Dugdale at Sezincote House in Moreton-in-Marsh before coming to Shipton Court to work in 1933. She had a brief appointment in Northleach in between but didn’t stay because she was homesick for her family in Shipton.
Whilst in Moreton, she would regularly cycle the 14 miles each way to visit her mother, but this was not possible from Northleach. She came from a large family with six surviving children. At the time of recording, she had one brother and one sister still living, both in Moreton.
At the end of the tape she talks of the pressure by developers to build on fields there despite it being known that they are prone to flooding.
Note: We found a name “Shaylor” on the original tape but are currently unable to verify this person’s identity
CHB/DB November 2023
