Cleaning and housework - Museum of the Home

By Charlotte Goodhart
05/04/2021

Image above: Muriel Scagell at the kitchen sink at home in Middlesex, c.1961. Photo credit: Scagell family

Servants and gender roles

Until the 1900s it was common for middle and upper class homes to have servants to keep them clean and well-maintained

In 1891 there were over a million women working as servants: they were cheaper and easier to employ than men.

Less wealthy families might only be able to afford one servant, who would have to do all the housework.

Some housemaids carried a box or bucket around the house, which contained the tools they needed for their work.

Today, while servants are unaffordable to most families, surveys show that it is still women who pick up the bulk of housework in homes across the UK.

A brown, weathered box with a small handle and lock. — Servant's Tidy, c. 1790 . Object number 3/1998-3

Servant's Tidy, 1850-1920. Object number T215-1

Moll Handy With a Letter of Recommendation to a Service, c.1740. Object number 24/2016 | This satirical print mocks both the female servant and the range of demanding jobs expected of her in the 1700s.

The First Place, 1860. Object number 42/2009 | In this painting the maid is overcome with the difficulties of her ‘first place’ in a job away from home.

Saving time and labour

In the past, keeping the house clean was a mammoth task but technological advances in the 1800s made tidying quicker and easier.

Before this, carpets, rugs and other textiles were hung outside and dust and dirt beaten out of them.

Vacuum cleaners were developed from the 1860s onwards as a labour-saving device.

The first iterations were operated by hand and some even needed two people to operate them.

At first considered a luxury item, by the mid-1900s they were more common and today are a necessity in most homes.

However, the arrival of labour-saving devices have arguably raised the standards of cleanliness expected and created new anxieties.

Woven rattan carpet beater with intricate braided pattern and long handle — Carpet beater. Object number EDU 0066

White dome-shaped vacuum cleaner with hose and floor attachment — Hoover Constellation, Model 862, 1962. The spherical design was influenced by the Atomic Age and space exploration. Object number 13/2002

Black Hoover upright vacuum cleaner with fabric dust bag and chrome base — Hoover Junior vacuum cleaner, c.1937. Object number 26/1974-1

vacuum cleaner with metal canister, brown hose, and various attachments in black storage case — Vac-Tric de luxe electrical vacuum cleaner, purchased from Harrods in 1933. Object number 749/2012-4

Red cylindrical vacuum cleaner with long black handle and brass fittings — Star vacuum cleaner 1910–1938. Object number 28/1971

Dyson upright vacuum cleaner in yellow and gray with bagless canister design — Dyson DC01, c.1996. Object number 19/2014

Instructions and advice

Today there are countless ‘cleanfluencers’ giving advice about how to keep a house spick and span to millions of followers on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

But this is nothing new: in the 1900s instead of reaching for your phone for tips, you could buy recipe books filled with cleaning remedies as well as meal ideas.

At this time, cleaning products were often handmade, and many of the ingredients were pretty unsavoury.

Open 1808 cookbook "The New London Family Cook" showing portrait and title page

Battling the bugs

In the 1700s bed bugs were a serious problem in Britain. But there were a number of options to battle these pests.

Most people picked them up and crushed them, but one remedy suggested mixing the drippings from a roasted cat with egg yolks and oil to form an ointment that could be rubbed onto infested furniture.

More recently, bed bug numbers have been on the rise, due to increases in global travel and their resistance to insecticides.