Ruth Elizabeth Stiff
Bio
I love all things Earthy and Self-Help
History is one of my favourite subjects and I love to write short fiction
Research is so interesting for me too
Stories (174/0)
"Maison Lucile"
On 27th July, 1904, the best of London society crowded into a large, grey-walled Georgian room in Hanover Square, with an empty platform at one end. Music played, lights flashed and the Lords and Ladies sat in their chairs, looking at their programmes. Six stunning ‘models’ swayed, unsmiling, across the stage, wearing such delights as “Spring’s Delirium” and “Pleasure’s Thrall”. Although remarkably familiar for us today, this was a brand new ‘event’ in 1904. This piece of theatre was watched over by its creator, the 41 year old Lucy Duff Gordon, whose business 7 years later became “Maison Lucile” — the first international house of Couture.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff7 days ago in Styled
Nell Gwyn
“Let not poor Nelly starve”, Charles II. She was a famous actress who caught the attention of a King, becoming his mistress and giving birth to two sons by him. She was a jolly woman and not greedy, asking the King for only £500 a year, who also gave her a pension of £4,000+ a year. She herself never received a title, but her eldest son did. She was born into a poor family but rose to become Charles IIs most famous mistress. She was Nell Gwyn.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff2 months ago in Humans
Today's Lesson Is The Victorian Poor
During the Victorian Era, the poor were trapped in a never ending “Poverty Cycle”. The children born into these families had no chance of any education or schooling, because schooling was expensive and these poor families could hardly afford to feed themselves, (especially when dad or mum or both drank any money away!). Without any education, even the basic reading and writing, the children could not become apprentices or train for a skill in a profession. The fact is that without any ‘outside’ help, generations were trapped in this “Cycle”, (if, indeed, they lived past a certain age).
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff3 months ago in Humans
Today's Lesson Is The Lady's Maid
After the Butler and the Housekeeper, the valet and the Lady’s Maid were the two most senior “domestic servants” during the Victorian and Edwardian Eras. They had the ‘ear’ of the Master and the mistress which gave them some influence with the Lord and Lady of the House. Despite being at the top of the maids ‘ladder’, the Lady’s Maid still had to answer to the Housekeeper, as well as her Mistress.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff3 months ago in FYI
Today's Lesson Is The Valet
After the Butler and the Housekeeper, the Valet and the Lady’s Maid were the two most senior “domestic servants” in the Victorian and Edwardian Eras. They had the ‘ear’ of their Master and Mistress which gave them some influence with the Lord and Lady of the House. This was either a good thing or a bad thing with the other staff within the household. The valet answered only to his master but still worked closely with the butler.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff3 months ago in FYI
Charles II
“I always admired virtue — but I could never imitate it”. He was known as the “Merry Monarch” and was the King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1660 to 1685. His mother was 15 years of age when she married his father, who was 24 years of age. He saw The Great Plague and The Fire of London. He was Charles II.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff4 months ago in FYI
The Mystery Box
Saturday afternoon was always “My” afternoon. The boys had gone out to footy and Sheba snuggled up on my lap purring, while I bing-watched Game of Thrones (yet again!). There was a glass of red wine and a box of my favourite chocolates on the little coffee table by the settee, where I was stretched out. After a very busy week at the office I needed to relax and unwind.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff4 months ago in Fiction
Ladies Fashion in the Victorian Era
The one thing that always impresses me personally, when looking at a Victorian-styled dress, is the sheer “workmanship” that can be so clearly seen. Every dress was cut, put together and sewn — by hand! These dresses were “High-Fashion” and very similar to our Haute Couture today. The skill of the embroiderers who attached their piece of work to the dress is comparable to the dresses the rich women wore in the Tudor Era. It is no wonder that these dresses were so expensive, when we think about the time involved to ‘create’ them and the sheer skill — it is no wonder that only the very rich could actually afford these dresses.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff4 months ago in Styled
Victorian Prisons
The truth about Victorian prisons was that to many (especially those of the poorer classes), life in prison was better than life in their own homes. Many ‘broke the law’ deliberately to go back into prison, for a roof over their heads and ‘decent food’. Even those in the Workhouses did this — because prison was better than the Workhouse!
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff7 months ago in Criminal
Street Life in Victorian London
Six years after Charles Dickens died (1876), the streets of London were ‘recorded’ by Adolphe Smith, who was a journalist, and John Thomson, who was a photographer. The result shocked the middle classes when they read the book “Street Life of London”. Luckily for us today, this book is still available. To us this is history but when the book was first published in 1876 — it really was how people lived every day of their lives. The book was firstly put into articles which were full of facts and which the black and white photographs only added to. The book is regarded as “a key work in the history of documentary photography”.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff7 months ago in FYI
Today's Lesson Is The Housekeeper
They belonged in another time period and were at the top of their careers. Most learnt their trade by ‘working up the ladder’. Very few of the upper-class, who lived in the magnificent “Houses” and who had an army of domestic servants, could manage without them = the Butler and the Housekeeper.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff8 months ago in FYI
