In 1938 I went to work for Sir Harold and Lady Nutting of Quenby Hall, Hungarton near Leicester. Sir Harold had a proper oil painting of himself when he had been a Captain in a posh horse regiment in the First World War and an oil painting of Lady Nutting. They were both a good class of rich people who were born with a ‘silver spoon in the mouth’. I only wish I had got their chance in life, a nanny to wait on me, to get plenty of good food and good clothes and to go to a good college and on to university etc. I am sure that I would be a nice employer, especially if I was very rich – but of course that is ‘fantasy’.

Mr John Nutting, the first son, and Mr Edric Nutting, the second son, were both lieutenants of ‘posh horse regiments’ although I believe that Mr John’s regiment was forced to move from horses to tanks – quite a change for the unit! When they hunted, they always came with their own batman. I am sorry to say that both of them were killed in the War. The younger son, Mr Tony - Anthony Nutting, was at Cambridge University and later went into the Diplomatic Corps. Each Thursday he used to come home from Cambridge University and return back by Taxi. He became an MP for Melton Mowbray after the Second World War and was a Member of the Conservative Cabinet from 1951 until the Suez trouble of 1956 when he resigned from the government in protest. I had to valet him when he was home from Cambridge University. I once asked him “do you think you will always be able to get domestic servants?” he said “yes, I am sure we will always be able to satisfy the market.” When some of the older rich people said that even if you ‘give them’ , the working class, bathrooms, they would only use them for keeping the coal in, Mr Tony disagreed. He said that this may happen but only with a few and never with a second generation! He told me that the family had descended from Oliver Cromwell.


Since there were no buses from Hungarton, the Nuttings had their own little bus to take the servants on their half day off on Thursday or Saturday to Leicester. Of course, if they had not had any transport for servants, they would not have had any servants! There were fourteen inside servants, seven gardeners, two chauffeurs and eleven stable lads. Most of the eleven stable lads were single and lived above the horses. One man had the job of cooking for them. One day the men congratulated him on the cake he had made for them, upon which he explained to them that “it ought to have been good, he had put an egg in it.” I believe that some of the stable lads would have loved to have married but were too poor. I am sure that they had gone into the job to become jockeys but put on too much weight.

There were 74 dogs and 74 bitches plus staff to look after them as Sir Harold Nutting was Head of Quorn Hunt. I understood that he subsidised the Hunts by about £13,000 per annum. The Nuttings were very rich and able to hunt on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. That winter the Quorn Hunt Ball took place at Quenby Hall with at least 300 guests and we had to work all day and night until around 7:00 a.m.; we all felt very exhausted.

When the Quorn Hunt hunted in the area of Quenby Hall it was the practice for Sir Harold Nutting to invite all members of the hunt plus the huntsman, George Barker and the two ‘whippers in’ who control the dogs for a drink of cherry brandy or sherry plus sandwiches and/or cheese biscuits. I and other members of the staff had to wait on them as they sat on their horses. It was quite an event; the huntsmen and ladies had either red or black jackets; white or off-white breeches; black boots; and a proper headpiece. All hunts have their own buttons with its own mark. Fox hunting was a recognised sport in the last half of the 17th century and the season starts on the first Monday in November until the following April. A hunt is like a club in which only certain people can join. One day when a member of the Quorn Hunt was speaking up for a friend to Sir Harold Nutting; Sir Harold asked after his position in life and how often he will be able to hunt. One person I remember noticing quite often at the hunts was a lovely girl named Primula who became the first wife of the actor Mr David Niven, unfortunately she died in Hollywood when she fell to her death in an accident.

When Sir Harold and his guests returned from hunting, the servants had to be ready with hot water for the baths; change of clothes; then high tea with lots of hot sausages, bacon, eggs, tea and coffee etc. Often they just ate for half an hour as if they had been starved! Then they used to listen to each other talking of the foxes they had chased. We also had to clean up the hunting cloths that frequently had to be brushed hard, cleaned with petrol and often we had to scrub the breeches and leave them out to dry. We also had to clean and polish their big boots ready for the next day. The gear was costly and well made to order. At the same time, the horses had to be fed and cleaned and brushed and rested and if they were hurt, then the vet had to be called.

Amongst the most famous ‘hunts’ were the Quorn, Pytchley, Belvoir and Cottesmore hunts. Friday was called ‘ladies day’ and seemed to be very important where the ‘bitch’ dogs went out in the hunt. I was also told that Monday or Friday was suitable for those persons who go to the city of London for their employment. I believe that the fox is a pest, a very intelligent, sly animal that needs to be ‘controlled’. Local persons who could, sometimes followed by foot or by bicycle and some would stand near the gates and open the gates for those who could not or decided not to try over the fence and both Mr Tony Nutting and the other Nutting sons and Sir Harold Nutting always got a supply of sixpences from the butler for the tips.


At the end of the hunting it was the practice to send a van and two men to repair any fences and other damage to pacify the farmers and to keep their goodwill. Each year Sir Harold Nutting made a practice of inviting some of the local farmers to dinner at Quenby and allowing for normal suits, not evening wear! On a number of occasions, the Duke (Prince Henry) and the Duchess of Gloucester visited the Nuttings at Quenby Hall. The Duchess was a nice lady but the Duke was Germanic in appearance and in speech, he could not pronounce Ws and so he called me ‘Vittle’. He never seemed very intelligent and I noted that he would not join in any card games for money. At the end of visits, his aide, a captain, used to do the ‘tipping’.

The Princess Helen Victoria from the Palace of Kensington also spent three months as a guest of Lady Nutting during the period of the Munich crisis. One day Lady Nutting asked the butler, Mr Powell, if he would kindly lend them, the gentry, the servant’s wireless so that the Princess could translate Hitler’s speech. This was after the second of the three trips by the Prime Minister, Mr Chamberlain, to Germany by air to meet with Hitler. The dinner had started at 8:00 p.m. with soup and then we took the plates off and replaced them with clean ones and the fish course. From time to time, she translated Hitler’s words as he said them. At first she said that he is now “ranting and complaining about the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles 1919”. While the meal went on the Princess continued to listen to Hitler’s speech; eat her food; and brief the others on Hitler’s tirade – quite a feat. By the time they got to the meat course, according to the Princess, Hitler was threatening war on Czechoslovakia. She seemed very frightened by the harsh threatening voice and her fear was passed on to the others. They mentioned what war would mean to this country; the death, destruction and rationing! Lady Nutting told Mr Powell to pass the silver plate of meat and vegetables around the table again and they tucked into the remainder of the meal that is sweet, savoury, fruit and coffee as if it were to be their last! Then Lady Nutting gave Mr Powell our wireless back and told him to thank the servants very much for letting them use it. Lady Nutting, like most British people, thought well of Mr Chamberlain’s when he signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. She seemed out of this world with joy because of the peace. Only a few persons like Mr Churchill disagreed.

I forget what the relationship of the Princess Helen Victoria was to other members of the Royal Family. To look at her you could imagine her as a cook or a washer woman. We were told that she had married a German Prince but it hadn’t worked out and she came back home. We were also told that she only received £6,000 per annum from the Privy Purse and so she was relatively poor. I found her easy to talk to and interested in people, she used to refer to ‘the great unwashed’. During the three months period that she was at Quenby hall the film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was showing at a cinema at Leicester and Lady Nutting visited it with the Princess about eight times.

At Christmas 1938 we had a lot of guests at Quenby Hall and our lunch was not until 3:00 p.m. The hallboy became drunk and the boiler was cold. We had to put the hallboy to bed, start the fire in the boiler again; start the washing up; and dry up all the dirty items. Then we had to prepare for the tea at 5:00 p.m. that was served in the dining room. After that we had to take out all of the used crockery and cutlery from tea and lay the table for dinner at 8:00 p.m. – a full dinner of soup, fish, meat, sweet, savoury, fruit, coffee and ending in brandy and cigars. I have always enjoyed the smell of brandy and cigars; it leaves me, and I am sure, many other people with a feeling of wealth and goodwill. However, I can truthfully say that Christmas for most of my life was a bind. When I was a boy we had to listen to the rabbiting of our old father and as a servant of these “bloody rich people”. I and my class, had to get their luggage from their cars into their rooms, valeting about two or three men, getting them an early tea tray with an nice, pretty pot of tea and two bloody biscuits! I well remember those sods ringing and often having to put some more coal on the fire, “by the way John, will you get some coffee for ten, or sherry and fifteen glasses” etc. I was glad when Christmas was over and when they went away and we were able to have a more normal life. I never really enjoyed Christmas as a result, even when I stopped being a servant and married and had children and grandchildren of my own.

While I was at Quenby Hall I had a girlfriend, the third housemaid, Barbara Spruce who was attractive looking but without much brains. I also had the chance of going out with both the second housemaid, Eileen, a girl from the Forest of Dean – a nice girl who told me that she felt like “throwing herself at me” and “giving way to me” and also the fourth housemaid, who was about 15-16 years old. At beginning of 1939 I left Quenby Hall and tried to get a job in or near London. I was offered the job as 1st footman for the Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxon – quite a good job in those times but I declined it for a similar job for Lord and Lady Astor. I had seen Lady Astor speaking in the House of Commons and had been quite impressed with her. I was interviewed for the job by Mr Lee, their butler. I had made certain before going that I would get my return train fair paid.


[this is the end of the chapter - the next chapter covers the short period January to September 1939 when my father was 1st Footman to Nancy Astor]