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 Working for Nancy Astor (part 3)

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Tim of Aclea
Triumviratus Rei Publicae Constituendae
Tim of Aclea


Posts : 586
Join date : 2011-12-31

Working for Nancy Astor (part 3) Empty
20120623
PostWorking for Nancy Astor (part 3)

Generally speaking, each weekend we worked all day from 6:30am to around 12:00pm. It was interesting but very tiring. On Monday morning the guests got ready to go and after breakfast we would pack their luggage, take it to their cars and thank them for their tip of 10s or £1. Once the guests had left, the pantry staff got their luggage and travelled back to St James Square. There always had to be one servant covering the door while the others got their meal in the servant’s hall then the person who was ‘on the front door’ got his meal. I believe that the 2nd footman then had some time off on Monday afternoon and the afternoon and evening off on Wednesday. I had the same time off on Tuesday and Thursday. On my time off I would do what I have before – go to a Shakespeare play at the ‘Old Vic’ and/or visit a museum or the National Gallery, the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery or go out with my girl Barbara if she was off duty. Barbara had come from Leicester to be near me and she had a housemaid job at a house near the Albert Memorial.

Life at 4 St James Square, London was not as hard work as at Cliveden. From time to time we had to valet guests in London for a night or so. I used to valet Von Trott, a member of the German Foreign Service. He went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he became a friend to the Hon. David Astor. When a number of Germans tried to murder Hitler in July 1944, Von Trott was involved and was tried, tortured and killed. His name is on the list of Rhodes Scholars in Rhodes Hall, Oxford as having been killed during the war. I remembered him as a very pleasant, civilised young man who gave me 10s, that was good money in those days. Another German I remember from those days was Von Cramm, the great tennis player.

The post for 4 St James Square used to come in a small van, the postman would ring the bell and I was often given a bundle of mail bound up with string. I noted that some of the letters were only addressed as ‘Lady Astor, London, England’ with no other details on them. Some of the letters contained excrement as Lady Astor made many enemies. She was strongly against drink and strongly for women’s rights, the provision of Kindergartens and the Christian Science movement. When she made a speech in the House of Commons she often received either letters praising her or strongly objecting to what she had said. A secretary used to prepare a list of all the letters stating what they were about. She would record, for example, that Lady Astor had received 92 letters in response to her speech on ‘the curse of drink’ and that 62 were supportive and 30 against. The secretary would acknowledge all of the letters.

Lord Astor was active in the Royal Institute of International Affairs and from time to time he invited members of the Institute for dinner at 4 St James Square quite near the headquarters of the Institute. On these events, the table places were put near each other and they seemed to be mainly men who were studious and keen to discuss peace and how peace could be kept. Unfortunately, Hitler was all powerful and wanted war.

From time to time also Lady Astor invited important people to lunch at St James Square to discuss the possibility of war. On one occasion, Lady Astor had invited Lord Trenchard to lunch. He had been GOC of the RAF and had been responsible for air operations in the First World War and Chief of Air Staff during 1918-29. I gather that Lady Astor was keen to ask Lord Trenchard about facts on air strategy in the event of a war. At first Lord and Lady Astor talked about minor matters while Mr Lee, the Second Footman and I, waited on them. After the meal, when Lady Astor had confirmed that Lord Trenchard had both enjoyed the meal and had enough to eat, she asked him who would start bombing in the event of a war: would the Germans start bombing our country or would we start bombing them. Lord Trenchard replied that he did not know, but Lady Astor persisted, as it seemed important to her to know, pointing out that he was the ‘Father of the Royal Air Force’, and so he must know. She told him that he was a very clever man with a first class brain. Lord Trenchard replied “Nancy, I have a small head”, to which she retorted, by now clearly annoyed, “yes, but you have a big mouth”. Lord Astor intervened at this point to say that Nancy did not really mean it, “Of course I mean it, you silly old fool” she said to Lord Astor and carried on in the same manner. I felt at the time that she was out of her depth.

At a luncheon at 4 St. James Square, Lady Astor asked Lord Astor for £15,000. Lord Astor asked Nancy why she wanted it, to which she replied that she wanted to start a Kindergarten in a very poor area of the east end of London. Lord Astor told her that he would get in touch with the agent that day but that it would take about a week for the money to get through. Later the Kindergarten was built and Lady Astor opened it, when people praised her for her generosity she said, in a light hearted way, that they ought to say thanks to her ‘old man’, Lord Astor, as it was his money that paid for the Kindergarten.
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