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 Working for Nancy Astor (part 4)

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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 4) Empty
20120701
PostWorking for Nancy Astor (part 4)

This part includes, what for me are, two of the most treasured memories of my father. An outburst by Nancy Astor against the US Ambassador, Joe Kennedy, and a wonderful comment by Ellen Wilkinson, the left wing Labour MP, at a dinner held by Nancy Astor.


When Arthur Bushall, Lord Astor’s valet was on holiday I had to valet Lord Astor for two weeks. Lord Astor used to change his clothes about four times a day. In his room was a wooden rack on which you laid out his clothes; trousers with braces, shirt with studs, vest, pants, tie, socks, handkerchief and black shoes. When he dressed I had to do the same and when he changed I had to put the shirts, vests, pants, socks and handkerchief into the laundry basket. His suits had to be brushed and put away and shoes cleaned and polished. He had about 100 suits and a lot of shirts. He never wore anything more than once without having his suits brushed and all shirts, vests, pants and socks had to be washed. At the end of each week I had to write in the laundry book 28 shirts, 28 vests, 28 pants, 28 pairs of socks and 28 handkerchiefs for one week. I also had to check the cleaned laundry to the second book and then to put them away in the drawers and cupboards. All laundry had to be washed by hand. I suppose this is what being rich really means! I found it quite flabbergasting.

During that same summer, in the middle of the week, Mr Joe Kennedy, the US Ambassador with 200 women came to say ‘hello’ to Lady Astor. This took place in the first floor facing St James square, the biggest room, I believe in their London house, and happened at about 2.30 p.m. Mr Joe Kennedy wore striped trousers and a black jacket and was very smart from head to toe. The women (or should I say Ladies) seemed nice and friendly to everyone, including me, I had the job of taking little ‘nick-nacks’ round to the guests. Suddenly Lady Astor came into the room and stood on a small platform and said “I understand that you want to see me - well this is me!” Mr Joe Kennedy started flannelling her at the expense of the British, sneering at the need for the US to help them during the 1914-18 war and how the British could not even produce a women MP and had to get an American women to be their first MP. Lady Astor did not seem grateful to be described as an ‘American’ and it seemed to get her into an uncontrollable rage with the ambassador! With regard to WW1, she noted that it was not until the end of the war that the Americans actually joined in; “you waited until you knew who was winning before you helped us and only near the end!” She then got on to the American Civil War and lashed into him with her tongue and gave all there, including me, the second footman, Mr Lee, the butler, and all of the ladies a tirade on her view on the Civil War and the treatment of the south by the north. “What did you ever do for my country [Virginia], what did you Americans you Yankees do - you burnt our crops, destroyed our homes and murdered our people!” The air was electric and we all looked at her, she seemed white with anger and sorrow and she seemed to spit out the words ‘American’ and ‘Yankee’ with real hatred. She paused for a moment and then declared “I love my country - my country is Virginia!” When the visitors left, Mr Lee, the butler, asked me to go to the front door outside St James Square and to help any of the Americans who wanted either a taxi or directions.

I saw Mr George Bernard Shaw, the great playwright, a few times mainly at 4 St James Square and then most commonly at lunch times. He was always well turned out in Brown-Green Irish Tweed with matching shirt and tie and brown polished shoes, his hat or cap was size 6 3/4. Whenever I opened the door to him he would say “Lady Astor is expecting me and I know the way” and would go up the stairs two at a time. Generally speaking he would limit his conversation to ‘small talk’. One titled lady who I thought was quite intelligent wanted to start a serious conversation with him but he just replied in a low voice “Oh for God’s sake”. When Lady Astor asked him what he had done the previous day, he replied “In the morning I did some writing and in the afternoon I took a pair of shoes to be repaired to Mr ...... the cobbler. We discussed the state of the world.” I also saw Mr Kingsley Martin, the editor of the New Statesmen and Nation (cost 9d per week), at 4 St James Square. Although his suit and shoes with very smart, his shirt seemed grubby and his hair was full of dandruff!

One evening Lady Astor came back from the House of Commons for a ladies dinner with Miss Ellen Wilkinson, the labour MP for Jarrow. Miss Wilkinson had walked from Jarrow with 200 of the unemployed to London in the early thirties. As soon as the other members of the dining party knew who she was, they started on her. Miss Wilkinson was only a little woman but in response, she told them that they were all “parasites”; she said “you have never done any work and you will never do any work and if you ever went to work you would never be any good.” Lady Astor said “now Ellen, you promised to behave yourself”. The whole event was wonderful! I felt that Lady Astor seemed proud of Miss Wilkinson. When somebody said that Ellen is ‘Labour’, Lady Astor told them that Ellen may be Labour but she is also a woman and we women must fight our corner together! I felt proud of them both! After the meal they went back together to vote in the House. On a number of occasions Lady Astor was telephoned to return to the House of Commons for a vote and she admitted to me that she did not always know what she was voting on.

On a few occasions Lady Astor discussed with me her views on religion. She started by saying that she had been a very weak willed person to the extent that Lord Astor had once bought a ‘cottage’ (it had 14 bedrooms) in Sandwich, Kent just to please her. Then she told me that she had ‘seen the light’ and joined the Christian Science faith in 1911. She said that God is ‘All in All’; God is good; God is Mind; that God and the Spirit is all and matter is nothing and that God was omnipotent over good, evil, death, sin and disease.
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