Downton Abbey resumed its new season last Sunday viewed by 10.2 million viewers - two of which were yours truly for the first time beginning to end and Maureen Dowd of the NY Times reluctantly. While the popular drama is fictionalized, it does depict a certain class distinction that was prevalent in Britain during that period - a snobbery that M. Dowd still resents as she tells of her ten grand-aunts coming to this country from Ireland circa 1915 to find employment as maids, cooks and nannies for rich families. My own grandmother, Ellen, along with sister Alice, came over "on the boat" from Ennis in County Clare circa 1880 to also take jobs as upstairs/downstairs maids for a wealthy family, so perhaps my ancestors paved the way for M. Dowd's forebears 35 years later. The fact of life in Ireland then was when the parents died the oldest son got the farm and the rest of the siblings including Ellen and Alice scattered and landed in the new world. Curiously, the head writer for the "Abbey" has been engaged by NBC to write a similar drama to be set in New York in the 1880s so perhaps there will be a part for my grandma Ellen - either upstairs or downstairs.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/business/media/downton-abbey-returns-to-a-record-audience.html?ref=arts
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