Strange expression ... c1828

[sue23]

Hi,
I was wondering whether someone could shed some light on this odd expression.

On researching an ancestor of my husbands, the literature says " In April 1828, she was 'out to service', and from 1854 - 71 was a school mistress ..."

What does 'out to service' mean? This ancestor would have been 14 yo at that time.

Just curious!
Thanks,
Sue

[AMBLY]

Hi Sue

At 14 in 1828, the young lass would have been well old enough to be engaged in Service, ie: working  possibly as a Domestic Servant of some sort, maybe even as a Child's nurse (under a Nanny) given her later occupation and likely living within the household of that Employer.

here's an interesting website:
http://www.gober.net/victorian/reports/work.html

And this website, among others, uses the term "Out to Service"
http://dickens.stanford.edu/archive/tale/issue1_gloss.html

Cheers
AMBLY

[indiapaleale]

Hi Sue

The term "in service" meant someone (a young woman) was working as a domestic servant. Therefore, I imagine that "out of service" meant that the young lady had left her employer and moved on to better things......

I have been known to be wrong!

Cheers,
India

[wheeldon]

Hi Sue, I also think she would have been 'in service' at a house working as a maid/domestic servant. 

I would imagine that if a family of that time were writing/talking about one of their  relatives they would say 'out to service.'

My Grandmother describes some of her relatives as being 'put into service'

Have you looked at the census before 1854, perhaps you could find the house that she was working at, as some domestic servants did live in the servants quarters.

Good luck 

[behindthefrogs]

The terms "in" and "out" often refer to where they were living and so "out to service" probably means that they were working away from home and living where they worked.

You will find similar use of the terms "Inside and Outside farm servants".  These are often wrongly interpreted as meaning where the person worked instead of the actual meaning which identifies whether they lived on the farm or not.