Upstairs, Downstairs
The War Years

Most of the Eaton Place servants did their bit for the war effort - Edward enlisted, Ruby made ammunition, Hudson was a special constable and Rose was a clippy on the buses.

Upstairs did their bit too. Shocked by her experience of seeing a hospital train arriving at Charing Cross, Georgina enrolled as a nurse. Her friend below stairs, Daisy, was always there to listen to her sobering experiences. Georgina was later transferred to a front-line hospital where, by coincidence, she recognised the badly-injured James Bellamy amongst the casualties.

Like many others who were unaware of what they were getting into, Edward enlisted in the first few days of the war. He and Daisy were later married during one of Edward's leaves. Severely shell-shocked, Edward returned to Eaton Place, and was invalided out of the remainder of the war.

Dim-witted kitchen-maid Ruby would not have made the ideal soldier. Mrs Bridges suggested sending Ruby to cook for the Kaiser and observed: "We'd soon win the war then!"

David Langton (Richard): "I think the sadness, the dreadful sadness of Richard was the fact that his son was really no good at all. Except for the war, he kept making mistakes, kept getting it wrong. Of course, this was good theatrical stuff. I think if I'd been a young man, I would much rather have had his part than mine. If you can't play a part like that, you can't do anything! There's everything to get hold of."

Richard helps the war-battered James up to his room in Missing Believed Killed.