The Country Maid Companion Blog Part 10 - Coming Home to Norwich

The last time Lady Marchant spoke to Grace personally, she had threatened to dismiss the maid without pay should she cause any further excitement.

In Part 9 of The Country Maid, Grace and Rebecca were almost swept away while holidaying in Cromer. Now, with sand still coating their feet, the Marchant family and their servants return to Norwich via the trains.

Our maid can’t help but be in awe of her plush surroundings, considering her very first trip by train was in a draughty, overpacked third-class carriage.

A first-class Victorian train ride was vastly different. For example, in third-class about fifty passengers were left to rattle on benches or even forced to stand while higher-class carriages housed eighteen with two main compartments and two coupes (smaller enclosed spaces on either end of the carriage).

Even if Lady Marchant hadn’t listened to her daughter and did not allow the servants to sit with them, the second-class carriage on offer would have still been an improvement with three compartments that would house twenty-four passengers. Seats for both first and second-class were well cushioned, with elbow rests to put some distance between those sitting together.

The example I’m using is from descriptions of the Birmingham and Gloucester railways in The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland Practically Described and Illustrated by Francis Whishaw, which can be read for free on Google Books. Passenger numbers varied for different railways, but I thought this more intimate setting suited Lady Marchant’s desire for privacy.

Of course, as this was the early years of the Victorian railway, Norfolk had yet to begin its Poppy line, which started in the 1880s. The biggest sign of luxury in the 1850s was being able to share a train compartment with just your family and friends.

As this part is more the calm before the storm, and where the groundwork I’ve been laying down really starts to ramp up, I thought I’d talk about my characters. More specifically, the one I enjoyed writing the most.

I didn’t expect Finn to make such a large impression in The Country Maid. He often barged into scenes, demanding attention, so it was in keeping with his character!

Whenever I needed something spontaneous to happen or some gossip spread, Finn always came to my rescue. I knew he had more to show me besides being a dandy. He starts to shine in the latter half of this series, so I can’t wait for when those parts appear in The People’s Friend magazine 😊

The holiday might be over, but Robert Chapman has promised a proper day out for the servants. A comedy night at Norwich’s Theatre Royal!

(Series Breakdown)

Part 10: On the train back, Ruth pulls Grace aside to thank her. Relieved, Grace sits down and Finn whispers the reason why his mother constantly frets is because her eldest, Harold, is away in the army. Robert tugs Grace over to watch the landscape pass by, asking whether she might have fallen in love with her dashing rescuer. Grace knows she’s not going to be at Norwich forever, it’d be foolish to think of any sort of romance.