Room 2D

Story from Roué 35 When Kate Langley accepted the position of live-in maid to Herbert Wallington at his basement flat in London’s Kensington she could have had no idea just how things would turn out. She had, at the interview, got the impression that he was probably a lonely fellow — he’d said he was a widower — and her friend, Ruth, had warned her that if this was the case there was every chance he’d be after  you know what . Nevertheless, Kate, a 19-year-old auburn-haired beauty, turned up as requested at ten on Monday morning. No sooner had she arrived, the old chap handed her the uniform that he insisted she had to wear during working hours. This consisted of white mop cap, the very briefest of black dresses, white apron, frilly red knickers, stockings and suspenders and red high-heeled shoes. Kate put this preference of clothing down to the man’s age; that perhaps he yearned for the old days when such apparel was quite ...

Story from Roué 35 Jane’s friends said she was out of her head leaving home to go off in search of fame and fortune in the Big City. They couldn’t understand why she would want to leave her cushy, if undemanding, job at the supermarket. What was also a mystery to her mates was her keenness to move away from her lovely home. But, then, what they didn’t know was that Jane’s father was a strict disciplinarian; that, unlike them, when  she  got home late from the disco, more than a telling-off awaited her; that her father’s thick leather army belt would be applied with great force to her 17-year-old rump. To her chum’s incredulity Jane set off one Monday morning with nothing but her suitcase. She walked about a mile-and-a-half out of town before setting her case down at the side of the London-bound road. She’d never hitch-hiked before, and was aware of the dangers this practice could hold. The money she possessed though was...

Story from Roué 35 Being Head Prefect at St Angela’s most certainly had its advantages. To start with there was clothing. The girl fortunate enough to be appointed to this exalted post actually had some say in what she could wear. The bane of so many schoolgirls, the white knee-length socks, were no longer a necessary part of her uniform. Stockings and suspenders were permitted. Also, she was allowed to choose what knickers she liked, and the much detested vest — which apart from affording its wearer absolutely nothing in the way of support also caused a good deal of embarrassment when doing PT. Karen Beecham, having been promoted to this status, lost no time in discarding these girlish items — substituting the socks for sheer black stockings; the vest for lacy half-cup bra; the navy-blue cotton pants for frilly nylon knickers of various shades. Another benefit of being Head Prefect (or ‘HP’, as her underlings had to call her) w...

A Chastising Service of the 1880s laid bare Historical recreation researched and written by  Richard Manton,  from Janus 38. On 26 July 1889, an advertisement appeared in the  Church Times . It was addressed to the parents of unruly daughters, to teachers of delinquent schoolgirls, to masters of female reformatories, and to those employers whose young women treated their superiors with insolence and contempt. BIRCH RODS. — These useful articles, for which there is an increasing demand, may be had from the depot. Of different sizes. — Mrs. CLAPP, St. John’s-road, Clifton. Mrs Clapp’s surname might have raised a smile, but it was as real as everything else about her. She ran a thriving business in the regency elegance of Bristol’s most prosperous suburb. Her advertisement might cause a flutter in the press of the 1980s but not a century ago when Victorian Values were firmly in the saddle. After all, if girls were to be birched, the birch-rods had to come from somewhere....