Mrs Crocombe and Mrs Warwick Take Tea - The Victorian Way 

We hope you enjoy this unusual episode of The Victorian Way. Here are the answers to some questions you may have about this video, from our expert historian. • How much of this conversation is based on real events? All of our videos are based on real events and people as far as we know about them. Thus, all of the people Mrs Warwick and Mrs Crocombe mention were real people, working in those positions (Katy Squires), or related to the Braybrookes (Sophia). However, beyond the bare bones information of the census and a few little extra bits, we don't know much about the day to day lives or beliefs of anyone involved, so we use quite a bit of creative license to illustrate themes and possible stories which might well have happened. All of the information behind the conversation is carefully researched, whether that's what life was like as a shop girl (yes, you did have more opportunities if you were tall and attractive), or the reasons someone might choose a vegetarian diet. In reality Katy (actually Kate Matilda) married a fellow servant, in this case a coachman, in 1888, which suggests she remained in domestic service. She and her husband had two sons, and when coaching declined as the motor car took off among the upper classes, the family decamped to Frant in Sussex, where they ran a pub. • Did Lord Braybrooke really weigh his guests?! Yes, this really happened. It wasn't totally uncommon - it was sometimes done at Sandringham as well. Nothing to do with grandstanding over food - Victorian scales weren't that accurate, so a few grammes here and there wouldn't necessarily have shown up. Plus, they weren't weighed again after dinner. It seems to just have been for a laugh. The vast majority of people wouldn't have had scales able to weigh people in their houses, so there is a show off element to it, but mostly it's a conversation opener. We still have some of the weight registers - not every guest is listed which may mean some refused. We know that in 1868 Lord Braybrooke weighed 10st 2lb and 8oz (about 65kg) and Lady Braybrooke was 7st 10lb and 8oz (49kg). • What's a vegetable goose? This is proof, if you were in doubt, that you really don't want to experience Victorian vegetarian food. It's essentially breadcrumbs with onion and flavourings, baked. Other versions used potato. It's worth noting as well that Mrs Crocombe certainly isn't proposing replacing the whole menu for Sophia, merely adding some dishes specifically for her. Meat was very prestigious, and vegetarianism very much a minority choice. If Lord Braybrooke had presented his guests with a wholly meat-free menu, he would quickly have gained a reputation as an eccentric and nobody would have come to dinner again. • Where are their table manners? Don't believe things you read in etiquette manuals! They were aimed at the upper middle class wannabes and social climbers. Mrs Warwick and Mrs Crocombe know who they are and they are not of the etiquette manual reading class (though Avis did eventually become middle class, in that she employed a servant of her own in later life). There are a lot of myths around tea taking, and most of them come from late Victorian and early 20th-century writers, desperate to highlight the differences between ever smaller class divisions. So throw out your beliefs about pinkies in and out, milk in first or last, elbows - and don't even start on the myths around the invention of afternoon tea! (Spoiler alert: not the Duchess of Bedford). • What's the 'still room'? The Still Room was originally a room where distillations happened. It got its name in the late Tudor era, when the lady of the house, together with her housekeeper, would distill medicines and make perfumes and confectionery. By the nineteenth century these functions had been lost, but the name stayed. It was part of the housekeeper's complex, and used by her to make jams and preserves, plus any household preparations such as hand creams and pot pourris. Bigger houses had a still room maid, whose role was to aid in this. The Audley End House still room is now part of the staff offices just off the housekeeper's room (now the cafe).

I've never seen two women so elegantly spill the tea and get nary a drop on the cloth.

"Many a maid has left to look after a sick mother and suddenly a child appears" GUUUURL, I don't recall asking for SCOLDING HOT tea but more please!

Achievement Unlocked: Mrs. Crocombe will ALLOW Mary-Anne to make Seed Cake for the Top Table.

English Heritage really gave their audience exactly what they want

And so it was said , that on that fateful October afternoon so much shade was thrown that a large jelly set too quickly and turned out slightly grainy, several dormice were observed entering hibernation and Lady Braybrook caught a distinct chill and was rather poorly till November.

"Many a maid has left to look after a sick mother and suddenly a child appears" 😱🤭👶

"It's just the food won't be as good" Mic drop Mrs Crocombe is such a Queen Slay

Is this "spilling the tea" the Victorian way??? 👀😩 I can't wait to see it! 🍵

For this recipe you will need: - tea - cakes - the sun

These two really spare nobody 😩 Mrs. Warwick even threw shade at her mother’s seed cake.

Mrs. Crocombe in her natural element: cakes and judgemental wittiness. Best thing ever.

Please make this a regular series. ❤️

Love these skits. It can become a type of soap opera

Mrs Warwick really said “Sis you might be pouring the tea, but let me spill it for you” 💋💅🏼 Period

Poor Maryanne's seed cake wasn't as pleasing to Mrs. Crocombe as the seed cake at the train station. And we all know how she feels about purchased "travel picnic" items! (This was awesome. I hope you do more!)

I love how quietly proud Mrs. Crocombe has become of Mary Anne, acknowledging how far the girl has come in the kitchen and glad to have her under her tutelage.

Spilling the tea, The Victorian Way!

Lady Egglington’s daughter has declared herself a Vegitariannnn…with side eye 😂 love it!! They talk about Kate leaving house service to work for a large store, I was thinking of the show Mr. selfridge on PBS masterpiece. Lol..

Avis?! 😂😂😂😂 I feel like a grade school student that just found out their teacher has a first name!

I loved this! I wouldn't mind seeing more of these "snap shots" of life in the running of a large estate. Conversations between the help, as to the goings on in the home, really could paint a picture as to what life was like then. Don't get me wrong, I love the cooking episodes, and watch them every chance I get, but these "skits" would be the icing on the cake!

The Meeting of Two Giants. The Battle shall be Legendary.

My favourite part was the one about shops having many departments. They clearly sensed the pitfalls of the gig economy and the service industry before we did.

The shade that both Mrs. Warwick and Mrs. Crocombe throw is epic

Lovely to see Mrs Warwick again! Does this perhaps mean we might also again see Mr Vert and Edgar from the garden?

“I’ve just refilled the pot” translation- buckle up Cronuts- I’m spilling the TEA 🫖

"Last time she came to be weighed, she was barely there." Goodness gracious, never a real insult thrown, very professional and still searing.

After this tea time chat, I have a feeling the lemon curd will be extra curdled this afternoon. 🤣🍋

A Huge applause to whoever scripted this skit. Spill tea with elegance without spilling a single drop of tea.

SHADE ALERT: “Atleast YOU KNOW where YOU ARE in service, so long as you have a good family.”

"Perhaps poor Kate is a bit too plain." 😱😱😱😱😱😱

The way Mrs Warwick said "vegetarian" kills me! I'm laughing my head off! x)

Oh to have the ability to eloquently throw shade like this. We need more of this, this is the best thing I’ve seen in awhile.

We’re left on a cliff hanger! I’m eager to know where Kate ends up and how Lady Egglington’s daughter likes the vegetarian dishes!

As someone who works in a shop, in service of customers, I’m not sure it’s changed much since Mrs. Crocombe’s era. I was listening to this on my way home!

This was prime time acting right here it's truly believable. Hope there's more to come .

I learned more about the household in these few minutes....can this be a regular series please? Thanks

This is like walking into a gothic novel and listening to the servents gossip. It's wonderful.

It's a delight to see them spilling the tea in the Victorian way.

Avis Crocombe and Elizabeth Warwick are a Fantastic Pair they must both do a victorian way video one day

This made me chuckle so much. I love that they’re so elegant while spilling the tea. 😂 Oh, and if I had to be weighed before eating at someone’s home I would be mortified! 😂

They're having the tea both literally and figuratively

I absolutely love this episode. The dialogue is brilliant. Those two ladies know how to gossip with finesse.

Also, I absolutely love the interpreter's choice to give Mrs Warwick the mannerism of using random French phrases in her speech, both in this and the laundry room video

Joining a suffragette society AND declaring herself to be a vegetarian?! Lady Egglington's daughter better be reason enough to give us a little vegetarian menu special. :D Vegetable Goose sounds very intriguing and I'm really curious about the use of lentils!

Ouch, poor Kate. Those were some of the most elegant zingers I've ever heard! And congratulations Mary-Ann on being promoted to "making seed cake for the top table"! I'd definitely love to see more conversations between Avis and Elizabeth, or maybe, as a contrast, between Mr. Vert and Mr. Lincoln perhaps to hear the kinds of things they talk about (perhaps some gossip **about** Mrs. Crocombe and Mrs. Warwick for a change)

I thought theyre just going to have a simple tea time but i didnt expect that they will "spill tea". I love it

Why do I feel that I’ve seen this play out before in my grandma’s kitchen over coffee with my mom? This is every bit as delightful and eloquent as my little heart can stand! I LOVE IT!

The Crocombe Cinematic Universe expands! 😄

This was so much fun to watch. And I learned that "spill the tea" means to share interesting gossip in the USA!

The actress portraying Mrs. Warwick is wonderful actress. I was really drawn in by everything she said and found myself hanging on for the next bit of info she had to say.

I'm so happy to see Mrs. Warwick in a video where I'm not terrified of her lol

It's lovely to see Mrs. Warwick again after a day's hardwork from doing Laundry, hopefully we get to see more of the other cast as well, just having some tea and snacks is all, and perhaps one day we finally get to see this Lord and Lady Braybrooke too!!

This needs to be a series, English Heritage please make this a regular thing. High Tea with Crocombe.

I made a cup of tea took a sit at my table and watched as if im on the other side of the table 👀

Wonderful. It's a delight to see Mrs. Crocombe in a social situation, but speaking with her own authority. I'd love to see more conversations!

Curious about the vegetarian menu... A vegetable goose?? Maybe we get to see it next time!

Not that I don't adore the cooking videos, but entries like this, where we get to see little snippets of what people like this may have thought and talked like at the time, are absolutely amazing! I hope we see more like this in future!

A minute in and she’s already throwing shade at Maryanne’s seed cake 😂

The amount of shade in this is EPIC! The ingrained snobbery of women in service…priceless

My favourite video is the one where butter is made, and I really enjoyed the laundry one. I would LOVE to see more videos of the other staff members in the house!

This is the origins of 'The Servant Problem'! The other servants were as put out as 'their betters upstairs' when jobs began to become available in shops and factories! Thank you for the video! This is a fabulous video. Maybe it could be extended into a feature film or television series!

The tea is piping hot

"The tradition of weighing guests at the start of the three-day festivities dates back to the reign of Edward VII, who was king from 1901 to 1910. Edward decided that weight gain during their stay was indicative of how much his guests had enjoyed themselves." The tradition continues with the present day Royals at Sandringham for the Christmas period.

Out of Context Mrs. Crocombe: “It’s just that the food won’t be as good.”

Mrs Warwick. Bout time we saw *her* again. She elevates shade to rare art. And in concert with Mrs Crocombe! A master class.

I require further victorian tea spill sessions. Thank you.

Yes, please make these regularly! Need more of this type of Historical entertainment.

Make a whole series, like Downton Abbey, I'll watch every single episode... Regards to the actors, great as always.

This is brilliant. We need more of those glorious tea times 😍

This needs to be a TV Series.

My excitement? IMMEASURABLE

THE SHADE WILL BE UNIMAGINABLE

Drinking game ! -Take a shot every time someone says “perhaps” -Take a shot every time mrs Warwick disparages a girls new job at a shop or factory -Take a shot at any mention of seed cake (Keep it going ) You’re now drunk. Cheers !

I'm sorry did she say Mr. Braybrook weighs his dinner guests? Because I don't need that in my life. 😂

I won't lie, this made me miss the days of my mother at the kitchen table with a neighbor or two "discussing" the goings-on with various people/families from around the neighborhood.

Just think it's wonderful that you bring life to Avis Crocombe's legacy, which would have otherwise been certainly forgotten to the public. Love these fictional touches which set the atmosphere. There are so many people trying out her recipes, I wonder what Mrs Crocombe would think if she knew this woud all be happening a century later.

"Today's episode is brought to you by the letter T. As in, all tea, all shade, hun-tee!" Also, I've been dying to meet Mr Lincoln as well!

They beat around the bush like hell, but are perfectly in sync with eachother and no word goes sideways, they fully understand eachother, all the while avoiding ill-mannered speech.

Oh the “eye rolls” and gossip! Love it. Hope to see many more of these

We absolutely need a regular series of Mrs Crocombe and Mrs Warwick spilling the tea on the goings on of the house

Poor Kate is 'rather plain' for shop work? Oooh the shade!!

I love Mrs. Crocombe and I loved the tour of the laundry with Mrs. Warwick,. She threw so much shade, I thought I was watching from the Pinelands 🤣😅

The shade was so strong it created a solar eclipse xD I need this to become a regular thing, please and thank you

This tea is scalding, my goodness! I love this. Good on Marianne for making a good cake for the Top Table!

A minute with Mrs. Crocombe is such a treat. Kathy and crew deserve all the rewards!

The tea was served piping hot and never got a chance to cool down, fascinating! I need MORE!

Ummm I can watch 2 Victorian era people drinking tea and gossiping all day… let’s get a proper show of this!!! 10 episode season with 1 hr episodes 😍😍😍

teatime = podcasting the Victorian way.

Could we please make this a frequent series?! This is fantastic, so full of shade, and spilling of the tea.

"Bitching the Victorian Way" MORE PLEASE !

9:56 of Perfection! So much tea, so much shade. Please make more videos like this!

We need more tea spilling videos.

Honey, they aren’t taking tea, they are GIVING.

These ladies have so much shade I could use them during the summer and save money on sunscreen😂😂

Such a lovely after-noon ritual. Tea with friends.

I loved this!! I had to pause and make some tea for myself to feel like I was part of the conversation. I was just nodding away. Lmao 🤣

I haven't seen so much tea being spilt since the Boston Tea Party.

Delightful conversation! Thank you all for letting us sit in on it!

I would love to see more character interactions like this, loved seeing the gossip and life of the Victorian era