Bloomsbury Life below stairs:
Charleston housekeeper Grace Higgens archive
A vivid picture of life 'below stairs' of the Bloomsbury set is revealed through the diaries, photographs and letters of Grace Higgens, housekeeper to Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant for over 50 years in an archive recently acquired by the British Library.
The numerous diaries and correspondence recount Grace's time at Gordon Square, Charleston and on holiday in France, from the age of 16 until her death in 1983. An enthusiastic photographer, Grace captured many informal moments with the family, and the collection contains many photographs as well as scrapbooks of cuttings and recipes. Correspondence from Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and other members of the Bloomsbury set vividly portrays another side to Bloomsbury group.
Grace was 16 when she began working for Vanessa Bell in June 1920 having applied for a position as a housemaid through Collins Agency. She was taken down to Charleston a month later. The farmhouse was remote and rundown with no electricity, and water had to be hand-pumped, but the high-spirited Grace, noted for her robust good humour, stayed for over 50 years as housemaid, nurse, cook and housekeeper.
Although the Charleston household was unconventional, the traditional formalities of above and below stairs were observed. The menus for the day would be ordered every morning at nine by Mrs Bell seated at the kitchen table with Grace standing beside her.
Grace was keen to learn and read extensively. She nicknamed her attic room, 'High Holburn', as it was above 'Bloomsbury', and often sat for the painters, who much admired her looks. In 1934 Grace married Walter Higgins who was the gardener at Charleston, and their only child John was born in 1935.
Grace first travelled abroad when she accompanied the family to St. Tropez in 1921, and her experience of staying in France on several extended visits are captured in her diaries. After Vanessa Bell's death in 1961, Grace remained at Charleston as housekeeper, gardening, cleaning and cooking for Duncan Grant until 1971, when she retired to a cottage in Ringmer.
Jamie Andrews, Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts said: "The archive of Grace Higgens complements our substantial collection of Bloomsbury material, and paints a wonderfully evocative - and often surprisingly candid - 'below stairs' picture of Charleston life.
A small display of Grace Higgens material is planned for 2008. The collection is available to researchers.
Notes to Editors
The archive includes diaries from the 1920s through to the late 1960s, and pocket diaries from 1962-1972 when she was housekeeper to Duncan Grant. There are a number of appointment diaries with brief entries, recipes, postcards, and newspaper cuttings about the Bloomsbury set in scrapbooks.
Most of the correspondence consists of postcards, letters, cards and telegrams from Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, but there are also letters and cards from other members of the Bloomsbury set.
Grace Higgens was a keen photographer and there are photographs of the Bells and their children, other staff and later photographs of Charleston.
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