Oo-er!

[philipsearching]

This could explain why London's Gropec*nt Lane was renamed Threadneedle Street!

Philip


ps - for any people worried about what their ancestors got up to:
My late father was illegitimate.
Several years after he died, my mother married a highly respectable man from a solid Quaker family.
I am the son of a bastard and a Hoare!

[Berlin-Bob]

Ah yes! The Ankh-Morpork Seamstresses Guild!

Definition:

A lady of negotiable affection. One who might provide a certain intimate service for reasonable price, and is unlikely to have any use for a needle and thread, unless that's the way the client likes it.

The unwary visitor to Ankh-Morpork is advised that Sandra Battye is also a Seamstress, albeit of a very rare and specialised sort. As sometimes all a man wants is to gain a valuable service from a woman that makes life feel so much better afterwards (such as having the holes in his socks darned against a mushroom), it should be advised here that it is unwise to presume.

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Seamstress

But wherever there are men who are away from the regular society of women, who get.... you know... urges of the sort which only a woman possessed of a range of specifically female skills can satisfy, Sandra Battye will not be short of a living. For men with the urge and the powerful longing, say for a shirt with all its buttons on, or socks with working heels and no holes in the toes, it can be just as confusing and unhelpful to look for a seamstress and, well, be directed to the wrong sort. As Dr. Mossy Lawn once remarked, some people who are looking for a massage really DO only want a massage. Or in this instance, a shirt with all the buttons in the right places.

In these instances, Sandra has a working understanding with the Seamstresses that they will send the victims of misunderstanding down the street to the correct sort of Seamstress, according to stated need and purpose. In fact, Sandra often ends up earning more money doing proper needlework, much to Rosie's chagrin.

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Sandra_Battye

I think Terry Pratchett knew his social history very well !

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

One of the possibly underused resources on Rootschat is the Reference Library found in the brown panel at the bottom of the page, specifically the Lexicon.

You can find more topics (and this one!) on Seamstresses,  in the Reference Library: Lexicon, here
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/reflib-lexicon.php?letter=S
Dressmaker and Milliner will also point you to the above page.


... and have a look under 'V', too: Victorian morality
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,270493

Bob

[Finley 1]

as they say --- 'never view a book by its cover' 

but I always read the back of the book cover before I buy it....

and the fact is ... We know nothing really about the life they were leading and attempting to survive or at least 'get through'

I still love em including my 2nd great gran Margaret Robertson with all her various kids born when OH was at Sea or dead?  bless her .... ha ha ha.....

xin

[Treetotal]

It's what makes Family History all the more interesting...they were tough times for many and the alternative was probably the workhouse 
Carol

[Kiltpin]

A distant relation (not really related) had a very nuclear family. One of his daughters went on an extended tour of the US in the mid 90s. When asked how she supported herself during that time, she would say that she worked as a "Street Stewardess".

Regards

Chas

[bevbee]

"One of the possibly underused resources on Rootschat is the Reference Library found in the brown panel at the bottom of the page, specifically the Lexicon."

Where is it? 

[KGarrad]

"One of the possibly underused resources on Rootschat is the Reference Library found in the brown panel at the bottom of the page, specifically the Lexicon."

Where is it? 

Scroll down to the bottom of any RootsChat page.
There's a large dark-brown box at the bottom, with all sorts of useful links.

One of these is "Reference Library"

[bevbee]

Ah, yes - it looks black on my computer so in looking for brown I went blind.  Thank you