Jamie Mackinnon(I

In 1900, over a third of all working British women were employed in domestic service - yet by 2000, that number had dwindled to statistical insignificance.

In 1900, women in service lived in a wide variety of conditions. Most were in employment as maids-ofall-work in middle-class households, dealing with a never-ending variety of general housework. At the grander, Downton-Abbey-esque end of the scale, large country houses could employ over forty servants. In 1900, much of Britain relied so heavily on cheap domestic labour that one Edwardian aristocrat, unable to work out how to open a window by himself, reputedly had to throw a log at it to overcome his problem.

For many, as reflected in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker Prize-winning Remains of the Day, a life in service was perceived as respectable and desirable. However, life for those servants was very hard, particularly for the maids-of-all-work, working seventeen-hour days never to be seen or spoken to by their employers. The butlers and footmen would at least get to see the people that they served. The abundance of cheap labour also stifled innovation in the domestic world, as things could continue to be done in the same way that they always had been. However, after World War I, servant numbers began to fall dramatically for the first time, with the percentage of working women employed in the sector falling below 20%. The middle class began to live without servants, whilst the press promoted servant-free living. Grand country houses similarly had to cut back on the number of servants.

There was another dramatic fall after World War II, with the percentage of working women employed in domestic service falling to below 5% by the early1950s. The great country houses generally became servant-free, with their place often taken by laboursaving devices. The names of many of these products paid, and continue to pay, homage to the world of servants. For example, “Marigold” yellow rubber washing-up gloves pay homage to the lot of a faithful maid. By the 1960s, the idea of large numbers of full-time servants seemed to be something out of a country house novel. However, service was sustained with part-time cleaners and nannies.

There are many reasons for this dramatic decline. Large numbers of women had gained experience working in shops and factories during the war and began to move away from domestic service towards better paid jobs with less demanding lifestyles. The remaining servants wanted better, equivalent pay and pensions, otherwise they would find better work elsewhere. Employers also needed them less with the emergence of domestic appliances. Many male servants also, killed in the World Wars, were therefore unable to return to work in service. Ultimately, these changes reflected aristocratic and imperial decline, as well as wider social changes of the sort described by Anthony Sampson in his Anatomy of Britain (1962).

Servants at Curraghmore House, Ireland

Servant’s bells at Dunster Castle Electric bell box at Wightwick Manor

The DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is better known in the West as North Korea. The isolated ‘Hermit Kingdom’ is best known for its nuclear ambitions, ruthless dictator, and militaristic rhetoric. The name conjures up images of troops marching uniformly in a military parade whilst gargantuan missiles are driven through the streets of Pyongyang. Its latest nuclear missile, the Hwasong-15 is estimated to be capable of travelling 13,000 kilometres, giving North Korea the ability to strike large parts of the USA, as well as South Korea and Japan. Two million KPA (Korean People’s Army) troops are stationed on the South Korean border, just over an hour’s drive from the South Korean capital Seoul.

KPA troops march past the Kim-Il-Sung square, Pyongyang

North Korea isn’t the ‘typical’ tourist destination. Your visit will be heavily monitored and staged. You will be constantly accompanied by several minders, who make sure you see and photograph only the selected monuments and museums. Minor misdemeanours and misdeeds will be harshly punished, recently demonstrated in the case of Otto Warmbier, the American student who was sentenced to 15 years hard labour for attempting to steal a poster. Despite the sinister geopolitical backdrop, around 4,000 to 6,000 tourists trickle in each year. The majority are directed to the highly developed capital of Pyongyang. Known as the ‘Dubai’ of North Korea, Pyongyang boasts a metro, several skyscrapers, and many grand monuments. However, outside the tightly controlled perimeter of the city there is a highly different North Korea.

It has been nearly five years since I entered the North Korean town of Sinuiju. Sinuiju had only opened to tourism in 2015, so there was a good chance that I was the first ever western child to visit the city, at least in living memory. Sinuiju is the sixth largest city in North Korea, with industry including iron manufacturing, paper, textiles, and cosmetics. It is a vital artery for trade with China, with almost Sino-Korean friendship bridge. Bombed during the Korean War

Based around the old city of Uiju, Sinuiju means ‘New Uiju’. The city hosted an anti-communist Christian revolt in 1945, which Kim-Il-Sung supressed personally. Due to its close trading and military links to China, the city sustained heavy bombing from the USAAF during the Korean war, with 95% of the old city was flattened. During the war, Kim-Il-Sung moved his government to Sinuiju after the fall of Pyongyang to US forces. The skies above the city, known to US pilots as ‘MiG Alley’, saw some of the fiercest aerial combat of the war, with dogfights between US F-86 Sabre and Soviet MiG 15 jetfighters. Today Sinuiju hosts an airbase of the KPAAF (Korean People’s Airforce and AntiAirforce), populated by decades-old Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle bombers.

IL-28 Beagle bombers on Sinuiju Airbase

An abandoned Ferris wheel can be seen across the Amnok river from Dandong in China.

When first crossing the Sino-Korean friendship bridge, I was understandably nervous. At the border checkpoint, swarms of armed North Korean troops milled about. The previous day, I had seen several blue huts lining the side of the river, each with a machine gun position. Our passports were taken, and our cameras checked for any incriminating photos by a stern guard clad in the KPA uniform. From the coach, we could see the distinct portraits of former leaders Kim-Il-Sung and Kim-Jong-Il hanging over the checkpoint – a staple image of North Korea. This was a stark reminder that we were in a different world. The first thing that strikes you about Sinuiju is the absence of traffic and highrise buildings, both of which are abundant across the river in Dandong, China. The roads were nearly empty, notwithstanding the many bicycles used by the population, with most walking and some even roller skating.

Bronze statues of Kim-Il-Sung and Kim-Jong-Il outside the Pyongan Pukto Museum of The Revolution

The first attraction we were taken to see was the two statues of Kim-Il-Sung and Kim-Jong-Il outside the Pyongan Pukto Museum of The Revolution. Here, I met my minder/guide Ms Hong, an amicable student who spoke English very well. After handing over a plentiful sum of Chinese Yuan, I was invited to lay a floral wreath in front of the statues, walking up sheepishly to the statues and bowing before laying down the flowers. We then headed into the museum, where photography is forbidden to ‘preserve’ the precious artefacts. These ‘artefacts’ consisted largely of memories of their ‘Supreme Leader’, including a microphone, a pair of slippers and a quilt all once used by Kim-Il-Sung during his revolutionary activities. Epic portraits of the revolution adorned the walls. Strolling through the museum, I did, however, note the distinct lack of visitors. Whilst Ms Hong informed us about the history of Kim-Il-Sung’s activities, not once did she mention his name without using the pronouns: ‘Marshall, comrade, eternal president.’ Children perform for us at Sinuiju’s main school. Many of them perform in the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang.

The next stop was a school. Driving through the city, many of the walls are plastered with militaristic posters praising the revolution – apparently all drawn painstakingly by hand. Outside the school, the portraits of Kim-Il-Sung and Kim-Jong-Il were hung proudly, with the words ‘Comrades Kim-IlSung and Kim-Jong-Il will be ever present with us’ in large Korean characters underneath. Having walked through the school (which is free thanks to the socialist policies of the government) and seeing students hard at work studying, we were treated to a special performance. Many of the students perform in the Pyongyang Arirang Mass Games, in which tens of thousands of synchronised dancers tell the story of the Korean revolution. After the performance, I was once again called on to hand out flowers, this time to the performers – with the giving of flowers seen as a very important sign of respect in the DPRK.

A student was practicing on the traditional Korean Gayageum.

Front View of the school. The text reads: ‘Comrades Kim-IlSung and Kim-Jong-Il will be ever present with us.’

The next stop on our tour was an art gallery. The walls were covered in intricate paintings, depicting scenes from the revolution and the lives of the great leaders. Afterwards, we were given the chance to buy souvenirs – and I was rather surprised when I opened the first page of the book I bought called ‘’History of the DPRK on stamps’’. The inscription read “The heroic Korean people had cropped the feathers of the US imperialists to win a great historic victory in the righteous Fatherland Liberation War, which was directed by the Great Marshall Kim-IlSung against the US and their satellite forces.” The stamps and pages were filled with glorious scenes from the revolution and the many new construction projects pioneered by Kim-Jong-Il.

The next stop on the tours was the Sinuiju cosmetics factory, said to be the largest in the DPRK, and visited by both Kim-Jong-Il (1999) and more recently by Kim-Jong-Un (2018). The products have become so popular domestically that the factory has even opened a shop in Pyongyang to provide residents of the capital city with its famous “spring scent’’. Outside the factory stands a large mosaic dedicated to Kim-Jong-Il’s visit. The mosaic both when I visited and when Kim-Jong-Un visited.

The guides were very proud of this factory - saying that it produced first rate cosmetics for the Korean people. They were very keen to emphasise how when shaping the soap into moulds, the chippings would be melted down and re-used, and not thrown away. This tied into the North Korean policy of ‘Juche’, the emphasis of ‘self-sufficiency.’ Unfortunately, I was not too interested in cosmetics, but when outside and in conversation with some of the North Korean drivers. I was extremely surprised when they asked me about Brexit! In a guarded manor, we discussed Britain’s exit from the EU. I was amazed that such information was widely known about in the DPRK!

The ‘Juche’ concept pioneered by Kim-Il-Sung emphasises self-sufficiency.