1-154-951 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Servants' hiring office, Berlin, Germany, 1874. Illustration showing modestly dressed women at the door of a hiring office, talking and showing their references to prospective employers. Plate taken from the Illustrated London News, 28th November 1874. The adjoining article makes reference to the difficulties faced by women of the working class who try and find work in the penny-pinching households of Berlin. Whereas the house staff in London neighbourhoods enjoyed a far easier and more secure life than their German counterparts.