Above Stairs: Social Life in Upper Class Victoria 1843-1918

Charlene Porsild is an assistant professor of history at Simon Fraser
University.

Beginning in 1843, the elite colonial families in Victoria, B.C., set
about establishing social networks and customs that would endure for
nearly a century. Above Stairs focuses on eight of these upper-class
families, including the Douglases, the Pembertons, the Rithets, and the
Barnards.

Green aptly describes her work as a “composite of many things.”
Using a variety of archival sources and oral interview material, she
profiles each family in a separate chapter, and follows these with three
short chapters on social events and activities that took place
“upstairs” in Victoria. The book’s best feature is the delightful
vignette that begins each chapter. Here, Green takes a piece of material
history, such as a pair of monogrammed eyeglasses or an invitation to an
event, and writes an imaginative story about it. In one case, for
example, she took the notice from the Governor General to Henry Crease
advising him that he is to be knighted, and imagined Crease’s
excitement, pride, and anticipation.

Although Above Stairs provides a wealth of detail about the eight
families, regrettably we learn little about how these people were
connected to one another. Green tells us that elite women “called”
on one another but it would be interesting to know who called upon whom.
Did women have a “day” each month that they were “at home” to
receive guests, for example, or did they organize formal garden teas? We
learn that the Trutch and O’Reilly families were related by marriage,
but we wonder how common this pattern was, or how young people might
have negotiated their way through these social networks in order to find
such suitable marriage partners. Answers to these questions and some
others would have added a further dimension to what is otherwise
delightful social history of Victoria, B.C.