Mary Ann Ashford (1787–1870) was an English cook. She was born in 1787 as the daughter of a licensed victualler, in London and by 1800 was an orphan. At the age of 13 she decided to become a servant which is said to have horrified her extended family who were upwardly mobile. Mary worked her way up to be a cook during her seventeen years as a domestic servant.
In 1844 she wrote about her second job, at the age of 16, in 1803:
"My mistress made me nurse the child, and do everything that was laborious; but all that required any art or knowledge, she not only would not let me do it, but would send me out of the way, with the little boy, while she did it herself. This was done that I should not leave her, or think myself qualified for a better place".
On 3 November 1817 Ashford married James Allison, who was a sergeant-shoemaker at the
Royal Military Asylum
The Duke of York's Royal Military School, more commonly called the Duke of York's, is a co-educational academy (for students aged 11 to 18) with military traditions in Guston, Kent. Since becoming an academy in 2010, the school is now sponsor ...
in
Chelsea, London. After having six children James Allison died and Ashford married Edward Green who was a sergeant-tailor at the Royal Military Asylum.
She published her memoirs, an account of her life as a domestic servant, ''Life of a Licensed Victualler's Daughter'', which was published in 1844.
After the publication Ashford 'disappears from history', there seem to be no sales figures for the book and no reviews. Ashford's book has been described as "a rare and wonderful window onto servant life".
References
1787 births
1870 deaths
19th-century English memoirists
19th-century English women writers
English women chefs
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