A curious local resident Arthur Joseph Munby leased Wheelers Farm from 1878 until his death in 1910. Munby was educated to be a barrister and was called to the bar in 1855. His interest however was working-class women, particularly those who performed hard physical labour. A pastime was wandering the streets of London and other industrial cities where he approached working women to ask about their lives and the details of their work, while noting their clothes and dialects. The observations were recorded in his journals. These journals explore what Munby practiced with his parlourmaid wife, Hannah Cullwick, as well as his desire for the strength and care of a working woman.
He was an amateur artist, and his diaries contain sketches of working women. He collected hundreds of photographs, such as colliery women, kitchen maids, milkmaids, charwomen, and acrobats. His diaries and images provide historical information on the lives of working-class Victorian women. His papers are housed today at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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