Employees
The Battle of the Somme drew to a close in November 1916. It had been brutal and bloody with massive loss of life. Lord and Lady Grantham could no longer ignore the plight of the wounded at the Downton hospital and gave consent for the house to be used as a convalescent home. Edith was busy with her course work and had good success with her ventures in livestock thus far. Her small herd of cattle was doing nicely. Individual animals were sent to the butchers when a fresh supply of beef was needed. The sheep had also been sent to the butchers with half of them supplying meat for the estate. The sale of half the flock had turned a tidy profit and more than covered the wages for the man she had hired for the next six months. Edith wished she could find a few more like him.
Once he had gotten cleaned up, had regular meals and a decent place to sleep, John Biggs had regained a great deal of strength and proved a loyal worker. He had even made suggestions on how to improve the packaging of the eggs to prevent breakage on the way to market and had come up with ideas on how to fortify the pens to prevent animals getting in and killing the birds. He had done a good job and made it easy for her to complete her report to the university on her poultry project. As well her father was quite impressed with the small operation she was running and gave his permission for Edith to expand. Edith set about researching the relative merits of buying chicks versus keeping roosters. Between her and John, they determined it would be easier and save time to buy chicks. She had him build special nursery pens where the chicks would be raised until they got their feathers.
Sybil and Tom were busy with their move to London. Tom had been offered a position with one of the newly elected Labor Ministers and Sybil was due within the next month with their first child. Edith missed them a great deal. She had enjoyed having her sister and brother-in-law to talk to. They were one of the few family members who didn't make disparaging comments about her interests and encouraged her to pursue them. Tom had praised her scholastic efforts and given her pointers on how to prepare her reports and some of the finer details of preparing an academic paper.
Between her educational efforts, helping with the convalescent home and researching her projects Edith's days were full. She fell asleep at night the moment her head hit the pillow and she was up at dawn the next day. She still had moments of loneliness when a sight or passing comment would jog her memory. She would have liked to have someone special in her life, but for now her life was full and that would have to suffice.
One morning in January of 1917 Edith was going over some work planned for the spring with the Estate Manager when the topic of farm workers came up yet again. The last of the able bodied men employed on the farm had been called up over the last few months and they were out of options. Edith decided to try posting handbills at the enlisted hospitals and convalescent homes in the area. Disabled workers were better than no workers. Her first veteran employee had turned out to be an excellent worker. There was no reason to think it couldn't be repeated. The handbills were prepared and circulated to the hospitals. In mid-February Edith set out in the town car to make the rounds of the hospitals and convalescent homes she had contacted. She took John Biggs with her as she thought she might have better luck with him present.
At the first hospital they had no interest, but at the second hospital, John made the rounds of the convalescent wards and returned with two men who were willing to talk to Edith. They were both ready to be discharged and did not want to return to their families and burden them.
"You won't be a burden on the estate," Edith said. "There is work to be done and I can be flexible with your hours as long as tasks are accomplished in a timely manner. Mr. Biggs can attest to the working conditions. I can return tomorrow to collect you."
"Yes, Milady," they both said bobbing their heads.
At the next hospital they found one man who was willing to work for Edith. Another came to talk to her and then loudly proclaimed he would never work for a woman, let alone a woman farmer. John Biggs had gotten so angry Edith thought there was going to be an altercation.
By the end of the day, they had found five men who were willing to work on the estate farm. By the time Edith returned to the estate, relayed her information to the manager and refueled the car she was exhausted. She didn't want to attend the family dinner or deal with the questions she knew she would get from her family regarding her efforts but she felt obligated and dutifully changed for dinner.
"I don't understand your obsession with these men," Mary said. "How do you expect to turn a bunch of convalescents into a work force?"
"Mr. Bates and Mr. Biggs have both turned out to be excellent workers despite their wartime injuries," Edith said.
"Here, here, I quite agree," Lord Grantham contributed. "The men have served their country. It's the least we can do to afford them an opportunity."
"Why must we do it," Mary said. "Let them go elsewhere."
"Where do you expect me to find workers?" Edith said with a sudden flash of petulance. She was tired and Mary's attitude was starting to irk her. "Am I to pull them out of a magic hat?"
"I'm just trying to say, they would be better off in a convalescent home," Mary said starting to back pedal while trying to save face.
"There's no where for them to go," Edith said. "You don't realize what happens to some of them. They wind up living under bridges or worse. I need help. Your dining well tonight because of the efforts of the one man I already hired. We will have to hire more injured veterans before this war is over and there is nobody left."
Mary's eyes opened wide and Lady Cora was a bit taken back by Edith's attitude. Everyone had expected her to be easily cowed, but Edith was tired and more than a little fed up. Added to that was the man's attitude today who didn't want to work for a woman and she was more than a little frustrated.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize," Mary said.
"It's alright Mary. I'm tired and its been a long day," Edith said as way of an olive branch.
"You are to be commended, Edith," Lady Cora said trying to smooth things over. "You've taken on a lot. Just try not to over do it."
"Thank you, Mama," Edith said. "Do you mind if I don't join you in the drawing room tonight? I am very tired and I need to make arrangements for the cottage to be provisioned first thing in the morning for the men arriving tomorrow."
Lady Cora nodded her assent. Edith returned to her room as soon as the ladies retired from the dining room, took a bath and collapsed into bed. From downstairs she could hear the sounds of the men playing cards and chatting in the great hall. "Will this war never end?" she thought just before she drifted off.
Of the five men Edith had hired in February four turned out to be decent workers while the fifth one had been dismissed for drinking and picking fights after just three weeks at the estate. The estate manager assured Edith that dismissing men for drinking was a common occurrence before the war and not to blame her self for misjudging the man. They still needed more men before the spring planting season. The men got the work done but they were not as fast as able-bodied men and they would need one or two more men than normal to complete everything on schedule.
Edith had a meeting with the estate manager and the men she had already hired to ask for suggestions on how to go about hiring more veterans. Two of the men volunteered to assist her with talking to men at the convalescent homes and one said he would ask around his home village when next he was able to visit. She prepared handbills again and set about making arrangements to visit the hospitals.
This time with the men's help she was able to find another seven workers. Five of them were available immediately and the other two committed to working for her when they were released from the hospital in two weeks time. She felt the interviews and screening had gone much better with the men's help and they had turned away one man who was a heavy drinker before Edith even had a chance to speak to him.
Her small work force was gaining strength with regular meals and decent accommodation and the estate manager was pleased with the results of her efforts. There was some adjustment to each of the men's personal disabilities but by catering to each man's strengths, tasks were being accomplished in a reasonable amount of time and the farm was running efficiently.
Edith prepared a report on her efforts with using veterans as farm laborers and sent it to her professor, along with her other papers and regular reports. A reply came from her professor praising her for her efforts and innovative thinking in response the labor shortage. He asked if she would be interested in speaking about her efforts at a conference in Scotland in June. Edith was terribly flattered when she received her professor's comments but didn't think her father would allow her to go. After she had thought it over, she determined it was worth a try. It was a great honor and the worst her father could say was no.
"Papa," Edith ventured that afternoon while her father was sitting in his reduced library reading the paper. "I've received some comments on a report I submitted to the university I wanted to share with you. I've been invited to speak at a conference."
Her father folded his paper and reached for the papers Edith was carrying.
"Let me read things over before you get too carried away," he said. After he had read the comments from her professor and the copy of Edith's report, he sat in stunned silence for a moment. "I say, good show, Edith. You've done remarkably well."
Edith blushed at his compliment.
"I would like to attend," she said. "I thought I might ask Tom for some pointers on public speaking since he is a speech writer."
"Hmm, yes, quite so," her father remarked. He had made his peace with the man towards the end of the following year, before Sybil and Tom had moved to London. Sybil had put her foot down to her father's resistance and he had come to accept his daughter's marriage and his son-in-law at long last.
"Any idea who you would like to accompany you?" Lord Grantham asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought perhaps Mary or Aunt Rosamund," Edith said. "I'm sure both of them would have contacts they could visit with while I'm occupied at the university."
"You're being quite reasonable," Lord Grantham said. "Nothing like your younger sister."
"Oh, Papa, she was in love," Edith said rolling her eyes slightly. "This is entirely different."
"Well, you have my permission," he said. "I'm quite proud of what you've accomplished."
"Thank you, Papa," Edith leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before she left the library.