I don't want to be a proud lady, I want to continue to be a miserable maid (13 photos)

Misalliances gradually became commonplace and stopped surprise. But the case of this couple is truly unique and revealing.





Hanna Kallvik managed to play two roles at the same time: devoted servant of his master Arthur Munby and his lawful wife.



Hanna Kallvik

The girl was born in 1833 in Shropshire. When the family became impoverished, the eldest daughter was sent to work - to serve in wealthy family next door. Then she moved into a maid at the inn yard, and when the girl was 14 years old, she became a nanny's assistant in large family. When Hannah's parents died, the employers even they did not let her go to say goodbye: they were afraid that they would bring infection and destroy children. Such were the manners.



Arthur Munby

With a lover whose life was closely intertwined with her own, the girl met in London. I saw an enthusiastic glance of a young gentleman and felt an all-consuming sense of quiet happiness.



servant. Artist Pierre Francois Bouchard

Arthur was 5 years older and boasted a noble origin: the guy was the son of a lawyer and the daughter of a priest and received legal education. At the same time, Manby had one strange peculiarity. Let's just say, regarding taste preferences: lady of the world he was not interested. The young lawyer fell into ecstasy only from commoners.



Housemaid

He was fond of photographing girls and women from the people and I always carried a sketch pad with me. Rough, emaciated, poorly dressed women abounded in its pages. Sometimes in men's clothes that are easier to work in, with dirty faces and crushed hard work by hand.



Hanna at work

In Hanna, the lawyer saw his ideal. She agreed to relationship. And almost immediately the lovers began strange games, which a person from the outside would not understand:

While Hannah was on her knees scraping the soot off the porch, Arthur walked past her. Then, when she served in furnished rooms, he rented a room so that she would serve him like any other guest. When there was time, Hannah would visit him in her dirty, clothes that smelled of sweat and deliberately smeared her face with wax. That evening she dressed in an elegant dress and posed for a photo. He photographed her in the form of a simple servant and a noble lady, penitent Magdalene and a black slave. One day Hannah cut her hair short and traveled around Europe as Mr Munby's valet, Subsequently, she again made a European voyage, but already in the women's dress and under the name "Mrs. Munby". The maid could portray someone anything, but she always showed off her hands, which Arthur loved so much.



Hannah as a man

A woman addressed her lover as "masa" using a dialect word is a respectful form of address that black slaves used in relation to the owners (from master - master, wise, elder, experienced).



Hanna with a bracelet

As a sign of belonging to her master, Hanna began to wear hand a leather armband-bracelet - an imitation of a collar. Why did you lose work: her employers pointed out to her that it was unhygienic to wait on table with a dirty leather bandage on his arm and demanded to remove it. The maid refused.



Hanna as a black slave

The woman became a maid in Arthur's house. However, she was not weak creature, devoid of will. And gladly accepted the conditions submission games. But only if the rules satisfied her. IN Otherwise, Hannah would be furious.



Hannah as the Penitent Magdalene

The woman rejected the proposal of marriage, fearing that Arthur will begin to command already legally, and not within the framework of the game. But he bought a marriage license,and couldn't get away.



Hanna as a lady

The marriage was perfectly legal, but secret. For Hanna Society continued to be just a maid serving at the table and giving coat. And the important guests were unaware that their hats receives the hostess of the house, and not an inconspicuous maid.

At the request of the woman, Arthur continued to pay her salary. A her husband's attempts to trim her and turn her into a lady she rejected: in corsets and puffy skirts, she felt like a clumsy cow, and the rules of etiquette brought on sadness.



Hanna and Arthur

After 4 years, her husband's claims bothered her. And she ran away returning home and re-entering the service. Shropshire woman however, she wrote letters to her husband, full of love and resentment. Arthur suffered. After all, he, having played in the master, eventually showed himself cross-armed Pygmalion, whose creation is not able to become truly alive and gain freedom from restrictions and prejudices.

Hannah took his whining calmly. In her heart she knew that such a way of life is a game and nothing more. But in reality she the most free woman ever. Can go wherever he wants dress as she likes, choose a job, a place to live. And no your stupid hats, crinolines, curtsies and smelling salts.



As a result, the couple reconciled. But to Arthur's house Mrs. Manby did not return. The couple spent the rest of their lives apart, but the husband often came to see the lady servant. Hannah died in 1909, and later Arthur followed her for half a year.

Thus the story of unshakable free Hannah showed that women do not always seek to marry a man above status and financial position. And maybe it's freedom even if only in their subjective understanding, it turns out the greatest blessing and happiness that no amount of money can buy.