As a lady of leisure living in 19th century Weybridge, May Hawes indulged in pleasant walks in St George's Hill and boating on the River Wey.

In the same neighbourhood, Nelly Glashier, a domestic servant, endured a tortuous 16-hour working day with the occasional day off if she was lucky.

Two women. Two very different lives.

Masters and servants lived under the same roof in Victorian and Edwardian England but the masters "upstairs" and the servants "downstairs" may as well have been living in two separate worlds.

Their dissimilar lives are the subject of a new exhibition on show at Elmbridge Museum in Weybridge.

Entitled Upstairs and Downstairs - Victorian and Edwardian Domestic Life, the display delves into life behind closed doors and reveals the stark contrast between the masters and the servants.

Many of the wealthy owners of larger houses in Weybridge, Walton, Hersham and Esher employed armies of servants to cater for their household's needs.

Domestic service was one of the largest employment sectors in England, particularly in the borough of Elmbridge, which did not have much heavy industry and had a large number of affluent families.

The arrival of the London to Southampton Railway in 1838 led to a rapid increase in the population of Elmbridge, as servants and tradesmen moved into the area to serve the needs of the rich bankers and merchants who had set up home.

Migration

In 1911, there were 630 domestic servants per 1,000 families in Weybridge.

Evidence of the migration of domestic servants to Elmbridge can be seen in a census return showing the inhabitants of Sandown House in Esher in 1871.

At that time the Director of the Bank of England, James B Currie, was living at Sandown House with his 10 children and 12 live-in servants.

There is no mention of Mr Currie's wife. The servants came from all over the country and Europe and were organised in a strict hierarchical order.

Each servant had a clearly defined role and each had to make sure that the house was run to the master's satisfaction.

At the top of the pecking order was the Governess, Helen Richer, closely followed by the butler, James Knight.

Both of these would have enjoyed a relatively high social status and may have socialised with the family in the upstairs area.

Other domestic servants working at Sandown House included a nurse, nurse's maid, cook, schoolroom maid, kitchen maid, housemaid, nursemaid and footman.

A domestic servant at the bottom of the pecking order, such as Nelly Glashier, was known as a skivvy.

Nelly's working day at Whiteknights on St George's Hill was filled with menial tasks.

A typical day involved starting work at 5.30am, unbolting all the doors in the house, raising the blinds, blackleading the kitchen stove and lighting the fire, filling the kettle, tidying the kitchen and lighting the dining room fire.

After a hard morning's work, Nelly would have had to prepare for lunch, polish shoes, clean windows, and rub glasses and silverware until the evening.

She would then set the dinner table for 8pm, wash up the dinner pots and tidy the kitchen.

After a long day's work she could only hope to go to bed at 10pm.

Domestic servants had little spare time to enjoy leisurely pursuits, unlike their masters who enjoyed boating on the River Wey and playing tennis and golf.

The regattas at Molesey, Walton and Weybridge were also very popular.

Some domestic servants only had the pleasure of one afternoon off a week at the most.

The museum's exhibition puts the plight of domestic servants in the wider political context.

The Labour Party, formed in 1906, and the Servants' Union, formed in 1910, vigorously campaigned for the rights of the less well off.

Suffragettes

The Suffragette movement campaigning for the women's right to vote had a powerful voice in Elmbridge.

One of the movement's leaders, Charlotte Despard, moved to Esher in 1891.

To begin with they maintained a low profile in the area, organising public meetings and throwing ink into post boxes.

However, after Emily Davidson threw herself under the King's horse in the 1913 Epsom Derby, they took more militant action.

Suffragettes were believed to be responsible for burning down the grandstand at Hurst Park Racecourse in Molesey.

Acting manager of Elmbridge Museum, Michael Rowe, put the exhibition together.

He said: "The objects on display are all from our reserve collection and we had lots of very useful sources of information, including sketches, diaries and census returns. "

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the display of domestic items used in everyday life which makes you realise just how laborious household chores were.

Two flat irons, a carpet beater, a baby daisy vacuum cleaner and toilet service are just some of the items from the museum's reserve collection on display.

q Upstairs and downstairs Victorian and Edwardian Domestic Life continues until November 4. Elmbridge Museum, on Church Street, in Weybridge, is open Monday to Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am until 5pm, and Saturdays from 10am until 1pm and from 2pm until 5pm. Admission is free. Call 01932 843573.