Victorian Dining Breaks for Shop Girls

The average time for meals are half an hour, and twenty minutes for dinner and tea respectively, except throughout the hottest weather, when the tea time is extended to thirty minutes, in consideration of the longer hours consequent on light evenings. –Public domain image of women depicted shopping at Harrods’ at the turn of the century in London.

Girls in London Shops

In some firms the girls, when not serving, are permitted to adjourn to a comfortable sitting and reading room, or are allowed to sit behind the counters, and, with respect to food, dainties are often provided in the form of fish, fowl or pastry, which the less favored “fellows” fail to obtain. The average time for meals are half an hour, and twenty minutes for dinner and tea respectively, except throughout the hottest weather, when the tea time is extended to thirty minutes, in consideration of the longer hours consequent on light evenings. 

Supper is usually provided immediately after closing time, and then a much coveted span of freedom is enjoyed till 11 o’clock sharp, or 12 o’clock one night a week, for the convenience of playgoers. As any “fellow” who contemplates starting a business for himself usually chooses a wife from among the “girls” of the house, it will be seen that a real “trade unionism” exists among the community, in a peculiar sense, and the so called “rag trade” is thus perpetuated by duly qualified assistants. — Pall Mall Gazette, 1892

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