I am looking for your help

Hiya

I am making a new body of work (paintings, drawings and sculptures) and I need your help. The new work will be about women who worked in domestic service in the big houses of Ireland - or in any house, as even many middle class families also had live in domestic help. My interest in this is not only historical - but personal too. I am looking to connect with anyone who had female relatives who worked in this capacity, or perhaps your family employed household staff. Below is a little of my own family’s story and what the work will be about.

My great aunt worked as a nanny for a family in Dublin. Her whole life was subsumed by her role - with even her own family calling her ‘Nana’ - her actual name lost over time. The story goes that Nana had a boyfriend who emigrated to America and wanted to send her a ticket, however she did not want to leave the children. I found her name on the recently released 1926 census. It was Annie Maher. Annie worked for the same family for almost forty years. An incredible amount of service by any standards. Her time with the family would have been up after about 25 years, however a grandchild arrived that lived in the house and she was- much to her delight- back in business. She collapsed in the dining room one day and died instantly.

I have also discovered that as a young teenager my mum used to go and help out in the house during some summer holidays and that her mother - my grandmother spend a short time in a house in Sandycove. Its incredible to think that in 1881, 48% of all employed women were domestic servants and even into the 20th century over 125,000 women remained employed as indoor servants.

Nana’s erasure of individual identity is reflective I am sure of the wider experience of a lot of women. I want to tell their stories and honour them - not as background figures in grand houses, but as central subjects worthy of attention and respect.

However - despite the volume of women who worked in this capacity - there is not a lot out there about them. If you had a family member who worked in this context - I would love to hear from you. I am looking for any stories - photos or any information really. Or if your family employed household staff and you have stories or images of the same. Also if you could share this post I would much appreciate it so as to reach as many people who it might apply to.

The making of the work is supported thanks to an Artlinks bursary Many thanks to Artlinks and to the arts department of Wexford County Council.

You can contact me by email at info@oonaghlatchford.com or by phone at 087 6751316

Video shows a work in progress shot in my studio in Westgate Visual Art Studios, Wexford. July 2026. It is not a finished piece - yet