The decline and fall of the bible of female gentility

The lady, the journal of women of the longest in Britain, has formally announced that she has stopped publishing.

The magazine is famous for its label tips and advertisements for butlers, nannies and discreet links with 60 and so many and wealthy.

In a statement, the publishers confirmed the recent reports of the media that the April edition of the magazine will be the last one, but will add that the website with its jobs and the recruitment agency will continue.

Here is a look at its place and impact on British culture for more than 140 years.

The lady was established in 1885 by Thomas Gibson Bowles, such as a magazine for Gentile Women, a weekly guide to navigate the social mining field or the well -off British life.

His very distinctive character was affectionately recalled by PG Wodehouse. In his stories of Jeess, Bertie Wooster is a letter used by a magazine called Milady’s Boudoir, which was housed “in one of those Rummy streets in the neighborhood of Covent Garden.”

Real Lady magazine was simply in Bedford Street in Covent Garden.

The fame of the lady is found for her advice for women about the mysteries of the British class system. In 1936, for example, their readers received an update on the acceptability of novels.

“The reading of fiction, not much deplorable thought for almost all social workers, is now becoming almost a virtuos virtue,” he said.

Its first edition began with an explanation that its objective was to cover “the entire field of female action.”

Almost everything was written by a man, Bowles, using aka. It was not a great success. Fortunes changed in 1894 when he appointed his children’s governess, Rita Shell, to be an editor.

Under the control of Shell, it became a successful weekly guide of women who were in charge of a home and a budget to outsource daily heavy work to the lower classes.

In December 1927, he went out to young women “to become a good cook before marrying, honey. Then they will be competent to rebuke a domestic staff or play one.”

Eighty years later, those Conerns remained central. Editor Rachel Johnson firmly believed in not being too familiar with the staff, writing: “You never feel in the kitchen chatting with your babysitter, it will end up crying before bedtime.”

And even today there are still classified ads pages for Libyan workers and other varied varieties of domestic aid, but the demand is now more for caregivers who live for the elderly than butlers or babysitters.

That age profile has long been a concern. In 2009, Johnson was tasks to give the magazine a more youthful brand change. He was asked that half of the reader’s ability, which was, when he began, 78.

A documentary from Cannel 4 revealed that it was not universally welcome, and Johnson’s newspapers then classify all the difficulties of aiming articles to younger readers among the ads of bathrooms and absorbent underwear along with products to eliminate their associated Odesed. They were three agitated years that reached more than a few headlines.

However, never, while readers made an increase in letters, such as most printed magazines, sales have decreased in recent years. Once a weekly, he spent fifteen days to monthly. The latest figures published in 2023 revealed that it sold just under 18,000 copies per problem.

And while the website will continue, it is the end of the line for a bit very distinctive of British culture.

The current owner of the lady is the founder’s great -grandson, Thomas Bowles. Ben Budworth has spent 17 years trying to maintain reimbursement.

He took over the operation of the magazine in 2008 and supervised the controversial brand change. His decision to sell the offices of Covent Garden and transfer the production to a business park in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire was with protest.

The facilities in Bedford Street were seen by many staff as more than another office, helped define the lady’s character.

No one immediately had the telephone line. Instead, all calls went through a telephone operator. A former editor said the work would stop at 2pm to listen to the archers, and again at 3:30 pm for tea.

Johnson said the safe of the wall was where the cans of the custard creams were stored. A particular advantage was its own peach colored WC. Every day they would deliver two newly washed towels.

The building was a reminder of its long history and the many taxpayers of the magazine, including Lewis Carroll, Nancy Mitford and Stella Gibbons, who, while giving the impression of being at work, writing Cold Farr in the offices of the magazine.

However, the heritage does not pay invoices. The problems with a fiscal demand reached the headlines in 2024 and suggested that the moving to Hertfordshire had not solved the financial problems. The problem of reduced and aging readers never disappeared.

Only the word lady has changed over the years of being an aspiration to a widely considered term as degrading and derogatory.

And although there are older magazines, such as people’s friend (who do not start as a magazine specifically aimed at women) and the American bazaar Harper, who absorbed the even greater British queen, the lady has an older magazine.

However, 140 years later, a magazine that was once announced as an indispensable guide for society has found that society has advanced.