Wedgwood

We've been watching "Upstairs Downstairs," the British series from the early 1970s, again. It's about the Bellamy family and their servants as they negotiate the changing world of the early 20th century. The two Bellamy children grow up to reject their parents values. The daughter is filled with upper class guilt and a desire to shake off the stifling restrictions on upper class women. The son acts like many spoiled second generation wealthy sons. He gambles, drinks, finds work boring, and knocks up one of the servant on his way to ruining his life. The servants have their own adjustments to make, but in some ways they have some flexibility to put their lives back together when change blows their lives open because there is no safety net and no rescue from a mistake.

The Wedgwood teapot reminds me of the refined and stratified existence in the Victorian England of the Bellamys. I have one cracked teapot that I love for its color and detail, but not an entire prestine set that Mrs. Bellamy would have possessed.