A receipt for income received by Mrs Ballard’s for her role as plate washer. It lists payments from the Bursar, the Steward, and Mr Peach (the Fellows’ Butler). The list also outlines Mrs Ballard’s expenses; it appears she was responsible for sourcing her own ‘dish cloths’.

Letters of reference and testimonials for women applying to work for the College as servants – often they were merely switching Colleges. In the case of Mrs Hignell above, she had worked as a bedmaker at Gonville and Caius before applying to St John’s. Other women applied with their husbands, the couple would work as a team – often as gyp and bedmaker on the same staircase. If the couple worked as a ‘team’ it was often the husband’s responsibility to ensure that his wife was paid what she was owed – this of course did not always occur.

The University regulated the provision of undergraduate accommodation ‘rigorously’ and potential landladies/landlords were required to sign up to obtain a licence.  Widows and women whose husbands were fighting at the front provided undergraduates with rooms as a means of supporting themselves and their families.