Remembering Service

Abstract This chapter explores memories of service recalled by female deponents in the church courts. Focusing on a sub-set of women whose memories of service reached far back into the past, the chapter probes their recollections to capture the lasting impact of service on women’s identities and lives. Being a servant witness signified dependency and poverty, attributes that the opposing side leveraged as grounds for dismissal of the testimony (based on poor credit and affinity to a litigating master or mistress). On the other hand, being asked to remember as a former servant recharacterized these women as repositories and sharers of knowledge through their historic service. Their past labour took on new meaning in the courts. The chapter endows service with a longevity beyond the number of years a woman actively served. Imprinted on memory and recalled even through bodily habits and practices, life in service left its mark on women and their identity. The chapter draws attention to the importance of service as a framework for women’s recollections of the past. Service helped make sense of and organise their life stories – stories which grounded their working lives within national epidemics, economic crises, local practices, and customs.