Sarah Moffat also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...

and its spin-off

Spin-off (media)

In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 Thomas & Sarah

Thomas & Sarah

Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. The only spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.-Background:...

. She was portrayed by Pauline Collins

Pauline Collins

Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...

.

Early life

Sarah was the daughter of Albert Moffat and Marianne Dumas, who said she was the granddaughter of Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

, and she was baptised Clémence Moffat. Her parents had met at the Theatre Royal

Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...

 in 1879, and Clémence was conceived about three months before her parents' marriage and born in July 1882. She had two younger siblings, a brother Charlie, who was born in 1887, and a sister called Sophia. Charlie, who she had to spend much time in her childhood looking after due to his ill health, died in the final days of 1899; and Sophia later married. At the age of 6, she first went on the stage with the help of Agnes Hewitt, the manger of the Olympic Theatre

Olympic Theatre

The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street, and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout much of its existence...

 in Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

, and earned three shilling

Shilling

The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

s a week. Her father, who was sacked from many jobs due to drunkenness, died after being run over by an omnibus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 when Clémence was 15. Her mother committed suicide days later, and they were buried in a double funeral.

Clémence soon got work at a tailor

Tailor

A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...

s, but when a male member of staff tried to assault her, she was rescued by a pastor

Pastor

The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

, and then went to work at his Hope Mission for a year. She had to leave there, in 1900, after the pastor, Martin Blackwood, offered her marriage and wanted her to beat him. After wandering the streets of London trying to find somewhere to stay, she caught pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and was taken in by a spiritualist

Spiritualism

Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...

 medium called Lydia Pagenell, who lived in Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

. She then worked as Miss Pagenell's assistant for three and a half years until someone reported them for fraud

Fraud

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

, and they were both sent to Holloway Prison

Holloway (HM Prison)

HM Prison Holloway is a closed category prison for adult women and Young Offenders, located in the Holloway area of the London Borough of Islington, in north and Inner London, England...

 in October 1903. Miss Pagenell died weeks later in prison, while Clémence was released on 1 November. She then went to Pratt's, an agency for domestic servants, who sent her to Eaton Place.

Early days at Eaton Place

When she arrived at 165, Eaton Place, she rang the front door bell, instead of going to the servants' entrance. Moments later, in the morning room, she was being interviewed by Lady Marjorie

Lady Marjorie Bellamy

The Lady Marjorie Helen Sybil Bellamy was a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs...

. Lady Marjorie said Clémence was "not a servant's name" and renamed her 'Sarah'. Sarah had problems fitting in to service as an under house parlourmaid, and within her first week stole from the kitchen. When Hudson

Angus Hudson

Angus Hudson was a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs, portrayed by actor Gordon Jackson from 1971 until 1975.-Biography:...

 and Mrs. Bridges made her write out a passage from the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, she was forced to reveal she was illiterate. She quickly struck up a friendship with head house parlourmaid, Rose.

In June 1904, Richard Bellamy commissioned a painter, Guthrie Scone, to paint his wife. Sarah was sent to deliver Lady Marjorie's dresses to his studio, and soon Scone was painting her as well. When both paintings were exhibited together as "The Mistress and the Maids", Sarah and Rose, whom Scone painted from Sarah's descriptions, were nearly sacked, but Scone persuaded Richard to keep them on. Two months later, in August, while the family and senior servants were away, the junior servants all dressed up as the family. This ended in disaster when James

James Bellamy

Major The Honourable James Rupert Bellamy MC is a fictional character in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs, that was originally broadcast for five series from 1971 to 1975...

 came back and found them all in the Morning Room. After this Sarah, annoyed by James's high-handed attitude, left Eaton Place.

Discovery in Whitechapel

In 1908, Sarah was discovered starving and destitute in a soup kitchen in Whitechapel

Whitechapel

Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

 by Elizabeth

Elizabeth Bellamy

Elizabeth Kirbridge is a fictional character in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs, that was originally broadcast for five series from 1971 to 1975. She was portrayed by Nicola Pagett....

 and James. Elizabeth insisted on taking Sarah back to Eaton Place, and installed her as scullery maid

Scullery maid

In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported to the cook or chef...

, the only vacant position. Sarah was not happy with this, and determined to become under house parlourmaid again, managed to upset Alice (the under house parlourmaid) so she left, and Sarah became under house parlourmaid. However, her second stint at Eaton Place didn't last long. In October 1908, she was set up by Thorkil Kraft, the batman

Batman (army)

A batman is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.The term is derived from the obsolete bat, "packsaddle" + man....

 of a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 Captain staying at Eaton Place, and was framed for theft, and left.

Sarah then began her stage career, as the music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 entertainer Clémence Dumas, who was also known as Sarah Delice, and was known for saucy songs like "What Are We Going to do with Uncle Arthur?". At about the same time, she started an affair with James Bellamy, which included them going to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 for a weekend. Much to everyone's surprise, she turned up at Elizabeth's wedding, apparently at James's invitation, and at the reception Hudson through gritted teeth had to call her "Miss".

Pregnancy

Sarah and James's affair came to a head when Sarah became pregnant, telling James she was expecting a "little Captain". This, along with James's considerable debts, meant he had to tell his parents. The family solicitor, Sir Geoffrey Dillon, arranged for Sarah to stay in a cottage on the Southwold Estate. The child was to be educated, and Sarah found local work. James was sent to India.

However, she found Southwold too boring, and ran away to Eaton Place, turning up the evening the King

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

 was dining upstairs in early 1909. She gave birth the same evening, but the baby boy died minutes after birth. Sarah was then given light work around the house, and after Elizabeth gave birth she became Baby Lucy's nursery maid.

Thomas Watkins

From the moment Thomas Watkins

Thomas Watkins

Thomas David Watkins is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah. He was portrayed by John Alderton.-Greenwich:...

 came to Eaton Place in December 1909, he and Sarah quickly became close. The Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 Thomas had been employed as manservant

Valet

Valet and varlet are terms for male servants who serve as personal attendants to their employer.- Word origins :In the Middle Ages, the valet de chambre to a ruler was a prestigious appointment for young men...

 to Lawrence Kirbridge, and always had ambitions above domestic service. When the Kirbridges separated, Lawrence offered to take him around the World as his manservant, but Thomas instead decided to come to Eaton Place as chauffeur. He and Sarah joined forces to defeat an Irishman

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 who was trying to blackmail the Bellamys, and this closeness resulted in Sarah's second pregnancy. Sarah insisted to the other servants that was a gentleman who assaulted her while she sheltered from the rain. Thomas then offered marriage to solve the problem, and went to Richard Bellamy to ask permission. He liked the idea, as it would solve many problems, and gave Thomas £500 to start his own garage. Thomas and Sarah then left service. They returned to visit the servants and to give Lady Marjorie a birthday present, on 6 May 1910. The subsequent celebration downstairs ended when the news of Edward VII's death broke.

Life away from service

When they left service, Thomas and Sarah went their separate ways. Sarah gave birth at an aunt's house in the East End

East End of London

The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...

to a girl, who died at about an hour old. Soon after this, Thomas and Sarah got back together, although they never married. They began by trying at the garage business, but when this failed they tried many different schemes to make money, and even had servants of their own for a short time after Thomas won on a gamble. Thomas and Sarah were later forced back into service in the employ of Richard de Brassey, an eccentric man. Sarah and Richard had an affair, but when Thomas became trapped in a burning stable Richard attempted to save him and the stable collapsed. Richard died in the fire, while Thomas survived.