Outport Girls in Domestic Service

Modern outport in Newfoundland showing the fishing stages. Source: Dreamstime

The quiet work that shaped Newfoundland’s homes

An outport is the term given for a small coastal community in Newfoundland and Labrador. Generally the main economic activity was fishing. They were situated where families could get shelter, fresh water and access to the fishing grounds. In the early days, they were often only accessible by boat, which meant they could be very isolated, especially in the winter. A few would have a road to another community, although most would have had just a footpath to neighbouring outports.

During the winter, money was often scarce, and it was not unusual for families to run out of food. To help support their families, many young teenage girls turned to domestic service for work. These girls and young women represented the largest sector of waged women’s work from the late 19th century right up to the late 1940s and beyond.

They were essential to the everyday operation of households of all classes. They were paid very little, making it possible for even a middle-class family to hire them. It was common for young girls to leave school to contribute to the family economy.  Even if they could not send money or goods back to their families, they still helped because it often meant the family had one less person to feed. Domestic service was an opportunity for a young woman to get into St. John’s and it was one of the few occupations open to rural women. The 1920s and the 1930s saw the largest number of girls in service.

The girls stayed for years, only leaving to get married. They did everything from getting the coal, cleaning and washing, laundry and they had a regular routine for housekeeping and cooking. The Second World War provided more opportunities and we begin to see a decline in service as an occupation for women.

After the Second World War there was a real decline and abandonment of outports. The then provincial government of Joey Smallwood did not want to provide services to the hundreds of small outports and wanted to concentrate these families in a few centres where services such as health care and education could be provided more cheaply. They began to offer subsidies to those who chose to move. Between 1954 and 1972, more and more outports were abandoned as families left for larger centres. The feeling of decline reached it’s peak in 1992 when the Government of Canada placed a moratorium on the cod fishery.

Examples of want ads for outport domestic help.

All examples are taken from the Evening Telegram newspaper from 1925 and 1926. Digital copies can be seen at Memorial University, Digital Archives Initiative. https://dai.mun.ca/

A general ad for an outport girl to learn housework and to help with the children. Evening Telegram, February 16, 1925.

Wages were seldom mentioned in ads. It is hard to read but this ad states a salary of $18 to $20 a month will be paid to the successful applicant. This ad was from the Evening Telegram of Jan 14, 1926.

This is an unusual ad because they are asking for a middle-aged person. Domestics were generally young girls. Again though, an outport person is preferred. Evening Telegram, March 9, 1925.