Ruth Mott was an English domestic servant who became a television cook and personality. Mott spent most of her life working in country houses with her television work not beginning until the age of 70 when her knowledge of a working Victorian kitchen was utilized for the television showThe Victorian Kitchen.
Biography
Mott was born Mildred Ruth Pizzey in Yattendon in Berkshire, England in 1917 to Alfred Pizzey, a gardener. As a child she attended the local school, which was designed by the English architectAlfred Waterhouse. When she left school, at the age of 14, she became a kitchen and scullery maid for the Manor House, owned by the Waterhouse family. Mott was part of a staff of eight, with a wage of £1 and 5 shillings a month. A year later, in 1932, staff cuts saw Mott leaving the employment of the Waterhouse family, finding alternative work in nearby Frilsham House. In 1936 she moved, this time to Lavington Park in Sussex, before circumstances saw her take up employment for Countess Iveagh at Elveden Hall in Thetford. In 1941, Mott took work at a house in Ashampstead to be closer to her parents' home in Yattendon, both of them now suffering from ill health. In 1942 she married Bill Mott, whom she had known since her teen years. Bill was serving in the British Army at the time, and they were married in front of a small congregation in the local church. They moved in with her parents to take care of them and Mott took a job collecting insurance premiums for Prudential. When her daughter, Bertha, was born, Mott became a housewife, only returning to employment in 1957 when Bertha was in school. Mott took an office job in the day, and catered for local functions in her free time. Bill died in 1959. Mott continued in her catering and office work until 1970 when she was offered a full-time role as cook-housekeeper at Basildon Park near Pangbourne for Lord and Lady Iliffe. Mott continued to work full-time at Basildon Park until 1987 when she was 70, though she did casual work for the household after this date. She died on 28 July 2012 and was survived by her daughter.
Television career
At the age of 70, Mott replied to an appeal, printed in the Women's Institute journal Home and Country, for women who had worked in country houses before the Second World War, especially those who had experience of Victorian methods of cooking. Mott described the methods she once utilized, such as plucking birds, skinning hares and using coal-range roasting spits, and was approached by the BBC. The BBC wished to build on the success of the television show The Victorian Kitchen Garden, which explored how a country garden would be run during Victorian Britain. The second series was called The Victorian Kitchen, and this explored how the produce grown in the garden, by series gardener Harry Dodson, would be cooked using Victorian methods. Mott underwent auditions for the role as the head cook and was successful. She was joined on the show by Alison Arnison, who took on the duties of Mott's kitchen maid. With no script and using turns of phrase, Mott spoke to the camera describing bygone methods of preparing and cooking food. She was a success with the viewers, who took to her stories and personality, and the fact that Mott, with her ample figure, strong Berkshire accent and capable abilities epitomised the positive stereotype of a county cook. Mott then found herself in demand with Britain's most popular chat shows and her fame spread when the television series was shown abroad. Mott contributed to a book accompanying the series, and in 1990 followed this up with her own book, Ruth Motts' Favourite Recipes. Mott returned to the BBC in 1993, becoming the "wartime" cook in The Wartime Kitchen and Garden. Mott's reputation as a historical cook resulted in her taking on the role as a consultant for Robert Altman's 2001 film Gosford Park.
