Another instance of modern values being dropped into a past century is the show's attitude toward servants getting married. In particular, women generally did not work after marriage; as some of the maids in the earlier seasons note, they would be expected to leave service and become a housewife once they got married. In many cases, male servants would leave service upon marriage too, especially in the days when servants lived in the same house as their employers rather than commuting to work.
On "Downton," however, the need to keep popular characters on screen meant they had to bend the rules a bit. The show had to create very specific circumstances to keep Daisy and Anna in their jobs after they got married (the death of one's husband and imprisonment of the other's). Senior servants like Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes would have spent their lives unmarried in order to advance professionally, and again, it would have been highly unusual for them to stay in service after getting married.
