Sarah Moffat

Sarah Moffat (born Clémence Moffat; July 1882 – ?), also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah. She was portrayed by Pauline Collins.

Sarah was the daughter of Albert Moffat and Marianne Dumas, who said she was the granddaughter of Alexandre Dumas, and she was baptised Clémence Moffat. Her parents had met at the Theatre Royal 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, whom 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 manager of the Olympic Theatre in Drury Lane, and earned three shillings a week. Her father, who was sacked from many jobs due to drunkenness, died after being run over by an omnibus 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's, but when a male member of staff tried to assault her, she was rescued by a pastor, 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 and was taken in by a spiritualist medium called Lydia Pagenell, who lived in Bloomsbury. She then worked as Miss Pagenell's assistant for three and a half years until someone reported them for fraud, and they were both sent to Holloway Prison 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.

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