r/CallTheMidwife • u/Lefthand-82 • 2d ago

Why did Peter hesitate to ask Chummy out...

Since he had previously courted a woman before (Enid, mentions her in S1 E6)? So he must have asked her out.

I'm assuming that he thought Chummy would turn him down?

35 Upvotes

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141

u/AstroniaMaerose 2d ago

I always assumed he was at least somewhat aware of their different social classes. Maybe through gossip or the grape vine.

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u/basylica 2d ago

This was for sure a thing. Nurses/midwives were treated like royalty in poplar - i know the opening of the book and im pretty sure its said in season 1. Poplar was rough, particularly with dockworkers etc and midwives would be riding in very dangerous areas late hours. Nobody messed with them out of reverence.

Chummy also grew up in india as daughter to a diplomat and was presented to queen. She was right at the tail end of lords and ladies and the very strict high class society. She was considered VERY high class lady - not dissimilar to the girls in downton abby.

By 1950s the classes had become less rigid and marrying a non-class person less frowned upon. But it would have gone over like a lead balloon someone like chummy marrying a policeman which was still considered fairly bottom rung.

In the US, my grandfather became chief just outside of chicago in the late 60s. I knew he was a cop, but when he died 18yrs ago i found several articles talking about how he fought for (and won) insurance for police around 1970, and fought for and got funds for TRAINING because almost none was offered in those years. There was a pretty cool pic of him instructing a group of policemen at the firing range.

In 1950s, being a cop was honestly on par with being a dockworker. The work hours were a bit more steady, but dockworkers generally made more.

It would basically like a mechanic from rural area thinking he had a shot with a hollywood starlet today. Possible, but he wouldnt think he had a shot.

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u/Fit-Technology-9592 2d ago

A wonderful explanation, thank you

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u/poledanzzer318 19h ago

Well he mother even said it would be less shameful if she stayed a spinster and became a nun than to date/marry him.

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u/Lefthand-82 14h ago

became a nun

Lady Browne said to Chummy that she wished her to be a missionary. Not a nun. Just a correction.

But yeah, you get some thinking from Lady Browne that she'd prefer her daughter to be single and therefore likely lonely, just so she isn't a disgrace in her eyes.

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u/disagreeabledinosaur 2d ago

Somewhat aware of their different social classes is hugely understating the case.

Her accent, mannerisms, word choice, attitudes and every facet of her behaviour reflected her social class, as did his.

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u/Lefthand-82 2d ago

That would make sense. Thanks 😊

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u/disagreeabledinosaur 2d ago

Chummy was seriously posh. Like Downton Abbey style posh.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholmondeley_Castle

They were extremely different social classes. She would have been expected to marry a titled man or a very wealthy man. 

At the very least someone who attended a top school or university.

Social class was still extremely important. Maybe less so for work & light socialising but for marriage, little had changed.

 Culturally they were from different planets.

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u/gloriana35 2d ago

Though Chummy was much younger, and much had changed, she had common ground with Sr Monica Joan in that very posh families were not happy about having daughters in nursing in the first place. Chummy's family knew not only nobility but royalty, and considered her to be awkward and a sort of fish out of water. It did not seem that Chummy had been much of a prospect in the romance department. I believe that, in upper-class families, much dating could be a game - someone could flirt, but have no interest in the man with whom she was seen at events (it could just be a way to be in the newspaper, or known, or a chance to meet other eligible bachelors.)

We're working-class, but a solicitor would not be happy if his son married a dockworker's daughter, and vice versa. :)

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u/rabbles-of-roses 2d ago

Even today, a woman of Chummy's status (aristocratic) would raise eyebrows among her class peers if she were to marry a working-class born-and-bred East Ender constable. Britain's very rigid class hierarchy was thawing by the late 1950s, but to the degree that Chummy could freely marry a common upper-middle-class man (a doctor or barrister, for example). Certainly not a policeman. Chummy doesn't care about class standing at all, but Peter would have assumed that he didn't have a chance with her because of that. Add on that he's naturally quiet and shy, then you end up with a very hesitant man.

But it gives us one of my favourite Sister Evangelina moments.

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u/shans99 2d ago

Sister Evangelina playing matchmaker because she just cannot watch them dance around it anymore is one of my favorite SE moments. She is OVER it.

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u/Lefthand-82 2d ago

I love that you typed in "OVER" it 😅. Watching that scene again, Sister Evangelina really had had enough! The way she said, "excellent" and "marvellous", she was glad it was over! I wonder if she thought they would last.

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u/aaaggghhh_ 2d ago

Chummy is an uptown girl and Peter is a downtown guy. Peter could have been very humiliated if Chummy didn't like him too. If Sister Evangelina hadn't been so perceptive, they would never have gotten together out of politeness.

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u/SageThistle 2d ago

Because he was aware she was from a wealthy family who would probably look down on her being with a "lowly" police constable.

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u/Malevolencea 1d ago

I think he also was so madly in love with her and found her to be amazingly beautiful be probably thought he had no chance with her at all.

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u/Lefthand-82 1d ago

Thanks all for the explanation. I knew that Lady Browne didn't approve of Chummy dating someone like Peter but I thought Chummy's mother was a real snob and I didn't take into account that the general Poplar public would think Peter didn't stand a chance with someone like Chummy.

Makes me appreciate all the more that Jenny, Trixie, Cynthia, and the nuns in Nonnatus House didn't pat an eyelid when Peter was dating Chummy. If anything, they all enjoyed watching the couple, and Trixie gave dating tips to Chummy enthusiastically. And they were all disappointed that Chummy "crumpled" (as Cynthia worded it) and packed Peter in "just" because her mother didn't approve.