A charlady or sometimes charwoman was an English house cleaner. The term was used through the mid-20th Century. Unlike a maid or housekeeper, typically live-in positions, the charlady worked for weekly wages and usually came and went on a daily basis. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A maidservant or in current usage maid is a female employed in domestic service. ... A housekeeper is a person responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of (usually residential premises. ...

The position often features in fiction; one notable character is the charlady who appears in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The best known charlady is probably Ada Harris from Paul Gallico's novel Mrs 'Arris goes to Paris. Dickens redirects here. ... A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) is Charles Dickens little Christmas Book first published on December 19,[1] 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ... Paul Gallico, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897-July 15, 1976) was a fabulously successful U.S. novelist and short story writer. ...

In the British radio comedy series ITMA, Dorothy Summers played the part of Mrs Mopp, the office char with the catch phrase 'Can I do you now, Sir?' (ie. 'may I clean your office now, Sir' but with an obvious double entendre). ITMA was a 1940s BBC radio comedy programme. ... A double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. ...