Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants

by Maloney, Alison

  In the nursery, the nanny wore a white or grey cotton print dress and apron and, when out walking with the children, was permitted a black, navy or dark plum coat and a black straw bonnet.

  Lillian’s Story

  At the age of fifteen, in 1908, Lillian Westall started in domestic service in the middle-class home of a clerk and his wife, who had two children. She was a nurse and housemaid and received 2s. a week.

  In the morning I did the housework: in the afternoon I took the children out: in the evening I looked after them and put them to bed. My employers didn’t seem to have much money themselves but they liked the idea of having ‘a nursemaid’ and made me buy a cap, collar, cuffs and apron. Then the mistress took me to have a photograph taken with the children grouped around me.

  Professor John Burnett, Useful Toil

  Senior Staff

  The lady’s maid, like the housekeeper, was allowed to wear her own clothes but, while the latter was likely to opt for a sober black or grey dress, which would emphasize the required no-nonsense approach and give an air of gravitas, the former was likely to be inclined towards ‘fripperies’. Although it was her job to be interested in the latest styles and fabrics, it would not do for the maid to get ideas above her station. She might have been given her mistress’s unwanted dresses but a late Victorian publication was scandalized by these ‘abigails disguised as their betters’. For example, if a lady’s maid indulged in black silk stockings, instead of the usual grey, she may well have incurred the wrath of her mistress.

  The lady’s maid rarely wore the starched apron and cap considered the badge of servitude by the lower servants, but she occasionally wore a tiny, decorative apron when washing her mistress’s hair. Being an expert needlewoman was an essential qualification, which also proved helpful when she was altering her employer’s cast-offs in order to wear them herself.

  The Butler

  This distinguished figure wore a black suit styled to the fashion of the day, with a waistcoat and watchchain and a black tie. In the evening, when serving in the dining room, he changed to tails, worn with a black tie as opposed to the white tie customarily worn by the master and his male guests.

  ‘I’ve always found it interesting that when the butler serves food to the family and guests at night he puts on his tails, and is actually wearing the same outfit as the guests,’ commented Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.

  The Footmen

  As they were the living representation of a family’s wealth, the fine livery of these ornamental workers made them the peacocks of the domestic world. They were presented with tailored jackets, waistcoats, knee breeches and smart white shirts. They were expected to look dapper at all times and particular attention was paid to their hair, which had to be neatly combed and powdered with flour of violet powder, which then had to be washed out in the evening.

  Margaret Thomas first saw a footman in full livery when she went for an interview for a job in a Yorkshire household in the early 1900s: ‘I remember a powdered footman was taking an airing on the area steps next door,’ she said. ‘He looked very grand with his scarlet breeches but he was the only one I ever saw, they were disappearing then.’

  It was a bone of contention among the female staff that, while the lowliest maid had to scrimp and save to buy her own uniform, the footman, who earned a higher annual wage than the majority of the female staff, was provided with his.

  Mrs Beeton advised mistresses that ‘The footman only finds himself in stockings, shoes, and washing. Where silk stockings, or other extra articles of linen are worn, they are found by the family, as well as his livery, a working dress, consisting of a pair of overalls, a waistcoat, a fustian jacket, with a white or jean one for times when he is liable to be called to answer the door or wait at breakfast; and, on quitting his service, he is expected to leave behind him any livery had within six months.’

  In the most well-to-do households the footman would have a daytime livery and an evening livery, and a great deal of time was spent changing uniforms and seeing to his elaborate hairstyle with soap and powder.

  Young boys taken on as footmen were referred to as ‘tigers’ due to the striped outfit. Their job was often to ride on the coaches and jump down to hold the horse’s head when the master wished to stop, although they were put to work in many other ways. The Victorian Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, for example, used to enjoy whizzing down the steep slopes of Hatfield House on a tricycle. He would take a ‘tiger’ with him to push it up who would then be obliged to jump on the back as his eminent master set off downhill.

  The vast cost of the livery, along with the popularity of cars and the rising cost of employing male staff, was one of the reasons that the position of footman became increasingly rare in Edwardian Britain. The few footmen that remained in the grander houses became even more impressive as a badge of wealth.

  The footman in his livery

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A Day in the

  Life of a

  Country House

  THE WORKING DAY was an incredibly long one for Edwardian servants; they were on the go from dawn until bedtime. The house needed to be cleaned and the fires lit before the family rose and most were unable to retire until the master and mistress were in bed, or had instructed them they were no longer needed.

  ‘These people worked from the moment they got up in the morning until they went to bed at night,’ explains Downton Abbey consultant Alastair Bruce. ‘Underlining that there wasn’t really time off in the way that we expect today. There is constant activity. It’s quite a juxtaposition, the frantic activity downstairs, delivering the calm, peace, serenity of the family who are living in the house.’

  Each house ran to a different timetable and Margaret Thomas remembered one Yorkshire home where the second housemaid ‘had to be downstairs at 4 a.m. every morning to get the sitting room done before breakfast. The second housemaid had a medal room to keep clean, where the medals were set out in steel cases, and had to be polished with emery paper every day.’

  Cynthia Asquith recalled life from the other side of the green baize door. ‘In some really well ordered households it was even the rule that no maid should ever be seen broom or duster in hand. Except for the bedrooms all the housework had to be done before any of the family or their guests came downstairs, a refinement that meant very early rising for the maids.’

  Although the length of the day varied, most larger houses were up and running by 6 a.m. The busiest part of the day for the maids was the morning, while the footmen came into their own in the afternoon and the cooks were kept busy right up until dinner. Even when the maids were supposed to be having a short break in the afternoon, they were constantly at the mercy of the servant bells. These common devices were operated by a pull or switch in each room, which triggered a bell that sounded in the basement. Downstairs, the bells were mounted on a panel signalling which room it had been rung from, thereby indicating the location of the family member or guest requiring some assistance. The resting footman or maid would then leap to his or her feet and rush up the stairs to find out what was needed. In her memoirs Below Stairs Margaret Powell remembered the servants’ bells in the passage outside the kitchen in her first job as a maid, when she was fourteen.

  In this passage, hanging on the wall, was a long row of bells with indicators above them to show where they rang from, and it was my job every time a bell rang to run full tilt out to the passage to see which bell it was […] If you didn’t run like mad out to the passage, the bell would stop ringing before you got there and you had no idea whether it was from the blue room, the pink room, first bedroom, second bedroom, fifth bedroom, drawing room or dining room. I was always in trouble over those bells at first, but at last I mastered the art, and nobody shot out quicker than me when they rang.

  Which room to rush to?

  A TYPICAL DAY

  6 a.m.:

  Scullery maids and kitchen maids are first up to light the kitchen range and heat the wa
ter needed for washing. They also boil water for tea and scrub the kitchen floor. The hallboy is also beginning his working day by polishing boots and making sure there is enough chopped wood and coal for all the fires in the house.

  6.30 a.m.:

  The kitchen maid makes tea and toast for the housekeeper and ladies’ maids. Taking them up to their rooms is the job of the housemaids, who have just risen and dressed before coming down to the kitchen to fetch the trays. The butler opens the shutters and unlocks all the doors in preparation for the day ahead. Having attended the seniors, the housemaids set about cleaning and blacking the hearths and setting the fires in the downstairs rooms.

  7 a.m.:

  The scullery maid makes sure all the washing-up from the night before is finished and put away while the kitchen maid cooks breakfast for the staff and takes tea to the cook. The housemaids are busy dusting and sweeping in the downstairs rooms, in order to have them spotless by the time the family appear. The maid-of-all-work or ‘between-stairs maid’ scrubs the front step and polishes the brass knocker on the front door.

  7.30 a.m.:

  The cook takes food deliveries and the gardener comes to the back door with the day’s vegetables and any fruit that is in season in the grounds. Cook then begins preparing breakfast for the family. The nursery maid takes breakfast for the nurse and the young children up to the nursery. The chambermaids take tea trays and hot water for washing and shaving to the rooms of the family and any guests that are staying and light the bedroom fires. They also remove and empty chamber pots from each room. The hallboy sets the table for the servants’ breakfast.

  8 a.m.:

  Breakfast is served in the servants’ hall. The lady’s maid finishes her breakfast before seeing to the mistress’s bath. The butler or valet takes a bowl of hot water to his master’s bedroom for the morning shave. The footmen lay the table for the family breakfast.

  8.30a.m:

  For all those able to attend, prayers or mass are held in the chapel or, if none, the library or parlour. For many of the downstairs staff this is the only time they will see the family. For some, however, it was hard to concentrate on their godly pursuit. ‘What a farce those prayers were for me,’ commented former kitchen maid Margaret Thomas, ‘for I worried all the time in case my fire had got low, as I had the toast to make the moment I got out.’ Announcements to staff, and the occasional scolding, would be given out during this time.

  9 a.m.:

  The family breakfast is served. While the servants have had porridge or, if they are lucky, bacon and eggs, their employers will be greeted with an array of silver covered dishes with bacon, eggs, kippers, kedgeree, devilled kidneys, freshly baked rolls and fruit.

  9.30 a.m.:

  After clearing the plates and cleaning the tables the housemaids or parlourmaids turn their attention to the laundry as the scullery maid washes up. The chambermaids are busy cleaning the bedrooms and one of the footmen is on duty at the front door, in case of callers. The butler decants the wine.

  10 a.m.:

  The butler has a morning meeting in his master’s study to go through the business of the day. At the same time the cook is meeting with the lady of the house to present menus, find out who will be attending each meal and receive details of any guests for dinner.

  10.30 a.m.:

  As the rest of the domestic staff go about their usual chores, the kitchen maid and the cook are in the kitchen, preparing luncheon. The maid chops vegetables, weighs ingredients and crushes herbs before getting the simple servants’ lunch underway. In the butler’s pantry, the second footman is polishing the cutlery as the hallboy sharpens knives.

  11 a.m.:

  Servants gather for a morning tea break and are issued with orders for the rest of the day. The footmen are then dispatched to lay the table for luncheon.

  12 p.m.:

  The servants’ meal is served. Although the family’s midday meal is known as luncheon, the domestic staff sit down to ‘dinner’ at noon. Servants were better fed than their working-class counterparts and had a reasonably balanced diet. Lunch is also served in the nursery at the same time.

  1 p.m.:

  Lunch is served to the family by the butler. If no family member is out, a footman may be available to help serve. The three-course meal may include a joint of meat that is always carved by the butler. Any leftovers will go towards the servants’ next meal.

  2 p.m.:

  The table is cleared once more and the washing-up started in the butler’s pantry by the hallboy. The scullery maid washes the servants’ dishes in the scullery. The footmen will now accompany the lady of the house on her visits and the master of the house on any business meetings.

  2.30 p.m.:

  The cook is baking scones, muffins and rolls for tea while the maids have a break, providing all their work is done.

  3 p.m.:

  The lady’s maid is summoned to help the mistress into her tea gown, if she has returned from her calls.

  4 p.m.:

  Tea is served to the family. A selection of sandwiches, scones, muffins and cakes will be taken in the drawing room or, in good weather, on the lawn. The kitchen maid is busy preparing the vegetables for the evening meal and rustling up the servants’ tea.

  The Tea Table, as illustrated in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management

  5.30 p.m.:

  All the servants enjoy a light meal.

  6 p.m.:

  The basement kitchen is now in full swing, as the five-course meal is prepared. The main course, which often follows a fresh fish course, will be meat with a selection of vegetables. If guests are staying the meal may be further extended, with seven or eight courses quite customary. The scullery maid is washing pots as they are used and the footmen are once more setting the table. The butler will check the plates and the silver, to make sure they are clean, polish the wine glasses and cast a critical eye over the cutlery. He is also in charge of the salads and desserts that are prepared in his pantry. The footmen lay the table, once more, for the sumptuous feast ahead.

  7 p.m.:

  The ladies of the household retire to their chambers to bathe in water scented with bath salts and dress for dinner and their maids join them to help. The dinner gowns are still worn over corsets and button up at the back so their attendants needs to be on hand to fasten them, as well as to wash and restyle hair. If there is a valet in the house he will attend to the master. Guests’ own valets and ladies’ maids were often on hand to attend to their own employers.

  8 p.m.:

  Dinner is served in the dining room. The first course is already on the table as the footmen are on hand to pull chairs out as the diners are seated. The butler will pour the wine and then stand motionless at the sideboard through each course, recharging the glasses only when signalled by the master of the house.

  9 p.m.:

  With the last course prepared and ready to go out to the table, the kitchen staff and maids sit down to supper. The serving staff will only be allowed to rest when the final course is eaten.

  9.30 p.m.:

  The footmen clear the plates while the kitchen maids and hallboy begin the washing-up.

  10 p.m.:

  Upstairs, the ladies take coffee in the dining room while the men retire to the smoking room for port and masculine conversation. The butler needs to be on duty in case he is required and the below-stairs staff are unable to go to bed until the word comes down that no more refreshments are needed.

  10.30 p.m.:

  The cook and the housekeeper may retire, having checked that all is in order in the basement, but the scullery maid and kitchen maid are still busy with their final chores, blacking the kitchen range, cleaning the flues and sweeping the stone floors. The hallboy ends his day by filling the coalscuttles and stocking up on chopped wood in preparation for the fires in the morning and cleaning the shoes and boots which the family and guests have left outside their bedroom doors.

  11 p.m.:

  The butle
r locks all the outer doors and any open shutters and makes sure the fires have died down safely before going to bed.

  Being the last to be relieved of his duties, the butler had the longest day and, should his master have been a night owl, he might not have got to bed until the early hours. According to records at Leighton Hall, in Lancashire, the butler there was up and ready for work by 6.45 a.m. and expected to be on hand to lock up at 1 a.m. Notes issued by the head of the household Mr Richard Gillow, in 1893, outlined the butler’s timetable.

  Butler’s Duties

  Calling Mr & Mrs Gillow

  6.45

  Take tea to Mr Gillow and take key of Hall door

  7.30

  Breakfast in storeroom

  8.00

  Attend mass if any or morning prayers

  9.00

  Parlour Breakfast

  9.30

  Servants’ Dinner

  12.00

  Parlour Luncheon

  1.15

  Tea in Drawing Room

  5.00

  Dinner

  7.00

  Servants’ supper

  8.15

  Night Prayers

  9.15

  Tea in Drawing Room

  9.30

  Lock up and Bed

  1.00

  His instructions detailed the areas he had to lock up as ‘two outside passage doors downstairs, Servants’ hall, Shoe place and Pantries. Lock door and window of Centre Room, Dining Room, Front Hall and Morning Room if occupied by the family who keep the keys at night.’