Below stairs - life of a domestic servant

[nadiawalton]

Hi all

Does anybody know of a detailed website that would have info on what tlife would have been like "Below stairs"? any info would br very much appreciated!

Regards,

Nadia

[sem73]

Hi Nadia

Not a website but a book!...........

The Servants' Hall: A Domestic History of Erddig by Merlin Waterson.

It's a brilliant account of  life of the servants at Erddig Hall near Wrexham, North Wales...........I'm slightly biased as a few members of my family worked there!!  but it gives you a good idea of "below-stairs" life in country and stately homes in the 18 and 19 centuries.

Copies of the book are easy to get on e-bay or www.abebooks.co.uk

Little more about Erddig , which has one of the best preserved servants quarters in the country....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/wrexham/pages/erddig2.shtml

I visited the house a few times on school trips when I was little.......and since investigating my family tree have realised that a couple of the servants portraits that greet you are my g. grandmother and her sister!!!....

Sarah

[Wendi]

There's another book - probably out of print now, but very good, called, if I remember correctly "Below Stairs" by Margaret Powell, who was a servant in her early life.

You might be able to find a copy

Wendi

[Lainys]

Hi Nadia,

There is a book called Life Below Stairs by Pamela Horn.  Youmay be abel to get it from your local library.

I am about to start reading The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant by the same author.

Dolly

[suey]

Hi Nadia, you don't say what period you are interested in but here are a couple of links found by googling!

http://www.kirtlingandupend.org.uk/html/life_below_stairs.html

http://www.findonvillage.com/0536_daisy_minns.htm

http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/sga/Gayhurst/esther-wesley.html

They all make interesting reading
Suey

[Biker]

I've always found this interesting and amusing - no. 41 for general servants http://www.household-management.com/household/chapter41.html

Biker

[Biker]

Sorry forgot to say, as others have, that the period is critical as well as the social standing of the employing family - the latter would especially affect the meaning of 'domestic servant'.  Many upwardly mobile middle classes employed a 'maid of all work' as a status symbol if they could afford it, who basically did everything, cleaning, cooking, ironing etc etc.  In more wealthy families the duties of each servant was more clearly defined.

Cheers
Biker

[suey]

Sorry forgot to say, as others have, that the period is critical as well as the social standing of the employing family - the latter would especially affect the meaning of 'domestic servant'.  Many upwardly mobile middle classes employed a 'maid of all work' as a status symbol if they could afford it, who basically did everything, cleaning, cooking, ironing etc etc.  In more wealthy families the duties of each servant was more clearly defined.

How right you are!!  my husbands Great Grandmother had a 'maid of all work' 1895-1900.  I envisage some poor little girl who came in daily to scrub the step and do the laundry.  The family concerned were certainly not wealthy but husband had been in the Army for 25 years and had a pension, so a few pence a week for help in house was affordable.

Suey

[Romilly]

There's another book - probably out of print now, but very good, called, if I remember correctly "Below Stairs" by Margaret Powell, who was a servant in her early life.
You might be able to find a copy
Wendi

I've got a copy of this book! (& I'm open to offers:-)

Another good one is "A Child in the Forest", by Winifred Foley.

Romilly.