Have an in-depth look at the 19th center household management and service structure. Great photos and daily schedules included!
In recent years, TV dramas including Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey have stoked the nation’s fascination with the daily lives of servants. But what was life really like for people who served in the country houses and estates of the past? Could you have handled the long days and arduous tasks of a servant in a grand Victorian house? Here, Pamela Sambrook reconstructs a typical day in the life of a 19th-century servant, sharing a household timetable with the tasks of the kitchen staff, a footman and a junior housemaid…
The research and recreation of servants’ lives has been a popular topic in the media for many years. But how much is actually known about their daily lives?
We know there seems to have been strong traditional elements in servants’ routines; only men, for example, cleaned silver or polished the most valuable furniture. These traditions aimed to make it easier for new staff to fit in quickly and efficiently.
We also know that servant mealtimes were pivotal to the timing of the whole day, and changed only slowly through the 19th century. The first break was usually taken mid-morning and involved a drink. The main meal – ‘dinner’– was taken at around midday, while ‘tea’ was a very light meal served at around 4 o’clock. ‘Supper’ was usually taken at 9 o’clock, after most of the work had been finished. By the end of the 19th century, the time of servants’ dinner slipped later and later into the evening and a new lighter meal, ‘lunch’, took its place in the middle of the day, a division that worked well for the kitchen.
For researchers, it is relatively easy to construct a timetable of servants’ daily work during the 19th century…
Read the full article via History Extra