The era of TV series Downton Abbey saw the decline of the servant, but modern work and family demands, and a class of super-rich, make a school for butlers in Oxfordshire possible. Photo / Supplied
Here's a good take on the domestic industry from across the pond. Enjoy.
The servant is back – and not just on the set of period television dramas such as Downton Abbey. A new study has uncovered the startling fact that there are more servants now working in Londons Mayfair than there were 200 years ago. The survey – by Wetherell, an estate agent catering to the international super-rich – has revealed 90 per cent of the 4500 people who own houses, and 80 per cent of those with flats, have their own servants. In 1790, there were only 48 servants living in Mayfair and working for its 1500 residents.And its not just Mayfair. The number of domestic servants is booming across central London: wherever the multiple between the wages of the rich and the poor grows, so does the number of servants. Much of the time, the towering Georgian and Victorian terraced houses of Belgravia now have only servants living in them – their masters and mistresses are drifting around the world, from yacht to schloss to Park Avenue apartment, in search of pleasure or tax avoidance. Drive round the area at night, and its often only the lights in the attics and the basements – the servants quarters – that are on.But the service industry isnt flourishing just in the gilt-edged parts of Britain. According to the Work Foundation, there are now more than two million part-time or fulltime domestic workers across the country. All told, 10 per cent of households now employ some sort of domestic help…
via Harry Mount: Not so hard to get good help these days – World – NZ Herald News.