Domestic Servants

Before the 1800s

“There was no status in being in service, you

were a nobody…” Rosina Harrison, Rose: My Life in Service, (24)

“The employment of servants was a way of defining oneself socially as not being working class.” Eric Hobsbawn

A Servants life…

Most were from the country Most went to London Most were young females Most homes had a servant (or 50)

Statistics…

Referrals Recommendations Families Register offices

Getting the Job…

In the 18th century servants moved freely between roles Upper servants had a specific skill or were beautiful Lower servants did mundane jobs Difference in: jobs, wages, clothes, rooms, diet, and treatment

Upper and Lower Rank

Stewards Butlers Housekeeper Lady’s maid Valet Clerk-of-the-kitchen Cook Groom of the chamber Groom of the horses Coachman

Upper Servants

Footmen Housemaids Kitchen maids Dairy maids Laundress Nanny Governess Page Scullery maid Hall boy Maid-of-all-work

Lower Servants

To be sold, a Negro boy age about fourteen

years old, warranted free from any distemper, and has had those fatal to that colour; has been used two years to all kinds of household work, and to wait on table; his price is £25, and would not be sold but the person he belongs to is leaving off business. Apply at the bar of George Coffee House in Chancery Lane, over the Gate. [1756]

Black Servants

Extremely fashionable Shows position of ex-colonials and the rich Young boys

Black Servants

Money Clothing Housing Food Tea Beer and ale Vails Candles

Wages

"I remember I was put very much to the Blush

being at a Friend's House and by him required to salute the Ladies, and I kiss'd the chamber jade into the bargain for she was as well dressed as the best. Things of this natured would be easily avoided if Servant Maids were to wear Liveries, as Footmen do; or obliged to go into a Dress suitable to their Station. Our Charity Children are distinguished by their Dresses, why then may not our Women Servants?" Daniel Dafoe

Clothing

Clothing was considered payment. Cast-offs were given to upper servants. Lower servants wore livery.

Clothing

Near the family Detached wing Cottages Closets Attic basement

Rooms

Entrance Servant hall Second stairs Hidden doors Kitchen Scullery

Houses designed for servants

They ate the left overs from the master’s

table. They sat in order of rank. The lower servants served the upper servants.

Food and Dinning

“So profligate and abandoned is the world bec

ome, that you had better turn your daughter into the street at once, than place her out to service. For ten to one her master shall seduce her.”

John Moir, Female Tuition; or an Address to Mothers on the Education of Daughters ( 1786)

Treatment of servants

Most servants signed a contract saying the

master would provide shelter, board and sometimes clothing.

Masters often complained about servants’ work ethic

Female servants were treated as sexual objects.

Treatment of servants

Servants were expected to be silent and

invisible Servants were expected to be celibate Servants were expected to use their own

entrances, staircases, and rooms “Speak when you are spoken to, do what

you’re bidden, come when you’re called, and you’ll not be chidden.” -Proverb

Rules

Servants spent their free time in the servant

hall. Servants went to church. Servants stool beer, ale and wine from their

employer. Servants spied on their employers.

Leisure Time

Masters dismissed servants for almost

anything. Turn over was high in most homes. Unemployment lead to a life of poverty.

Losing Their Job

“Richardson’s novel did not do away with the

stereotypes of victim or whore; it created a third alternative, a new way of representing the woman servant as both an object of desire and a loving intimate, a sexual magnet and a family member in doing so, it also created a new erotic between master and a maid, a mix of desire and respect between individuals—if not as peers, at least as equal sharers—in a moral culture that crosses class and gender lines.”

Kristina Straub

Pamela

A relationship between a master and servant. A servant above her rank.

Pamela

Servants are People

How would have Pamela gotten her job as a Lady’s maid? What kind of servant is:

-Mr. Longman? -Mr. Jonathan? -Mrs. Jewkes and Mrs. Jervis? -Poor John?

What kinds of wages does Pamela receive before and after marriage? What kind of clothing does Pamela wear? Hannah? Where does Pamela sleep? What can we conclude about Mr. B and his family when we learn his

daughter’s stepfather sent her a Black servant boy?

Questions

Knowing more about Lady’s maids and their

job, does it change how you view Pamela? What about other servants in Pamela?

Discussion