The Real Life Downton Abbey: How Life Was Really Lived in Stately Homes a Century Ago

by Jacky Hyams

  In some cases, one housemaid works only for the upper staff, another is allocated a specific room to clean all the time. Because there’s great emphasis on specific rooms for specific purposes, a housemaid can be allocated a medal room, with rows of steel cases containing medals – which must be polished (with emery paper) every single day. Or when there’s a house party, it’s often the housemaid who has to wash the loose change the men in the party have emptied from their pockets and left out the previous night, so that a valet may return the shining coins to their owners later on.

  A very hard-working housemaid can work her way up to a housekeeper’s role. If she can handle the relentless monotony – and the sheer physical slog of doing nothing but clean for 14–16 hours a day.

  THE SCULLERY MAID

  The scullery maid is consigned to the kitchen only, the lowest-ranking female servant below the kitchen maids and the cook.

  Her day begins around 4am because she must clean the grates and lay out the fire to heat the water if the cooking is being done on a coal-fired range. She must also dust the kitchen and scullery area before Cook starts work. Then it’s back to the kitchen, for an endless round of washing up all the pots, pans, dishes, plates and cutlery for all the meals of the day. In between washing-up she must set the table for the servants’ meals, wash the vegetables, peel potatoes, rub blocks of cooking salt through a sieve – and constantly make sure the big area in and around the kitchen is as clean as possible. The washing-up is endless – each copper pan used for cooking has to be thoroughly cleaned after use with a mixture of sand, salt, flour and vinegar.

  Ignored by the household, often ridiculed by the upper servants and at the very bottom of the pecking order, the scullery maid has a very raw deal indeed. As raw as the skin on her hands.

  PUG’S PARLOUR

  The lower servants deeply resent the uppers and the marked distinction in their status. So they have a nickname for them. They call them ‘Pugs’ (in honour of the upturned nose and downturned mouth of the pug dog, so popular at the time). So the housekeeper’s sitting room, her powerbase, is dubbed ‘The Pug’s Parlour’ – because after meals, the uppers follow each other, in strict order of rank, down the corridor into the housekeeper’s room to eat the final course of pudding or cheese.

  WHAT’S IN A NAME?

  Although the butler is always addressed by the family by his surname – Mr Carson in Downton Abbey – the toffs always address their footmen by their first names. Yet the names they use are unlikely to be their footmen’s real names. The names Charles, John or James are used to address these servants, regardless of how they were christened. Better than ‘hey you’. But another way of reminding them that they are mere underlings.

  NO CHANCE OF A CUDDLE, THEN?

  The toffs insist on segregating the sexes of their servants at all times, even when daily cleaning duties are involved. For instance, a housemaid allocated a specific bedroom to clean must attend to the fireplaces, windows and ledges, sweep the floors and the carpets – and then wait for the dust to settle. Only then can she leave the room. And only then can the footman come in to do his job of polishing the furniture. They are not allowed to be cleaning the same room together – especially a bedroom!

  THE LIVE-IN LAUNDRY

  By 1911 laundry maids are on the decline because some families now send all laundry out to big commercial laundries. (Some country families send their laundry off to a preferred top people’s laundry in London, because it can be dispatched and returned by rail.) But other country-house owners more resistant to change prefer to continue to launder at home, some with a new, slightly different system: replacing the old in-house laundry with one attached to a small four-bedroom cottage some distance away from the house on the estate.

  The cottage laundry uses traditional laundry methods – there’s still no electricity – and three or four laundry maids live in the cottage, earning £1 a week in board wages, which goes into a kitty and is given to the head laundress, who shares the profit among the girls. Long hours and a hard slog for them – but a slightly more flexible system. And a fraction more independence.

  THE BELLS, THE BELLS

  The system of summoning servants by wire bell-pull systems installed in the house was originally established in the eighteenth century. Yet many aristocratic households were still using the bell system well into the twentieth century.

  A housemaid circa 1900

  Chapter 4

  The Rules

  ‘The Rules’ involve everyone working in the big country house. And they cover virtually everything to do with daily life – communication, cleaning, eating and drinking; only sleeping is a rule-free zone – and for the servants, there’s precious little of that, anyway. Rules vary from house to house, but they are very much fixed conditions of service and there isn’t much flexibility.

  Family members, of course, have different rules involving their own world – but they also have a specific set of rules around their treatment of their servants.

  Here’s a summary of the kind of rules they were expected to follow:

  THE MASTER-SERVANT RELATIONSHIP RULES

  All family members must maintain appropriate relationships with the staff. As upper servants work directly to the family, a trusting and respectful relationship should be established.

  Footmen are a proclamation of wealth and prestige. They are representatives of the household and family and, as such, it is advantageous that a good relationship is developed. However, as lower servants they do not expect to be addressed outside the receipt of instructions.

  While the housemaids will clean the house during the day, they should make every care and attention never to be observed doing their duties. If, by chance they do meet their employer, they ‘give way’ to the employer by standing still and averting their gaze, whilst the employer walks past, leaving them unnoticed. By not acknowledging them, the employer spares them the shame of explaining their presence.

  The mode of address to the staff has to be correct and proper. There is no ‘Hey, you’ or ‘Excuse me’. It has to be precisely the right title, according to the status of the servant. Or, in some cases, nothing at all because the employer does not wish, at any time, to be reminded of the physical presence of the lower servants.

  HOW TO ADDRESS A SERVANT

  The Butler should be addressed courteously by his surname.

  The Housekeeper should be given the title of ‘Mrs’ (or Missus).

  The Chef de Cuisine should be addressed as such – or by the title ‘Monsieur’.

  The Lady’s Maid should be given the title of ‘Miss’ regardless of whether she is single or married. It is acceptable for the Mistress to address her by her Christian name.

  A Tutor should be addressed by the title of ‘Mister’.

  A Governess should be addressed by the title of ‘Miss’.

  It is the custom in old houses that, when entering into new service, lower servants adopt new names given them by their masters. With this tradition certain members of staff are renamed. Common names for matching footmen are James and John. Emma is popular for housemaids.

  It is not expected that the employer takes the trouble to remember the names of all staff. Indeed, to avoid conversation with them, lower servants will endeavour to make themselves invisible. As such, they should not be acknowledged.

  SERVANT RULES

  Written rules for the servants are equally draconian. Each country house has their own set of written rules for the servants, organised by the butler and housekeeper. Curiously enough, while the penalties for breaking these rules are often harsh, there are times when the master or mistress of the house might be a tad more sympathetic or forgiving of a breach of the rules than the butler and/or housekeeper. This is probably because they’ve slogged their way up the servant hierarchy over a period of many years and stick to the old ‘I came up the hard way, so must you’ maxim, while the employer, waited on at all times, has no real sense of the reality of the servan
t’s lot and can, depending on their personality, give in to a kinder, more sympathetic gesture.

  Here’s a sample of Servant Rules (taken from the archives of Hinchingbrooke House, a country house in Cambridgeshire):

  Your voice must never be heard by the ladies and gentlemen of the household, unless they have spoken directly to you a question or statement which requires a response. At which time, speak as little as possible.

  Always ‘give room’ that is, if you encounter one of your employers in the house or betters on the stairs you are to make yourself as invisible as possible, turning yourself toward the wall and averting your eyes.

  When being spoken to, stand still, keeping your hands quiet. And always look at the person speaking to you.

  Never begin to talk to ladies and gentlemen unless to deliver a message or to ask a necessary question and then, do it in as few words as possible.

  Except in reply to a salutation offered, never say ‘good morning’ or ‘good night’ to your employer. Or offer any opinion to your employer.

  Whenever possible, items that have been dropped, such as spectacles or handkerchiefs, and other small items, should be returned to their owners on a salver [a dish].

  Never talk to another servant, or person of your own rank, or to a child, in the presence of your mistress unless from necessity. Then do it as shortly as possible and in a low voice.

  Never call from one room to another.

  Always respond when you have received an order and always use the proper address: ‘Sir’, ‘Ma’am’ ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ as the case may be.

  Always keep outer doors fastened. Only the Butler may answer the bell. When he is indispensably engaged, the assistant, by his authority, takes his place.

  Every servant must be punctual at meal times.

  No servant is to take any knives or forks or other article, nor on any account to remove any provisions, nor ale or beer, out of the Hall.

  No gambling, or Oaths, or abusive language are allowed.

  The female staff are forbidden from smoking.

  No servant is to receive any Visitor, Friend or Relative into the house, nor shall you introduce any person into the Servant’s Hall without the consent of the Butler or Housekeeper.

  Followers are strictly forbidden. Any maid found fraternising with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed without a hearing.

  No tradesmen or any other business having business in the house are to be admitted except between the hours of 9am and 3pm. In all cases the Butler or Chef must be satisfied that the persons he admits have business there.

  The Hall door is to be finally closed at Half-past Ten o’clock every night after which time the lights are out and the doors secured.

  The servants’ hall is to be cleared and closed at Half-past Ten o’clock, except when visitors and their servants are staying in the house.

  No credit upon any consideration to be given to any person residing in the house or otherwise for Stamps, Postal Orders, etc.

  Expect that any breakages or damage in the house will be deducted from wages.

  Not much of a life, is it? No swearing, smoking – or a hint of sex. In fact, the toffs are firmly convinced that the best way to keep the servants in line is to keep them working all the time – because the general belief is that if they are given time to themselves, they will indulge in the three Great No-Nos:

  Sex

  Alcohol

  Gambling

  The fact that the male aristos indulge in these pleasures of life whenever they feel like it – and sometimes the sex is with the female servants – is irrelevant. What matters is the façade – a well-run house with loyal, obedient servants – who only have sex if they’re married. And, as we already know, marriage means ‘goodbye job’ for a female servant. When married, she will have her husband and children to look after.

  RULES FOR THE SERVANTS WHEN ADDRESSING THE FAMILY

  When – and only when – servants are permitted to address the family they have to always remember the following rules:

  The Master and Mistress of the house should be addressed as ‘Sir’ and ‘My Lady’.

  The Eldest son of the family is addressed as ‘Mister’ (then his Christian name) and the youngest son as ‘Master’ (then his Christian name).

  When referring to the family in correspondence or speaking to a third party, always use the following form of address: ‘Sir John’ (As in Sir John Pelham, for example) Lady Pelham Mister Pelham Master Pelham Miss Pelham.

  Greet all guests by their title and family name (as above) or as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’.

  THE EMPLOYMENT RULES: READING THE FINE PRINT

  TIME OFF

  By the late 1880s, servants start to get a bit more free time. Until then, they usually have to ask permission for any time off. By the early twentieth century, servants are usually getting a half day off (on Sundays) and one day off a month, provided their chores are completed. They also get one week’s holiday a year, which means that many try very hard to save up through the year to afford the train fare home for this one week – which is expensive on a servant’s pay, if their own family are some distance away.

  However, even during their time off, there are rules governing their behaviour both in the city and the country: they must return to the house by a set hour, usually around 9–10pm.

  NO FOLLOWERS

  A ‘follower’ is a boyfriend or young man, perhaps another servant from another family, who may be trying to court or woo a female servant.

  Their presence is banned from the house to avoid even a chance of boy-girl pairing off – but human nature being what it is, such relationships still manage to flourish sometimes, usually when the family are away or not at home. Although below-stairs gossip, one of the few sources of free entertainment available and therefore incessant and sometimes bitchy, can still make breaking the ‘no followers’ rule a risky one to breach, even if a housemaid meets a boyfriend secretly in her time off.

  There are, of course, exceptions to the rule: a few employers will actively approve a servant’s marriage. But the idea of people in service forming close relationships is, for most employers, beyond the pale, especially if the servants both work in the same household.

  PREGNANCY

  No matter what the circumstances, a sacked servant carrying an illegitimate unborn child has nowhere to run. In 1911, nearly 50 per cent of illegitimate children are born to women working in service. City-based charities like the Girls Friendly Society do help illegitimate mothers, though many servant girls in this situation find there is no other refuge than to have their child in the workhouse, a grim option but often the only one.

  The risk of unmarried pregnancy is high. There is no sex education. There is no contraception at all (the better-off in society are starting to find more effective ways to prevent pregnancy, but it’s out of reach for the uneducated and poor). In a world where an unwanted pregnancy is always seen as the girl’s fault, men don’t carry any blame at all. And, of course, country-house employers don’t want to lose their manual labour. It might mean an unpolished banister or a less-than-well-run kitchen. So, should they surface, the twin evils of sex and its consequence, unmarried pregnancy, must be banished from sight. Immediately.

  THEFT

  One of the big concerns of the country house employer is that any outsiders coming to the back entrance might be tempted to steal food. Or, a young servant might start sneaking food out of the house to an eager, but hungry follower. Hence the rules that apply to visitors or friends as well as to boyfriends. Given the amount of good-quality provisions around and the size of the household – and the quantity of food consumed – this is a very obvious temptation.

  If anything at all goes missing in the house, all the servants’ rooms or quarters are thoroughly searched, often by the butler. And if the missing item or items are found in a servant’s possession, they are straight out of a job – without that all-important piece of paper, the reference, or ‘charac
ter’ as it’s called.

  THE CHARACTER

  This is what we’d call a written reference. And all servants need a character to move from job to job. Without a character, no employment of any description is likely to be offered.

  Not surprisingly, given the nature of much of the work, turnover of lower servants is quite high, though many middle-ranking domestic staff switch jobs, too. Upper servants do not move around as much. And it’s not unknown for some families to keep their more valuable – even cherished – upper servants for twenty to thirty years. But if servants do want to move on, it’s often for the usual reasons – more money, promotion, to expand their horizons or, as already seen, to find a suitable marriage partner. Yet if a servant is ambitious, he or she must be careful about moving around too much – two years or more is deemed a sufficient amount of time in one job – otherwise they can get a reputation for being ‘short charactered’, in other words, the characters he or she produces are revealingly brief, simply ‘OK, did the job’.