National Trust

by Philip Ardagh

  27 In Victorian times, in some places, post was delivered to houses up to TWELVE times a day!

  Me last two days with Mrs Berry have been busier than ever, ’cause I’ve not only been doing all me usual jobs but I’ve also been showing Hetty Smith the ropes. Hetty told me a real sad story. She’s an orphan and says she went to work for a butcher’s wife when she was just eleven. And that butcher’s wife turned out to be a real cruel mistress. She beat Hetty plenty, just because she could. Hetty reckons it was because the butcher used to beat her, so she liked to be able to take it out on someone else.28 And that someone else was poor little Hetty. She didn’t have nowhere to go and at least she had a roof over her head and some food. But she do look dreadful thin29. Hopefully Mrs Berry and Cook will take pity on her now she’s got MY job.

  28 Some servants were badly treated, often by masters and mistresses who were only slightly ‘above them’ in social class.

  29 The poor in Victorian Britain were terribly malnourished, and poorly treated servants were amongst them.

  This is it. Here I am at Lytton House. Plump’s here too of course, or how else would I be writing this? From now on, he’s taking up residence – a toff’s30 words for a place where you live – on the window ledge of me new room. He followed me all the way here, he did, keeping an eye from the sky. I’ll be sleeping up in the attic along with the other servants31. I’ve got the smallest room in the house and it has a tiny round window. I share it with a girl called Minnie. She’s younger than me but she’s taller, and she’s the scullery maid, which is the lowest of the low. There ain’t no one in the house with a more lowly position than what she’s got.32 But, as Plump says, when you’re way down low, the only way is up. (’Course, he might have been talking about flying, which is a pigeon thing, like beak-ache.)

  I have been given me uniform and strict instructions to look after it good and proper33.

  I know from working for Mrs Berry that that’s easier said than done. I may have me nice white cap and me nice white pinny34 – and no jokes about me name, please – but that’ll soon get dirty with all the scrubbing and dusting and cleaning and carrying. Ash and soot is the worst.

  It might make more sense to dress us in sacks!

  Now I’m dressed for me job, I’m getting to know the house. The basement – below stairs – is where all the cooking and washing and such like goes on. And there’s the servants’ hall where we has all our meals and meetings and the like. Then there’s the ground floor and first floor, which is what Mrs McNamara calls the Kirby-Trotts’ ‘reception rooms’: the drawing room, library, study and suchlike. On the third floor is their bedrooms and a bathroom like you would not BELIEVE. It has a huge tub to bathe in with all sorts of gleaming taps and levers and things I have never laid eyes on in me life! I thought Mrs Berry’s bath was something. You should SEE this contraption!!! If it were MY bathroom, I’d never want to leave it. I’d even have me meals in the bath tub!

  30 A toff was slang for a rich or upper-class person.

  31 In the early nineteenth century, servants often used to sleep crammed in the basement kitchen or rooms off it. Attic rooms were added later.

  32 A scullery maid’s job was to clean up in the kitchen.

  33 Servants’ uniforms weren’t properly introduced until the 1850s. Before then, it was obvious who were the masters and mistresses and who were the servants, by the quality of their clothes. With cotton imports from India and cheaper manufacturing methods, it was harder to tell them apart on sight… so servants wore uniforms to make them stand out as the ‘lower classes’.

  34 Pinny is short for pinafore, another name for a maid’s apron (not to be confused with a pinafore dress).

  All the other servants seem to be afraid of Mr Pritchard, the butler. Well, maybe not afraid, but very careful to keep him happy. He is a very stern-looking man with a stare that would frighten a bunny back into its burrow or straight into the path of a snare35. He looks like he’s never smiled in his life. Like if he DID smile his face might crack. His hair is as black as boot polish but his eyebrows are going grey - which makes me wonder if he do put bootblack in his hair. When Mrs McNamara took me to see Mr Pritchard in his room, she told me to be on me very best behaviour and not to speak unless I were spoken to.

  I was marched in and looked down at the corner of an old rug on the floor.

  “Name?” he says.

  “Pinny, sir,” I says, “Jane Pinny.”

  “You will not call me sir!” he says.

  “No, s-s-sir,” I stammers. Then me face glows like a hot coal.

  “You will call me Mister Pritchard.”

  “Yes, Mr Pritchard,” I says.

  “And look at me when I’m talking to you,” he says.

  Most butlers like to be called ‘sir’ or ‘Mister Whatever’, but it turns out that Mr Pritchard only likes to be called Mr Pritchard. ’Course, Mr and Mrs Kirby-Trott don’t call him MISTER Pritchard, that’s just us servants. They just calls him Pritchard36.

  “I’m firm but fair, Pinny,” he says. “Firm but fair. Give me a reason to give you a telling off and a telling off you shall have, but work hard and behave properly and you shall have no complaint from me.”

  “Yes, Mr Pritchard,” I says. “Thank you, Mr Pritchard.”

  There’s a big map of the world on the wall behind Mr Pritchard’s desk and, ’cause he told me to stop staring at the carpet, I couldn’t help but notice it. He caught me glancing past his shoulder at it.

  “You are interested in the Empire?” he asks in that stern voice of his, raising one of them greyish eyebrows.

  “Er, yes, Mr Pritchard,” I says, hoping that it was the right thing to say. “I am mighty proud of Her Majesty37 and that.” Everyone’s proud of Her Majesty, so I couldn’t go wrong there!

  “And so you should be,” says Mr Pritchard. “We live in the greatest country in the world, Pinny. A world in which our empire reaches all four corners. Just look at the pink!”38

  Lots of the countries on his map are coloured pink so I did what I was told and I looked at the pink and nodded like I knew what he was on about.

  “And we all play our part in making the British Empire great, Pinny. You remember that. Me. Even you. By doing our jobs and our duty we are all part of what keeps the wheels of this country and this empire oiled and turning.”

  “Yes, Mr Pritchard,” I says. Wheels? Oiled? I was right confused now. Mrs McNamara wanted me to keep clean, and here Mr Pritchard was, talkin’ about oily wheels.

  Making me way to the kitchen, I had a think about what he’d said. First off, I may not ’ave learnt much at school, but I knows that the world is round, so how can it have four corners like Mr Pritchard says? Then again, maps ain’t round and they’re of the world. It’s all confusing.

  And second, it’s all very well being part of an empire – and ’course we’re better than the French any day – but it don’t make my life better, do it? The rich is still rich and the poor is still poor.39 But I’m in a grand house with grand people now, and that’s a big step up from Mrs Berry’s.

  It’s so different working in a place like this after working for Mrs Berry. There are so many of us here for starters. And there are so many rules to follow. Some of them are written on a framed notice on the wall of the servants’ hall. The only problem is that plenty of us can’t read, and those what can read can’t read too well. Yes, there’s free schools nowadays40 and we all got our educating, but most of us in my school were taught to the test41: we read from the same page of the same book day in and day out till we knew it like it were the Lord’s Prayer. Then, when the inspectors came, the teacher made make a big business out of which book we should read from and then which page, knowing full well if it weren’t that book and that page we’d be as sunk as the Princess Alice.42 And why? ’Cause the more of us what passed the test, the more money the school got. And why waste time teaching the likes of us proper?

  Anyways, here’s a copy of them rules: />
  • Never let your voice be heard by the ladies and gentlemen of the house.

  • Stand still when being spoken to and look at the person speaking to you.

  • Never speak unless spoken to, not even to say ‘ good morning’ nor ‘goodnight.’

  • Servants should NEVER offer any opinion to their employers.

  • Never talk to another servant in the presence of your master or mistress.

  • Always answer when you have received an order so it is clear that you have received the order.

  • Always ‘give room’ (stand aside) if you meet one of your employers or one of your betters upon the stairs.

  • Always keep outer doors fastened. Only the butler, Mr Pritchard, may answer the bell.

  • Every servant must be punctual at meal times in the servants’ hall or may miss their meal.

  • No servant is to take any knives or forks or other articles, nor remove any provisions, nor ale or beer from the servants’ hall.

  • No gambling, or oaths, or abusive language is permitted at any time.

  • Female staff are forbidden from smoking.

  • No servant may receive any visitors, friends or relatives into the house.

  • The servants’ hall is to be cleared and closed at half-past ten at night.

  • Any breakages or damage to the house will be deducted from wages.

  • Any maid found fraternising with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed.

  I had them read to me more than once so I has no excuse for not knowing them. There are more DON’Ts than in the Ten Commandments (because there’s only ten of them, I counted), but most of them is common sense: us servants should be invisible and silent and work, work, work. And work.

  35 In the countryside, some poor people would poach on other people’s land. In other words, they’d put down illegal traps – such as rabbit snares – to catch wild animals to eat. (A snare is a noose of wire or cord.) Food could be hard to come by and, without traps, they might have to live off bread and vegetables alone.

  36 Butlers were never called ‘Mr’ by their master and mistress.

  37 Her Majesty was Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837 to 1901. She was the longest serving monarch until Queen Elizabeth II, who came to the throne in 1953.

  38 In 1899, when the British Empire was at its largest, it was made up of Great Britain and the colonies – foreign countries ruled by Britain – with a population of over 370 million people. The empire, which covered around 1/5th of the Earth’s land surface, was shown in pink on maps at the time. Red was the traditional colour of the empire, but writing on maps showed more clearly on pink.

  39 ‘Class’ mattered in Victorian England. There were: the upper class (rich, no need to work); the middle class (men worked as doctors and lawyers, for example, while the women stayed at home); the working class (where men, women and children all worked, doing the hard, dirty and dangerous work); and the poor (working when they could but possibly ending up in the workhouse.)

  40 The 1870 Education Act said that children had to go to school aged five to ten, but the schools weren’t free. Free schools weren’t introduced until 1891.

  41 “Teaching to the test” was very common.

  42 The Princess Alice was a passenger-carrying paddle steamer which collided with a huge coal-carrying cargo ship in the River Thames in London in 1865. A staggering 650 people died.

  I am so excited I hardly know where to begin. I have been photographed. Yes. Me. Photographed.

  I never ever thought that I would be in a photograph.

  My likeness will be captured on special paper like what a lord and lady’s likeness is in the finest of oil paintings! ’Course, I won’t be on me own in the photograph when it’s ready. When it’s developed. The master, Mr Kirby-Trott, gave instructions that all of his staff, each and every one of us, be brought together and photographed in one big picture. My mate Mary says it’s so that he can show off to all the other toffs how grand he is with his grand house and all of us running around doing his bidding. But I don’t care what it’s for. I never dreamed I’d be IN A PHOTOGRAPH43.

  And when all us servants came together, in our best work clothes, you would not BELIEVE how many of us there is what works here. Me eyes nearly popped right out of me head. I’ve been here a good few weeks now, and I thought I’d seen most of ’em, but it’s like a whole army!44

  The photographer is a man called Mr Wimpole, and he was dressed all in black with a most shiny silk top hat. His photography equipment – his camera and that – is of the most beautiful polished wood and fine brass fittings. He had some kind of black velvet cloth at the back of his big, square camera on a stand and he disappeared under it before taking the picture.

  The way I understands it, it all has to do with light. He has some big photographic plate at the back of the camera and when the light goes through the lens it hits the plate at the back and somehow magics the image onto it. It’s a miracle is what it is.

  John Langley, the first footman45 (who can read and write) had been given a great long list of all the jobs we servants do and he called them out and Mr Wimpole decided where they was to stand or sit. (That’s why Langley called out the jobs and not the names ’cause Mr Wimpole had no way of knowing who does what and, apparently, where we stood – or sat – was real important.)

  John is very tall, which is how any footman gets his job in the first place, and why we call him Long Johns46. He looks right handsome in his livery47 and he knows it. He struts like a cock peasant!48 The second footman – plain footman – is also called John, so we calls him Jack. (I dunno why, but people christened John often end up bein’ called Jack. Same way that people christened Henry often end up bein’ called Harry, and Williams sometimes becomes Bills. It don’t have to make sense, it just is.) I like Jack (the name AND the second footman). He’s right friendly with everyone, with a smile to match.

  Afterwards, Long Johns let me have the list as a record of me fellow workers what keeps them wheels of Mr Pritchard’s – well, I suppose Mr Kirby-Trott’s – empire turning.

  Butler

  Housekeeper

  Cook

  Gentleman’s gentleman (valet)

  Lady’s maid

  Governess - None

  Nanny

  Tutor - None

  First Footman

  Footman

  Hall boy

  Maid

  Between maids

  Chambermaids

  Housemaids

  Kitchen maids

  Laundry maids

  Nursemaid

  Parlourmaids

  Scullery maid

  Still room maids

  Page

  Seamstress

  Useful Man also called Houseman

  Head Gardener

  Gardeners

  Assistant gardeners

  Under gardeners

  Assistant under gardeners

  Grounds keepers

  Stable Master

  Stable hands

  Gamekeeper

  Handyman

  Nanny Brown weren’t in the photograph ’cause she were looking after Master William as usual. And Master William couldn’t be in the photo because Mr Kirby-Trott wouldn’t be ’appy having him in a photograph full of servants. That would not be proper!

  Apparently, there used to be even MORE servants here at Lytton House. Cook told me that not all the rooms are used no more, so they don’t need cleaning daily. The furniture’s covered in big white dust sheets and the curtains drawn. Mary says she went in one once and it were all atmospheric and ghost-like. Maybe anything under a white sheet looks like a ghost to her! (Except, perhaps a bed.)

  I, for one, cannot WAIT to see the photograph when Mr Wimpole returns with it. Mr Pritchard has promised us that we shall all have a look-see.

  43 Photography was a relatively new invention, with the result in black and white or black and brown (sepia). Britain’s greatest contribution to photograph
y came from Fox Talbot (1800-1877). He invented a process where many copies of a photograph could be printed from one negative.

  44 In Victorian Britain, more women and girls worked as servants than in any other job.

  45 Footmen were often chosen for their height and good looks. Originally, running footmen ran – on foot – alongside their master’s carriage, or stood up on the back of it. Later, they became domestic servants in the grandest houses. One of their functions was to show off their master’s wealth or importance by the very fact that he employed them.

  46 Long johns are underwear that cover the legs!

  47 A footman’s livery was his uniform, with breeches (trousers) to just below the knee, and stockings. Their jackets had tails and were often covered in brocade.

  48 A cock pheasant is a male pheasant. Pheasants were bred by the gamekeeper on a large country house estate so that they could be shot for ‘sport’ during the hunting season.

  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! There I was talking about Jack and now he’s taken a terrible tumble. At least it didn’t happen upstairs in front of the master and mistress, but that’s only a small consolation.

  He was going up the servants’ stairs – them backstairs in the passage off the servants’ hall and the kitchen – with a great big tureen full of soup on a tray, when he lost his footing and fell backwards. He banged his head, hurt his leg and got covered in scalding hot soup. I didn’t see him fall but I was one of the many what heard his cries and dashed out to help.