The beginning of the 20th century is a very troubled time. The lower classes, as Comrade Lenin later wrote, could no longer, while the upper classes did not want to. They did not want, in particular, to notice living people in their servants, in their household staff. The former serfs were often treated like livestock, without pity, without any sympathy.
Has anyone ever heard that at least one native Muscovite or Petersburger recalled that his ancestors ended up in pre-revolutionary capitals as coachmen, sex workers, laundresses or maids? Hardly, because it's probably unpleasant to tell you that your grandparents were covered by the Cook's Children Circular of 1887. And at the beginning of the twentieth century, the capital's parents of cook's children lived like this.
In the Ogonyok magazine No. 47 dated November 23, 1908, Mrs. Severova (literary pseudonym of Natalia Nordman, unmarried wife of Ilya Repin) was published about the life of a domestic servant in Russian Empire beginning of the 20th century.
“Recently,” recalls Ms. Severova, “a young girl came to me for hire.
Why are you without a place? I asked sternly.
- I just got back from the hospital! The month lay.
- From the hospital? What diseases were you treated for?
- Yes, and the disease was not special - only the legs were swollen and the whole back was broken. This, then, from the stairs, the gentlemen lived on the 5th floor. Also heads spinning, and knocks down, and knocks down, it happened. The janitor took me straight from the place to the hospital and took me. The doctor said, severe overwork!
- Why are you there stones, or something, tossing?
She was embarrassed for a long time, but finally I managed to find out exactly how she spent the day in the last place. Get up at 6. “There is no alarm clock, so you wake up every minute from 4 o’clock, you are afraid to oversleep.” A hot breakfast should be in time by 8 o'clock, two cadets with them to the corps. “You chop cue balls, but you peck with your nose. You will put the samovar, they also need to clean their clothes and boots. The cadets will leave, to attend the service of the master, also put on the samovar, clean the boots, clean the clothes, run to the corner for hot rolls and a newspaper.
“The master, the lady and three young ladies will leave to celebrate - boots, galoshes, clean the dress, behind some hems, believe me, you stand for an hour, dust, even sand on your teeth; at twelve o'clock to make them coffee - you carry it to the beds. In the meantime, clean the rooms, fill the lamps, smooth out something. By two o'clock breakfast is hot, run to the shop, put soup for dinner.
They just have breakfast, the cadets go home, and even with their comrades they knock, they ask for food, tea, they send for cigarettes, only the cadets are full, the master goes, he asks for fresh tea, and then the guests come up, run for sweet rolls, and then for a lemon, right away - sometimes they don’t say, sometimes I fly off 5 times in a row, for which my chest, it used to be, ache not to breathe.
Here, look, the sixth hour. So you gasp, cook dinner, cover. The lady scolds why she was late. At dinner, how many times they will send down to the shop - either cigarettes, or seltzer, or beer. After dinner, there is a mountain of dishes in the kitchen, and here put the samovar, or someone will ask for coffee, and sometimes the guests will sit down to play cards, prepare a snack. By 12 o’clock you don’t hear your feet, you hit the stove, as soon as you fall asleep - the bell rings, one young lady returned home, as soon as you fall asleep - the cadet from the ball, and so all night, and get up at six - chop the cue balls.
“Crossing over 8-10 p. the threshold of our house, they become our property, their day and night belong to us; sleep, food, amount of work - it all depends on us."
“After listening to this story,” writes Ms. Severova, “I realized that this young girl was too zealous about her duties, which lasted 20 hours a day, or she was too soft-spoken and did not know how to be rude and snarl.
Having grown up in the village, in the same hut with calves and chickens, a young girl comes to Petersburg and is hired by one servant to the masters. The dark kitchen next to the drainpipes is the scene of her life. Here she sleeps, combs her hair at the same table where she cooks, cleans skirts and boots on it, refills the lamps.
“Domestic servants are counted in tens, hundreds of thousands, and meanwhile the law has not yet done anything for them. One can really say that the law is not written about her.
“Our black staircases and back yards inspire disgust, and it seems to me that the uncleanliness and carelessness of the servants (“you run, you run, there is no time to sew buttons on yourself”) are in most cases forced shortcomings.
Serve on an empty stomach for life with my own hands delicious dishes, inhale their aroma, be present while they are “eaten by the gentlemen”, savored and praised (“they eat under escort, they cannot swallow without us”), well, how can you not try to steal a piece at least later, do not lick the plate with your tongue, do not put candy in pocket, do not take a sip from the neck of the wine.
When we order, our young maid should serve our husbands and sons to wash, bring tea to their bed, make their beds, help them get dressed. Often the servant is left with them all alone in the apartment and at night, upon their return from drinking, takes off their boots and puts them to bed. She must do all this, but woe to her if we meet her with a fireman on the street. And woe to her even more if she announces to us about the free behavior of our son or husband.
“It is known that the domestic servants of the capital are deeply and almost completely depraved. Female, for the most part unmarried youth, who arrive in droves from the villages and enter the service of the St. And a lackey, and ending with a dandy soldier of the guards, a commanding janitor, etc. How could a vestal tempered in chastity resist such a continuous and heterogeneous temptation from all sides! It can be positively said, therefore, that the largest part of the female servants in St. Petersburg (in complexity, there are about 60 tons of them) are entirely prostitutes, from the point of view of behavior ”(V. Mikhnevich,“ Historical Sketches of Russian Life ”, St. Petersburg, 1886 ).
Ms. Severova ends her reasoning with a prophecy: “... 50 years ago, servants were called “domestic bastards”, “smerds” and were also called that in official papers. The current name "people" is also becoming obsolete, and in 20 years it will seem wild and impossible. “If we are ‘humans’, then who are you?” one young maid asked me, looking expressively into my eyes.
Mrs. Severova was a little mistaken - not in 20, but in 9 years, a revolution will happen, when the lower classes, who do not want to live in the old way, begin mass sawing of the upper classes. And then the young maids will look into the eyes of their ladies even more expressively ...
The servants were called: butlers, maids, footmen, maids, valets, waiters, coachmen, housekeepers, cooks and janitors. These people were busy serving their masters. The most significant figure and head of the servants in the house was the butler (in Western Europe, the majordomo). These were elderly people from the ranks of lackeys who had won the confidence of the masters. Such a person knew the rules in the family well, carefully supported them, observed family customs and traditions.
The maid was called the personal maid of the hostess, often she was trusted: the person of the hostess, who supervised the work of the maids, who disposed of the female servants. The valet was the personal lackey of the owner or his son, who served them not only in the house, He accompanied the master on walks and travels. These people knew the intimate aspects of the life of their masters and quite often had "influence" on them.
The maids performed various duties, but the main one was the service of the female part of the family. Sometimes they were involved in the service of the male half. This often led to love affairs. In poor houses, maids performed; duties of waiters. In serf times, among the yard girls, the most capable of embroidery, lace weaving, fabric, sewing clothes and linen, gloves were chosen. All of them, together with shoemakers, tailors, coachmen, kennels and janitors, united under the name of yard servants.
A somewhat isolated position was occupied by wet nurses and nannies, who raised and educated lordly children until the age when caregivers appeared in the house. The woman who fed the master's child with her milk was involuntarily a close person for the hostess. As a rule, she turned into a nanny and often lived in a manor house until her old age.
The educators of children, as a rule, from foreigners, were an intermediate link between masters and servants. In ordinary life, they were invited to the master's table, but they never took part in dinner parties and dinners. In most cases, ordinary servants did not like this category of people. The servants were required to wear neat clothes (as a rule, they were issued by the gentlemen), the obligatory cleanliness of the body, hands and face. Depending on the fashion, the men were either shaved or wore sideburns. Solidity of behavior was required from the male servant, gaiety and good looks from the female servant. The gentlemen did not like to sit in front of them with boring, sick or tear-stained faces. A good servant should be impassive, which was considered a sign of good taste. The female servant wore dark clothes,. but moderately coquettish, never naked, had an apron or an elegant white starched apron, and a white starched headdress on her head. By these signs, the maid was easily recognized. Male servants, depending on the custom adopted in the house, could wear liveries or tailcoats. At the beginning of the 20th century, waiters began to wear tuxedos. Livery - clothing of a special, sometimes rather pretentious cut for a given house, it was dressed according to a single pattern and represented something like 438 forms. The dress coat of these people differed from the master's in that it always had a black waistcoat and a black bow tie. The footman-waiter had in his hand a rather large white napkin. The desire to serve the masters and thereby seek various kinds of handouts (tips) led to the fact that people of these professions gradually acquired a peculiar posture, gait and gestures that betrayed their profession. In these actions and movements, the humiliation of a person was manifested.
In the behavior of the maid, modesty and speed of service were valued. If the footman was old or held the post of butler, then some slowness and importance in behavior were assessed as the solidity of the house. This characteristic of serving people is typical not only for Russia, but also for Western Europe. When a cook was called into the rooms to the gentlemen, he came in professional clothes. Traveling coachmen and lackeys had the form adopted in the house. She always matched the style of the departure. The team could be Russian, French or English. The dress of the coachmen and lackeys was in accordance with this style, so demanded a good tone.
The duties of the servants included cleaning the premises, furniture and utensils, cleaning the gentlemen's suits and shoes, cooking, preparing the table. Servants helped dress and undress their masters. They carried out a variety of orders; it was they who created the opportunity for the masters to lead an idle life. In post-serf times, good manners demanded that the master pay for any service rendered to him by a servant from another family or by an outsider, if this person was lower in the social ladder. So, for example, when leaving, the guest gave the maid and footman money in his hand, after they helped him get dressed. Tips were also given to the doorman who opened the door and to the footman who helped him into the carriage. It is worth noting that when paying with a doctor, they imperceptibly handed him the amount due for a visit during a handshake, instead of openly handing over the money. Payment for the services of solicitors, trustees, notaries, actors, artists, builders wore an open form. Apparently, this happened because the amount paid to people in these professions was quite substantial and occurred mainly at the end of the case, while most doctors received for each visit to the patient and the amount was insignificant.
Ex. No. 362. Master and maid (footman). Etude.
Construction - ranks. One male - gentlemen, the second female - servants. The gentlemen are dressed in overcoats, top hats, mufflers, gloves and canes. Execution technique. The master enters and with a gesture of his right hand (with a cane) says to the servant:
"Report." The maid makes a curtsey, as if to say: "I obey" - and quickly leaves. She appears and says (small bow): "You are asked." The gentleman, passing by the maid, gives her the cane, taking a few more steps, taking off the top hat, bows to the mistress of the house, then passes the top hat to the maid, takes off his coat - passes it to the maid, then the scarf. Then he takes off his gloves, throws them into the top hat and approaches actions of the maid (footman): she takes or catches a cane, puts it to her left under her arm, then, taking the p.ch-lindr with her right hand, puts it on her left side, pressing it with her left elbow, then helps the visitor to take off his coat. She takes this with her right hand by the right hand of the half of his coat near the collar, and with her left hand by the bottom of the left sleeve. This position allows you to conveniently remove the coat from the person's shoulders. The coat is placed on the forearm of the left hand. Then she takes out the guest’s cylinder from under her elbow with her right hand and, holding it out, holds it with the crown down - this is an invitation to give the gloves; having taken off the gloves, he throws them into the cylinder, throws the removed muffler there. It is possible that the guest first removes the muffler, then, taking the muffler with her right: with her hand, the maid hangs it on her shoulder, and then puts the top hat under her gloves.Having received the guest's outer clothing, the maid makes a curtsey and quickly takes everything - into the hallway.
Guidelines. This etude requires the acting dexterity of the actor-servant and the tempo-rhythm and physical harmony of both partners. Second study. the same plan consists in the reverse action, when the servant brings the top-dress and helps the guest to get dressed. Naturally, performers should play both roles in the lesson.
In the 19th century middle class was already rich enough to hire servants. The servant was a symbol of well-being, she freed the mistress of the house from cleaning or cooking, allowing her to lead a lifestyle worthy of a lady. It was customary to hire at least one maid - so at the end of the 19th century, even the poorest families hired a "step girl" who cleaned the steps and swept the porch on Saturday mornings, thus catching the eyes of passers-by and neighbors. Doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals kept at least 3 servants, but in rich aristocratic houses there were dozens of servants. The number of servants, their appearance and manners, signaled the status of their masters.
Some Statistics
In 1891, 1,386,167 women and 58,527 men were in the service. Of these, 107167 girls and 6890 boys aged 10 to 15 years.
Examples of incomes at which servants could be afforded:
1890s - Primary teacher's assistant - less than £200 a year. Maid - 10 - 12 pounds per year.
1890s - Bank manager - £600 a year. Maid (12 - 16 pounds a year), cook (16 - 20 pounds a year), a boy who came daily to clean knives, shoes, bring coal and chop wood (5d a day), a gardener who came once a week (4 shillings 22 pence).
1900 - Lawyer. Cook (£30), maid (£25), housemaid (£14), shoe and knife-shine boy (£25/week). He could also buy 6 shirts for £1 10s, 12 bottles of champagne for £2 8s.
Main classes of servants
Butler (butler) - responsible for the order in the house. He has almost no responsibilities associated with physical labor, he is above it. Usually the butler looks after the male servants and polishes the silver. In Something New, Wodehouse describes the butler as follows:
Butlers as a class seem to grow less and less like anything human in proportion to the magnificence of their surroundings. There is a type of butler employed in the relatively modest homes of small country gentlemen who is practically a man and a brother; who hobnobs with the local tradesmen, sings a good comic song at the village inn, and in times of crisis will even turn to and work the pump when the water supply suddenly fails.
The greater the house the more does the butler diverge from this type. Blandings Castle was one of the more important of England's show places, and Beach accordingly had acquired a dignified inertia that almost qualified him for inclusion in the vegetable kingdom. He moved--when he moved at all--slowly. He distilled speech with the air of one measuring out drops of some precious drug.
Housekeeper (housekeeper) - responsible for the bedrooms and servants' rooms. Supervises the cleaning, looks after the pantry, and also monitors the behavior of the maids in order to prevent debauchery on their part.
The chef (chef) - in rich houses is often French and takes very expensive for his services. Often in a state of cold war with the housekeeper.
Valet (valet) - the personal servant of the owner of the house. Takes care of his clothes, prepares his luggage for the trip, loads his guns, serves golf clubs, (drives angry swans away from him, breaks his engagements, saves him from evil aunts and generally teaches the mind to reason.)
Personal maid / maid (lady "s maid) - helps the hostess comb her hair and dress, prepares a bath, looks after her jewelry and accompanies the hostess during visits.
Footman - helps bring things into the house, brings tea or newspapers, accompanies the hostess during shopping trips and wears her purchases. Dressed in livery, he can serve at the table and give solemnity to the moment with his appearance.
Maids (housemaids) - sweep in the yard (at dawn, while the gentlemen are sleeping), clean the rooms (when the gentlemen are having dinner). As in society as a whole, the "world under the stairs" had its own hierarchy. At the highest level were teachers and governesses, who, however, were rarely ranked as servants. Then came the senior servants, led by the butler, and so on down. The very same Wodehouse describes this hierarchy very interestingly. In this passage, he talks about the order of eating.
Kitchen maids and scullery maids eat in the kitchen. Chauffeurs, footmen, under-butler, pantry boys, hall boy, odd man and steward "s-room footman take their meals in the servants" hall, waited on by the hall boy. The stillroom maids have breakfast and tea in the stillroom, and dinner and supper in the hall. The housemaids and nursery maids have breakfast and tea in the housemaid's sitting-room, and dinner and supper in the hall. The head housemaid ranks next to the head stillroom maid. The laundry maids have a place of their own near the laundry, and the head laundry maid ranks above the head housemaid.
Hiring, Paying and Position of Servants
In 1777, each employer had to pay a tax of 1 guinea per male servant - in this way the government hoped to cover the costs of the war with the North American colonies. Although this rather high tax was only abolished in 1937, servants continued to be hired. The servants could be hired in several ways. For centuries, there were special fairs (statute or hiring fair), which gathered workers looking for a place. They brought with them some object denoting their profession - for example, roofers held straw in their hands. To secure an employment contract, all that was required was a handshake and a small upfront payment (this advance was called a fastening penny). It is interesting to note that it was at such a fair that Mor from Pratchett's book of the same name became Death's apprentice.
The fair went something like this: people looking for work,
broken lines lined up in the middle of the square. Many of them are attached to
hats are small symbols showing the world what kind of work they know
sense. The shepherds wore shreds of sheep's wool, the carters tucked
a strand of a horse's mane, interior decorators - a strip
intricate Hessian wallpapers, and so on and so forth. Boys
wishing to become apprentices crowded like a bunch of timid sheep into
in the middle of this human whirlpool.
- You just go and stand there. And then someone comes up and
offers to take you on as an apprentice,” Lezek said in a voice that
managed to banish notes of some uncertainty. - If he likes your look,
Certainly.
- How do they do it? Mor asked. - That is, how they look
determine whether you qualify or not?
“Well…” Lezek paused. Regarding this part of the Hamesh program,
gave him an explanation. I had to strain and scrape through the bottom of the internal
warehouse of knowledge in the field of the market. Unfortunately, the warehouse contained very
limited and highly specific information on the sale of livestock wholesale and in
retail. Realizing the insufficiency and incomplete, shall we say, relevance of these
information, but having nothing else at his disposal, he finally
made up his mind:
“I think they count your teeth and all that. Make sure you don't
wheezing and that your legs are all right. If I were you, I wouldn't
mention a love of reading. This is disturbing. (c) Pratchett, "Mor"
In addition, a servant could be found through a labor exchange or a special employment agency. In their early days, such agencies printed lists of servants, but this practice declined as newspaper circulation increased. These agencies were often infamous because they could take money from a candidate and then not arrange a single interview with a potential employer.
Among the servants, there was also their own "word of mouth" - meeting during the day, servants from different houses could exchange information and help each other find a new place.
To get a good place, you needed impeccable recommendations from the previous owners. However, not every master could hire a good servant, because the employer also needed some kind of recommendation. Since the favorite occupation of the servants was washing the bones of the masters, the notoriety of greedy employers spread quite quickly. Servants also had blacklists, and woe to the master who got on it! In the Jeeves and Wooster series, Wodehouse often mentions a similar list compiled by members of the Junior Ganymede club.
It's the Curzon Street valet club, and I've been a member of it for quite some time. I have no doubt that the servant of a gentleman who occupies such a prominent position in society as Mr. Spode is also a member of it and, of course, told the secretary a lot of information about
its owner, which are listed in the club book.
-- As you said?
-- According to the eleventh paragraph of the statute of the institution, each entering
the club is obliged to reveal to the club everything that he knows about his owner. Of these
information is a fascinating reading, besides, the book suggests
reflections of those members of the club who conceived to go into the service of the gentlemen,
whose reputation can not be called impeccable.
A thought struck me, and I shuddered. Almost jumped up.
- What happened when you joined?
- Excuse me, sir?
"Did you tell them all about me?"
“Yes, of course, sir.
-- As everybody?! Even the case when I ran away from Stoker's yacht and I
did you have to smear the face with shoe polish to disguise it?
-- Yes, sir.
-- And about that evening when I came home after Pongo's birthday
Twistleton and mistook a floor lamp for a burglar?
-- Yes, sir. On rainy evenings, club members enjoy reading
similar stories.
“Oh, how about with pleasure?” (c) Wodehouse, Wooster family honor
A servant could be fired by giving him a month's notice of dismissal or by paying him a monthly salary. However, in the event of a serious incident - say, the theft of silverware - the owner could dismiss the servant without paying a monthly salary. Unfortunately, this practice was accompanied by frequent abuses, because it was the owner who determined the severity of the violation. In turn, the servant could not leave the place without prior notice of departure.
In the middle of the 19th century, a mid-level maid received an average of £6-8 a year, plus extra money for tea, sugar and beer. The maid who served directly to the mistress (lady's maid) received 12-15 pounds a year plus money for additional expenses, a livery footman - 15-15 pounds a year, a valet - 25-50 pounds a year. In addition, servants traditionally received a cash gift at Christmas.In addition to payments from employers, servants also received tips from guests.Tips were distributed at the departure of a guest: all the servants lined up in two rows near the door, and the guest handed out tips depending on the services received or on his social status (i.e. generous tips testified to his well-being).In some houses, only male servants received tips For poor people, tipping was a nightmare in reality, so they could decline the invitation, for fear of appearing poor.After all, if the servant received too stingy tips, then the next time he visited the greedy guest, he could easily give him a dolce vita - for example, ignore or twist all orders guest.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, servants were not entitled to days off. It was believed that when entering the service, a person understood that from now on every minute of his time belongs to the owners. It was also considered indecent if relatives or friends came to visit the servants - and especially friends of the opposite sex! But in the 19th century, masters began to allow servants to receive relatives from time to time or give them days off. And Queen Victoria even gave an annual ball for palace servants at Balmoral Castle.
By setting aside savings, servants from wealthy households could accumulate a significant amount, especially if their employers remembered to mention them in their wills. After retirement, former servants could go into trade or open a tavern. Also, servants who lived in the house for many decades could live out their lives with the owners - this happened especially often with nannies.
The position of the servants was ambivalent. On the one hand, they were part of the family, they knew all the secrets, but they were forbidden to gossip. An interesting example of this attitude towards servants is Bekassin, the heroine of comics for Semaine de Suzzette. A maid from Brittany, naive but devoted, she was drawn without a mouth and ears - so that she could not eavesdrop on the master's conversations and retell them to her girlfriends. Initially, the identity of the servant, his sexuality, as it were denied. For example, there was a custom when the owners gave the maid a new name. For example, Mall Flanders, the heroine of Defoe's novel of the same name, was called "Miss Betty" by the owners (and Miss Betty, of course, gave the owners a light). Charlotte Brontë also mentions the maids' collective name, "abigails." With names, things were generally interesting. The servants of a higher rank - like a butler or a personal maid - were called exclusively by their last name. A vivid example of such treatment we find again in the books of Wodehouse, where Bertie Wooster calls his valet "Jeeves," and only in The Tie That Binds do we recognize the name of Jeeves - Reginald. Wodehouse also writes that in conversations between servants, the footman often spoke of his master in a familiar way, calling him by name - for example, Freddie or Percy. At the same time, the rest of the servants called the said gentleman by his title - Lord such and such or Earl such and such. Although in some cases the butler could pull the speaker up if he thought that he was "forgetting" in his familiarity.
The servants could not have a personal, family or sexual life. The maids were often unmarried and without children. If the maid happened to become pregnant, she had to take care of the consequences herself. The percentage of infanticide among the maids was very high. If the father of the child was the owner of the house, then the maid had to remain silent. For example, according to persistent rumors, Helen Demuth, the housekeeper in the family of Karl Marx, gave birth to a son from him and kept silent about it all her life.
A uniform
The Victorians preferred servants to be identifiable by their clothing. The maid uniform, developed in the 19th century, lasted with minor changes until the outbreak of World War II. Until the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, the female servants did not have a uniform as such. The maids had to dress in simple and modest dresses. Since in the 18th century it was customary to give the servants clothes "from the master's shoulder", the maids could flaunt in the worn outfits of their mistress. But the Victorians were far from such liberalism and the servants did not tolerate smart clothes. The lower-ranking maids were forbidden even to think of such excesses as silks, feathers, earrings and flowers, for there was no need to indulge their lustful flesh with such luxury. The target of ridicule was often the maids (lady's maids), who still got the master's outfits and who could spend all their salaries on a fashionable dress. one woman who served as a maid in 1924 recalled that her mistress, seeing the curled hair, was horrified and said that she would think about dismissing the shameless woman.
Of course double standards were obvious. The ladies themselves did not shy away from lace, feathers, or other sinful luxury, but they could reprimand or even fire the maid who bought herself silk stockings! The uniform was another way to show servants their place. However, many maids, in a past life girls from a farm or from an orphanage, would probably feel out of place if they were dressed in silk dresses and seated in a living room with noble guests.
So, what was the uniform of the Victorian servants? Of course, both the uniform and the attitude towards it were different among the female and male servants. When a maid entered the service, in her tin box - an indispensable attribute of a maid - she usually had three dresses: a simple cotton dress, which was worn in the morning, a black dress with a white cap and apron, which was worn in the afternoon, and a dress for the evening. Depending on the size of the salary, there could be more dresses. All the dresses were long, because the maid's legs must always be covered - even if the girl washed the floor, she had to cover her ankles.
The very idea of a uniform must have driven the hosts into frenzied delight - after all, now it was impossible to confuse the maid with the young miss. Even on Sundays, during a trip to church, some owners forced the maids to put on caps and aprons. And the traditional Christmas present for the maid was... a raise? No. New detergent to make it easier to scrub the floor? Also no. The traditional gift for the maid was a piece of fabric so that she could sew another uniform dress for herself - with her own efforts and at her own expense! The maids had to pay for their own uniforms, while the male servants received their uniforms at the expense of the masters. The average cost of a maid dress in the 1890s was £3 - i.e. half a year's salary of an underage maid just starting to work. At the same time, when a girl entered the service, she already had to have the necessary uniform with her, and yet she still had to save money for it. Consequently, she had to either pre-work, for example, in a factory in order to save up a sufficient amount, or else rely on the generosity of relatives and friends. In addition to dresses, the maids bought themselves stockings and shoes, and this item of expenditure was just a bottomless well, because due to the incessant running up and down stairs, shoes wore out quickly.
The nanny traditionally wore a white dress and a puffy apron, but did not wear a cap. For walking attire, she wore a gray or dark blue coat and matching hat. When accompanying children for walks, nursemaids (nursemaids) usually wore black straw caps with white strings.
It is interesting to note that although female servants were forbidden to wear silk stockings, male servants were required to do so. During ceremonial receptions, lackeys had to wear silk stockings and powder their hair, because of which they often thinned and fell out. Also, the traditional uniform of footmen included knee-length trousers and a bright frock coat with coattails and buttons, which depicted the family coat of arms, if the family had one. Footmen were required to buy shirts and collars at their own expense, everything else was paid for by the owners. The butler, the servant king, wore a tailcoat, but of a simpler cut than the master's tailcoat. The coachman's uniform was especially pretentious - high boots polished to a shine, a bright frock coat with silver or copper buttons, and a hat with a cockade.
Servants quarters
The Victorian house was built to accommodate two distinct classes under one roof. The owners lived on the first, second and sometimes third floor. The servants slept in the attic and worked in the basement. However, from the cellar to the attic is a long distance, and the owners would hardly like it if the servants scurried around the house for no good reason. This problem was solved by the presence of two stairs - front and back. So that the owners could call the servants, so to speak, from the bottom up, a bell system was installed in the house, with a cord or button in every room and a panel in the basement, on which you could see which room the call came from. And grief was that maid who gape and did not come to the first call. One can imagine what it was like for the servants to be in an atmosphere of eternal ringing! This situation can only be compared with an office in the middle of the week, when the phone is torn incessantly, customers always need something, and you have only one desire - to slam the damn device against the wall and return to an interesting conversation in ICQ. Alas, the Victorian servants were deprived of such an opportunity.
The staircase has become an integral part of Victorian folklore. Take only expressions Upstairs, Downstairs, Belows Stairs. But for the servants, the ladder was a real instrument of torture. After all, they had to rush up and down it, like the angels from Jacob's dream, and not just rush, but carry heavy buckets of coal or hot water for the bath.
Attics were the traditional residence of servants and ghosts. However, the lower level servants were found in the attic. The valet and maid had rooms, often adjacent to the master bedroom, the coachman and the groom lived in rooms near the stables, and the gardeners and butlers could have small cottages. Looking at such a luxury, the lower-level servants must have thought, "Lucky for some!" Because sleeping in the attic was a dubious pleasure - several maids could sleep in one room, who sometimes had to share a bed. When gas and electricity became widely used in homes, they were rarely taken to the attic, because, in the opinion of the owners, this was an unacceptable waste. The maids went to bed by candlelight, and on a cold winter morning they found that the water in the jug was frozen and to wash well, you would need at least a hammer. The attic rooms themselves did not spoil the residents with special aesthetic delights - gray walls, bare floors, lumpy mattresses, darkened mirrors and cracked shells, as well as furniture in various stages of dying, handed over to the servants by generous owners.
Servants were forbidden to use the same bathrooms and toilets that their masters used. Before the advent of running water and sewerage, maids had to carry buckets of hot water for the master bath. But even when the houses were already equipped with hot tubs and cold water, the servants could not use these facilities. The maids still continued to wash in basins and tubs - usually once a week - and while hot water was being carried from the basement to the attic, it could easily cool down.
But it's time to get down from the attic and get to know the basement. Here were various service premises, including the heart of any home - the kitchen. The kitchen was vast, with a stone floor and a huge stove. There is a heavy kitchen table, chairs, and also, if the kitchen also served as a human one, several armchairs and a wardrobe with drawers where the maids kept personal belongings. Next to the kitchen was the pantry, a cool room with a brick floor. Butter and perishable food were stored here, and pheasants hung from the ceiling - the maids liked to intimidate each other with stories that pheasants can hang for too long, and when you start carving them, worms crawl up your arms. Also next to the kitchen was a closet for coal, with a pipe going outside - coal was poured into the closet through it, after which the hole was closed. In addition, a laundry room, a wine cellar, etc. could be located in the basement.
While the gentlemen dined in the dining room, the servants dined in the kitchen. Food, of course, depended on the income of the family and on the generosity of the hosts. So in some houses, the dinner for the servants included cold poultry and vegetables, ham, etc. In others, the servants were kept from hand to mouth - this was especially true for children and adolescents, for whom there was no one to intercede.
Labor and rest
For almost the entire year, the working day for the servants began and ended by candlelight, from 5 or 6 in the morning until the whole family went to bed. A particularly hot time came during the Season, which lasted from mid-May to mid-August. It was a time of entertainment, dinners, receptions and balls, during which parents hoped to hook up a profitable groom for their daughters. For the servants, it was an ongoing nightmare, because they could only go to bed with the departure of the last guests. And although they went to bed after midnight, they had to wake up at the usual time, early in the morning.
The work of the servants was hard and tedious. After all, they did not have vacuum cleaners at their disposal, washing machines and other joys of life. Moreover, even when these advances appeared in England, the owners did not seek to buy them for their maids. After all, why spend money on a car if a person can do the same job? Servants even had to make their own cleaning products for mopping floors or cleaning pots. Corridors in large estates stretched for almost a mile, and they had to be scraped by hand, kneeling. This work was done by the lowest-ranking maids, who were often girls 10 to 15 years old (tweenies). Since they had to work early in the morning, in the dark, they lit a candle and pushed it in front of them as they moved along the corridor. And, of course, no one warmed the water for them. From constant kneeling, in particular, such a disease as prepatellar bursitis developed - a purulent inflammation of the periarticular mucosal sac. No wonder this disease is called housemaid's knee - the maid's knee.
The duties of the maids who cleaned the rooms (parlourmaids and housemaids) included cleaning the living room, dining room, nursery, etc., cleaning silver, ironing, and much more. Nursemaid (nursemaid) got up at 6 in the morning to light a fireplace in the nursery, make tea for the nurse, then bring the children breakfast, clean the nursery, iron the linen, take the children for a walk, darn their clothes - like her colleagues, she got to bed squeezed like a lemon. In addition to the basic duties - such as cleaning and washing - the servants were also given rather strange tasks. For example, maids were sometimes required to iron the morning paper and staple the pages down the center to make it easier for the owner to read. The paranoid masters also liked to check on the maids. They put a coin under the carpet - if the girl took the money, then she was dishonest, if the coin remained in place, then she did not wash the floors well!
In houses with a large staff of servants, there was a distribution of duties among the maids, but there was no worse fate than the only maid in a poor family. She was also called maid-of-all-work or general servant - the latter epithet was considered more refined. The poor thing woke up at 5-6 in the morning, on the way to the kitchen she opened the shutters and curtains. In the kitchen she was kindling a fire, the fuel for which had been prepared the night before. While the fire flared up, she polished the stove. Then she put the kettle on, and while it boiled, she cleaned all the shoes and knives. Then the maid washed her hands and went to open the curtains in the dining room, where she also needed to clean the grate and light the fire. This sometimes took about 20 minutes. Then she wiped the dust in the room and scattered yesterday's tea on the carpet, so that later she would sweep it away with the dust. Then it was necessary to take care of the hall and the hallway, wash the floors, shake the carpets, clean the steps. This was the end of her morning duties, and the maid hastened to change into a clean dress, white apron and cap. After that, she set the table, cooked and brought breakfast.
While the family was having breakfast, she had time to eat breakfast herself - although she often had to chew something on the go while she ran to the bedrooms to air out the mattresses. The Victorians were obsessed with airing bed linen, as they believed such measures prevented the spread of infection, so the beds were aired every day. Then she made the beds, wearing a new apron that protected the linen from her already dirty clothes. The hostess and the daughters of the hostess could help her with the cleaning of the bedroom. When she finished with the bedroom, the maid returned to the kitchen and washed the dishes left after breakfast, then swept the floor in the living room from bread crumbs. If on that day cleaning of any room in the house was required - the living room, dining room or one of the bedrooms - then the maid immediately set to work on it. Cleaning could last all day, with breaks for preparing lunch and dinner. In poor families, the mistress of the house often took part in cooking. Lunch and dinner followed the same procedures as breakfast - set the table, bring food, sweep the floor, etc. Unlike breakfast, the maid had to serve at the table and bring the first, second and dessert. The day ended with the maid laying fuel for tomorrow's fire, closing the door and shutters, and turning off the gas. In some houses, silverware was counted in the evening, put in a box and locked in the master bedroom, away from robbers. After the family went to bed, the exhausted maid trudged to the attic, where she most likely fell into bed. Some girls from overwork even cried in their sleep! However, the maid could get a scolding from the hostess for not cleaning her own bedroom - I wonder when she could find time for this?
When their exploiters left for country houses, the servants still did not have peace, because it was the turn of the general cleaning. Then they cleaned carpets and curtains, rubbed wooden furniture and floors, and also wiped the ceilings with a mixture of soda and water to remove soot. Since the Victorians loved stucco ceilings, this was not an easy task.
In those houses where the owners could not support a large staff of servants, the working day of the maid could last 18 hours! But what about rest? In the middle of the 19th century, servants could go to church as a rest, but they had no more free time. But by the beginning of the 20th century, servants were entitled to one free evening and several free hours in the afternoon every week, in addition to free time on Sunday. Usually half of the day off began at 3 o'clock, when most of the work was done and the dinner cleaned up. However, the hostess could consider the work unsatisfactory, force the maid to redo everything, and only then let her go on a day off. At the same time, punctuality was very much appreciated, and the young maids had to return home at a strictly appointed time, usually before 10 pm.
Relationship with hosts
Relations often depended both on the nature of the owners - you never know who you can run into - and on their social status. Often, the more well-born a family was, the better they treated servants in it - the fact is that aristocrats with a long pedigree did not need to assert themselves at the expense of servants, they already knew their own worth. At the same time, the nouveau riche, whose ancestors, perhaps, themselves belonged to the "vile class," could push the servants, thereby emphasizing their privileged position. In any case, they tried to treat the servants like furniture, denying their individuality. Following the covenant "love your neighbor", the masters could take care of the servants, give them worn clothes and call a personal doctor if the servant fell ill, but this did not mean at all that the servants were considered equal. Barriers between classes were maintained even in the church - while the gentlemen occupied the front pews, their maids and footmen sat at the very back.
It was considered bad manners to discuss and criticize servants in their presence. Such vulgarity was condemned. For example, in the poem below, little Charlotte claims that she is better than her nanny because she has red shoes and is generally a lady. In response, my mother says that true nobility is not in clothes, but in good manners.
"But, mamma, now," said Charlotte, "pray, don't you believe
That I "m better than Jenny, my nurse?
Only see my red shoes, and the lace on my sleeve;
Her clothes are a thousand times worse.
"I ride in my coach, and have nothing to do,
And the country folks stare at me so;
And nobody dares to control me but you
Because I "m a lady, you know.
"Then, servants are vulgar, and I am genteel;
So really, "tis out of the way,
To think that I should not be better a deal
Than maids, and such people as they. "
"Gentility, Charlotte," her mother replied,
"Belongs to no station or place;
And there's nothing so vulgar as folly and pride,
Thought dress "d in red slippers and lace.
Not all the fine things that fine ladies possess
should teach them the poor to despise;
For "tis in good manners, and not in good dress,
That the truest gentile lies."
In turn, the servants were required to perform their duties diligently, to be neat, modest and, most importantly, inconspicuous. For example, numerous Christian societies published pamphlets for young servants, with such promising titles as Present for a Servant Maid, The Servant's Friend, Domestic Servants as They Are and as They Ought to Be, etc. These writings were full of advice, from cleaning floors before interacting with guests In particular, the following recommendations were given to young maids: - Do not walk in the garden without permission - Noisy is bad manners - Walk quietly around the house, your voice should not be heard unnecessarily Never sing and don't whistle if the family can hear you.--Never speak to ladies and gentlemen first, except when it is necessary to ask an important question or to communicate something. Try to be laconic.--Never talk to other servants or with children in the living room in the presence of ladies and gentlemen. If necessary, then talk very quietly. - Do not talk to ladies and gentlemen without adding Ma "am, Miss or Sir. Name the children in the family Master or Miss. - If you need to take a letter or a small package to family or guests, use a tray. “If you have to go somewhere with a lady or gentleman, follow a few paces behind them. “Never try to get involved in a family conversation or offer any information unless you are asked. The last point brings to mind the Wodehouse saga - Jeeves rarely gets involved in Wooster's conversation with his crazy friends or relatives, patiently waiting until Bertie begins to appeal to a higher mind. Jeeves seems to be very familiar with these recommendations, although they are intended mainly for inexperienced girls just starting out in the service.
Obviously, the main purpose of these recommendations is to teach the maids to be inconspicuous. On the one hand, this may seem unfair, but on the other hand, their salvation is partly in invisibility. Because attracting the attention of gentlemen - especially gentlemen - for a maid was often fraught. A young, pretty maid could easily become a victim of the owner of the house, or a grown-up son, or a guest, and in the event of pregnancy, the burden of guilt fell entirely on her shoulders. In this case, the unfortunate woman was expelled without recommendations, and therefore she had no chance of finding another place. She faced a sad choice - brothel or worker.
Fortunately, not all relations between servants and masters ended in tragedy, although exceptions were quite rare. About love and prejudice tells the story of lawyer Arthur Munby (Arthur Munby) and maid Hannah Cullwick (Hannah Cullwick). Mr. Munby apparently had a particular affinity for working-class women and sympathetically described the fate of ordinary maids. After meeting Hannah, he dated her for 18 years, and all the time in secret. Usually she walked down the street, and he followed behind until they found a place away from prying eyes to shake hands and a couple of quick kisses. After Hanna hurried to the kitchen, and Arthur retired on business. Despite such strange dates, both were in love. In the end, Arthur told his father about his love, throwing him into shock - of course, because his son fell in love with the servant! In 1873 Arthur and Hanna got married in secret. Although they lived in the same house, Hanna insisted on remaining as a maid - believing that if their secret was revealed, her husband's reputation would be greatly tarnished. Therefore, when friends visited Munby, she waited at the table and called her husband "sir." But alone, they behaved like husband and wife and, judging by their diaries, were happy.
As we could observe, the relationship between masters and servants was very unequal. However, many servants were loyal and did not seek to change this state of affairs, because they "knew their place" and considered masters to be people of a different sort. In addition, there was sometimes an attachment between servants and masters, which Wodehouse's character calls a tie that binds. Information sources
"Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England", Kristine Hughes
"A History of Private Life. Vol 4" Ed. Philippe Aries Judith Flanders, "Inside the Victorian House"
Frank Dawes
The classic, well-known uniform of maids, consisting of a modest closed dress with long sleeves, a white apron and headdresses made of white fabric or lace, was formed only in the 19th century.
Charles Léon Cardon, Master with flowers and a maid, 1880
The simple dresses of the servants, whose only decorations were white collars and aprons, contrasted sharply with the attire of the masters. The maid could not be mistaken for a family member precisely because of the specific clothing.
In the 18th century and in previous periods, there was no strictly regulated uniform for female servants. Often maids wore or own clothes, sewn for more than sustenance, or wore dresses from the "master's shoulder", out of fashion, spoiled in some way or simply tired of wealthy ladies.
Servants from wealthy houses changed dresses during the day: a light dress was supposed to be before dinner, in the afternoon - a dark, often black dress. The servants' clothes did not allow such "shaping" frame elements as a crinoline or bustle, necessary for a fashionable silhouette, however, in photographs and illustrations of the 19th and early 20th centuries, it is noticeable that the shape of the sleeves, the cut of the bodice and often the shape of the skirt corresponded to the prevailing fashion.
If there were many servants in the house, duties were distributed. The head maid carried out personal assignments for the hostess, the junior maids cleaned the rooms and performed a variety of housework. But often all the duties fell on the shoulders of a single maid...
Cabinet photograph, 1894-96
Such images are captured, for example, in French literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Marcel Proust's seven-volume epic In Search of Lost Time features the maid Françoise, who did all the housework: she cleaned, bought groceries, cooked, washed, looked after the children... She only had a dishwasher as her assistant. Françoise for long years service became a real member of the family, the gentlemen especially admired her culinary arts, however, when they received guests, she was forbidden to show herself.
In a series of novels about Claudine by the French writer Sidonie Gabriel Colette, the touching story of the maid Melie, who also performed all household duties, can be traced. Initially, she entered the service as a breadwinner and remained in the family as an indispensable assistant: a maid, a cook, a nanny ... Meli worked until old age and her pupil was attached to her as a relative.
Illustration from an early 20th century fashion magazine: servants' clothing.
Images of servants are found in genre painting. Girls in maid uniforms can be seen on the canvases of artists such as Charles Léon Cardon, George Lambert, Franck Antoine Bail and others.
George Lambert. The maid.
Bail Franck Antoine - A Maid Watering Flowers
In 1851, over a million Englishmen were in the service, and in 1891, already at sunset Victorian era, we will get more accurate figures - 1,386,167 women and 58,527 men. Even the poorest families tried to hire at least one maid - the so-called maid of all works, who had to cook and clean. Climbing higher in the social ladder, we will meet more servants, not to mention the aristocratic houses, where the servants numbered in the hundreds. For example, in late XIX century, the sixth Duke of Portland kept 320 male and female servants.
People from the lower classes, mainly from the countryside, came into the service. With development railways the provincial housewives were indignant that now you couldn’t find good maids in the daytime - all the peasant women went to London, where they paid better and where there was a chance to meet a worthy husband.
They hired servants in several ways. In the provinces, for centuries, workers and owners met at special fairs, and the workers took with them some object denoting their profession: roofers held straw in their hands, maids - a broom. All that was required was a handshake and a small upfront payment to secure an employment contract.
But in the cities, old-fashioned inventions were no longer in demand, so it was customary to look for servants through labor exchanges or employment agencies, or even through acquaintances. Before hiring, the job seeker showed letters of recommendation, and woe to the one who would dare to forge them - this was a matter of jurisdiction. Corrosive housewives turned to the previous owners of a Mary or Nancy to find out whether she was clean, whether she really performed her duties well, whether she had a tendency to steal.
"Madam! Since Bridget Duster wishes to be the sole maid in my house, I beg you, her former mistress, to advise whether it is suitable for fulfilling such serious obligations. In the past, I have suffered from the impudence and meanness of servants (who, in my opinion, are sent solely to torment decent people), and therefore I ask you not to be angry at some scrupulousness of my inquiries ... I must admit that I am pleased with Bridget's appearance. I've never seen such deep pockmarks... And the more plain-looking servants, the better. An unsightly appearance is something like a cheap uniform for maids, intended by nature itself: it shows them their place and turns them away from all sorts of nonsense. So far, Bridget seems like a worthy candidate...
I hope she's sober. And then after all, when the maids are so ugly, they sometimes kiss the bottle in order to take revenge on nature. At this point, no matter how you lock the brandy, you still can’t save it from them. Doesn't Bridget break dishes? I always collect money for broken dishes, but who will pay for my nerves? In addition, the servants can kill so many dishes that the salary is not enough. Is Bridget honest? Here, madam, if you please, answer more precisely, because I have been deceived so many times in people. Once I hired a maid with excellent recommendations, and literally a week later I saw her giving three cold potatoes to some organ grinder with white mice. Is this honesty? Is Bridget polite? Does she take a well-deserved reprimand? Can Bridget get up early, no matter what time she goes to bed? A good maid is like a needle - she always sleeps with one eye open. Does Bridget have suitors? I will not tolerate such rascals. The maid should be like a nun, she leaves everything worldly behind as soon as she steps over the threshold of the house. .
Letters of recommendation show how dependent the position of the servants was. Although the owners were convincingly asked not to slander the former employees, as well as not to praise them undeservedly, many did not deny themselves the pleasure of ruining the lives of the servants. It was almost impossible to prove slander. The opinion expressed in the recommendation was considered subjective, and people make mistakes, don't they? Is this a crime?
Sometimes the servants, quite desperate, sued the owners for taking away their chance to work. So did the maid whose mistress in a letter called her “an impudent and impudent girl who stays in bed for a long time, but at the same time she is clean and does a good job”. The judge did not see malicious intent in the words of the hostess and closed the case, while the plaintiff was left without a job and, most likely, with a tarnished reputation - who would hire a litigator? You can imagine how many lives have been broken because of a few unfair words. Among the servants, there was also word of mouth: meeting during the day, the maids gossiped about their masters and could advise the comrade a suitable place or dissuade from the bad.
If even a petty bank clerk could hire a servant, the servant was considered a symbol of prestige. Since 1777, each employer had to pay a tax of 1 guinea per male servant - in this way the government hoped to cover the costs of the war with the American colonies. It is not surprising that it was men who dominated the world under the stairs.
Maids. Drawing from Punch magazine. 1869
The male servants were commanded by a butler. Sometimes he was engaged in cleaning silverware, which you would not trust a simple servant, but in general he was superior. physical labor. He was in charge of all the keys, as well as the wine cellar, which served the butler as a considerable advantage - he made deals with wine merchants and received commissions from them. The butler announced the guests and made sure that the dishes for the gala dinner were served on time, he could also look after the owner’s wardrobe, but did not help him get dressed - this is the duty of the valet (valet).
The owner's personal servant, the valet, prepared his bath in the morning and clothes for going out, collected luggage for travel, loaded his guns, waited at the table. The ideal valet, the "gentleman of the gentleman", is, of course, Jeeves, the hero of the stories of P. G. Wodehouse - even in the 20th century he observes Victorian values. The services of a valet were used by bachelors or elderly gentlemen who needed constant supervision. Was that why Jeeves was so zealous in driving potential brides away from his master, Bertie Wooster? Marriage would mean separation.
The calling card of the lackey (footman) was his representative appearance. This position was taken by men tall, stately and always with beautiful legs so that the calves look good in tight stockings. Dressed in livery, the footman served at the table and, with his appearance, gave solemnity to the moment. In addition, footmen carried letters, opened the door for guests, brought trays from the kitchen and lifted other weights (although cartoons depict a footman carrying a tray with a stack of letters, while a maid, straining, drags a bucket of coal). When the lady went shopping, the footman respectfully followed her and carried the purchases.
The possessions of the male servant extended beyond the home. A huge role in the estate was played by gardeners who created real masterpieces in English parks. In town houses the gardener was a visiting one, who came once a week to mow the lawn and tidy up the palisade. Servants such as the coachman, groom, groom, errand boys, etc. were involved in stable work. According to stereotypes, coachmen were uneducated, ill-prepared for such work, cruel with horses, lazy drunkards, and thieving to boot. But since the Victorians were stern about any servant, it is not surprising that they had a low opinion of the coachmen.
The following requirements were imposed on the coachman: he had to be excellent with horses, distinguished by a sober lifestyle, accuracy, punctuality, composure in all circumstances. For an urban coachman, the ability to drive a carriage well was an urgent need, since maneuvering through the streets was not so easy. Ideally, city coachmen should have been trained, that is, served as an apprentice for another coachman. For a rural coachman, such thorough preparation was not required. It could be taken, as they say, from a plow. If the main disadvantage of the city coachman was that sooner or later he began to boast of his position, the rural coachmen were for the most part lazy - the horses were infected by their apathy and barely crawled along the road. At least, that's how stupid lazy they often appear in English manuals on arranging the stable. The duties of the coachman were to drive the carriage, take care of the horses, keep the harness and the carriage itself in order. Sometimes he had to clean the saddles. If the stable contained more than three horses, a suitable boy was hired to help the coachman.
Richer families could also afford a groom. His salary in the 1870s started at £60 a year and could go up to £200-300. A good groom from childhood was with horses and learned useful skills from senior servants. Although the word "groom" is often applied to any servant employed in the stable, it primarily means a worker hired specifically to keep the horses in the best possible shape. The groom oversaw the cleaning of the horses, their diet, walks, etc.
The groom also accompanied the owners on horseback riding, but rode a little further, behind the gentlemen. An 1866 guide to etiquette advises gentlemen to bring a groom with them if ladies are present during the trip. Ladies were not advised to ride alone, except perhaps in the countryside. As for unmarried persons, they should go for a walk not only accompanied by a groom, but also by some gentleman who is in the confidence of their families. Probably so that they look after each other - but will any of them allow any liberties?
The work of a large stable was led by a senior groom (head-ostler, foreman). Weak people did not stay in this work. To keep the staff in a tight grip, the senior groom had to be a real tyrant, but at the same time a sober, responsible and fair person. Among other things, he bought food and monitored its quality, could negotiate with merchants, invite workers to fix the stable or call a veterinarian. However, not all senior grooms immediately called the veterinarian if necessary. Some were proud that they themselves could treat horses, alone or, at worst, calling a blacksmith for help. The results of such amateur performances were often sad.
As for the female servants, the most senior position was the governess, who belonged to the middle class. But it was the governess who stood out from the hierarchy, because the Victorians themselves did not know where to attribute her - to the owners or to the servants. The real boss of white aprons and caps was the housekeeper, colleague, and sometimes rival of the butler. Hiring and counting maids, shopping for groceries, supervising housework are just some of her responsibilities. An experienced housekeeper easily distinguished young lamb from old, prepared delicious jams and pickles, knew how to preserve apples during the winter and skillfully cut ham. Her interests extended beyond the buffet: among other things, the housekeeper looked after the behavior of the maids, who just let them get a gentleman! English literature has retained many images of housekeepers: here is the affable Mrs. Fairfax, who so cordially received Jane Eyre, and the dim-witted Mrs. Grose from Henry James' novel The Turn of the Screw, and the deeply tragic character of Mrs. Danvers from Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca. But the most striking tandem of the butler and the housekeeper, of course, is captured in the Japanese novel Katsuo Ishiguro "The Remains of the Day" - a story of unspoken love and lost opportunities against the backdrop of a huge old estate.
Hostess and maid. Drawing from Cassels magazine. 1887
A personal maid, or lady's maid, was the female equivalent of a valet. Pretty persons, with an agreeable disposition and literate, claimed for this job. The maid helped the hostess with her hair and dress, cleaned her dresses and washed lace and linen, made her bed, and accompanied her on her travels. Before the mass production of creams and shampoos, all these products were prepared at home, often by maids. Servant's allowances offer recipes for lotions for freckles, balms for acne, toothpastes (for example, based on honey and crushed coal). Very often, the maids got the worn dresses of the hostess, so that they dressed much better than the rest of the servants. By the standards of the XIX century, it was a very prestigious profession.
As the 1831 Servant's Manual states, " cooking is, strictly speaking, a science, and a cook is a professor» . Indeed, cook dinner in mid-nineteenth century was quite a feat, since dinners consisted of several courses, including a couple of desserts, and the kitchen equipment was very primitive. At the very least, one could only dream of such a luxury as an oven with a temperature regime. The cook (cook) herself decided how to bring the fire in the oven (or even in the open hearth) to the desired temperature and not only not burn the dish, but also cater to the exacting tastes of the owners. The work was very responsible, given that the British took food very seriously. Add to this the lack of effective detergents (soda, ash, sand were used), the lack of refrigerators and a million modern appliances, the exaggeration of disturbing rumors about harmful additives, and it becomes clear that working in the kitchen was more difficult than in another laboratory.
From the cook required cleanliness, extensive knowledge of cooking and quick response. In wealthy houses, an assistant was assigned to the cook, who was responsible for cleaning the kitchen, chopped vegetables and cooked simple dishes. The unenviable duty of washing dishes, pans and pots went to the dishwasher (scullery maid). The negligence of a dishwasher could cost the life of the whole family! At least that's what the home economics manuals said about the dangers of copper pots, which show a poisonous patina if they're not properly dried.
In urban middle-class families, it was customary to keep at least three servants: a cook, a maid and a nanny. Maids (housemaids, parlourmaids) were engaged in housework, and the working day could stretch for 18 hours. For almost the entire year, it began and ended by candlelight, from 5–6 in the morning until the family went to bed. The hot season came during the season, which lasted from mid-May to mid-August. It was a time of entertainment, dinners, receptions and balls, during which parents were looking for profitable suitors for their daughters. For the servants, the season turned into a nightmare, as they went to bed after midnight, only with the departure of the last guests. And I had to wake up at the usual time, early in the morning.
The work of the maids was hard and tedious. There were no vacuum cleaners, washing machines, or other household appliances at their disposal. Moreover, when the achievements of progress appeared in England, the owners did not seek to buy them. Why spend money on a car when a person can do the same job? The corridors of the old mansions stretched for almost a mile, and they had to be scraped by hand, on your knees. This work was done by the lowest-ranking maids, often girls of 10-15 years old, the so-called tweenies. Since they had to work early in the morning, in the dark, they lit a candle and pushed it in front of them as they moved down the corridor. And, of course, no one warmed the water for them. Purulent inflammation of the periarticular mucosal sac developed from constant kneeling. No wonder this disease is called housemaid's knee - "maid's knee".
Hanna Kallvik, a maid and one of the most famous memoirists of the 19th century, described her typical working day on July 14, 1860: “I opened the shutters and lit the fire in the kitchen. She shook out the ashes from her things into the garbage pit, and threw all the ashes there. She swept and wiped the dust in all rooms and in the hall. She lit the fire and carried the breakfast upstairs. Cleaned two pairs of shoes. She made the beds and brought out the chamber pots. Cleared the table after breakfast. Washed dishes, silverware and knives. Brought lunch. Picked up again. Tidy up the kitchen, unpack the shopping cart. Two chickens were carried by Mrs. Brewers, who gave her answer to the owner. I baked a pie and gutted two ducks, then fried them. Kneeling, she washed the porch and the pavement in front of him. She rubbed graphite on the scraper in front of the steps, then scrubbed the pavement outside, also on her knees. Washed dishes. She tidied up the pantry, also on her knees, and scrubbed the tables clean. She washed the sidewalk near the house and wiped the window sills. Picked up tea for Mr. and Mrs. Warwick in the kitchen at nine. I was in dirty clothes, so Ann took the tea upstairs. I washed the toilet, the corridor and the floor in the scullery, also on my knees. I washed the dog, then cleaned the sinks. Brought dinner, which Ann took upstairs - I was too dirty and tired to go there myself. I took a bath and went to bed." .
In addition to the main duties, the servants also got rather strange tasks. The maids were sometimes required to iron the morning paper and staple the pages down the center to make it easier for the owner to read. The paranoid gentlemen liked to test their maids by slipping a coin under the carpet. If the girl took the money, it means that she was dishonest, but if the coin remained in place, it means that she did not wash the floors well!
It is interesting that the servants of a higher rank - like a butler or a maid - were called exclusively by their last name. Remember, at least, Jeeves from the stories of Wodehouse - a real relic of the Victorian era. His owner, the varmint Bertie Wooster, calls him exclusively by his last name, and only by chance do we learn the name of the indefatigable valet - Reginald. Housekeepers and cooks were given the honorary title "Mrs." in addition to their surnames, even if they had never married. The maidservants were called by their first names, and even then not always.
In some families, the maid came up with a new name if one of the young ladies had already “staken out” her name, or for the sake of simplicity. After all, maids come and go, so why fill your head with their names? It's easier to call each new Mary or Susan. Charlotte Bronte also mentions the collective name of the maids - Abigail.
In the middle of the 19th century, a middle-level maid received 6-8 pounds a year, not including money for tea, sugar and beer. However, Cassels magazine advised against paying traditional "beer money" to maids. If the maid drinks beer, then she will certainly run after him to the tavern, the source of all sorts of trouble. If she does not drink, then why corrupt her with extra money? Although the cooks considered bones, rabbit skins, rags and candle stubs to be their fair game, Cassels tripped them up here too. Home economics experts insisted that where the maids were allowed to take the leftovers and scraps, theft would inevitably begin. Only the hostess should decide who to give what. The cooks grumbled at such advisers, because the sale of skins to junk workers brought, albeit a small, but pleasant addition to the salary.
A personal maid in the middle of the century received 12-15 pounds a year plus money for additional expenses, a livery footman - 13-15 pounds a year, a valet - 25-50. In addition, on December 26, the so-called Boxing Day, servants were given clothes or money. In addition to the salary, the servants also counted on tips from the guests. When a guest left, all the servants lined up in one or two rows near the door, so for people who were short of money, tipping was a nightmare in reality. Sometimes they might decline an invitation only out of fear of appearing poor. After all, if the servant received a mean handout, then the next time the guest visited, he could ignore or alter his orders - there is no need to stand on ceremony with a greedy person.
By setting aside savings, servants from wealthy households could accumulate a significant amount, especially if the owners did not forget to mention them in their wills. After retirement, former servants often went into trade or opened their own business, although some joined the ranks of the London beggars - here it will fall down. Favorite servants, in particular nannies, lived out their lives with their owners.
The British preferred servants to be identifiable by their clothing. When a maid entered the service, in her tin box - an indispensable attribute of a maid - she usually had three dresses: a simple cotton dress, which was worn in the morning, a black dress with a white cap and apron, which was worn in the afternoon, and a dress for the evening. The average cost of a dress for a maid in the 1890s was 3 pounds - i.e., half a year's salary for an underage maid who had just started working. In addition to dresses, the maids bought themselves stockings and shoes, and this item of expenditure was a bottomless well, because because of running up and down stairs, shoes wore out quickly.
The traditional uniform of footmen included knee-length trousers and a flamboyant frock coat with coattails and buttons, which bore the family coat of arms, if the family had one. The butler, the servant king, wore a tailcoat, but of a simpler cut than the master's tailcoat. The coachman's uniform was especially pretentious - high boots polished to a shine, a bright frock coat with silver or copper buttons and a hat with a cockade.
Footman in the club. Drawing from Punch magazine. 1858
The Victorian house was built to accommodate two distinct classes under one roof. To call servants, a bell system was installed, with a cord or button in each room and a panel in the basement, which showed which room the call came from. The owners lived on the first, second and sometimes third floor. The valet and maid had rooms often adjoining the master bedroom, the coachman and groom lived in quarters near the stables, and the gardeners and butlers might have small cottages.
Looking at such a luxury, the lower-level servants must have thought: “Lucky for some!” They had to sleep in the attic and work in the basement. When gas and electricity became widely used in homes, they were rarely taken to the attic - according to the owners, this was an unacceptable waste. The maids went to bed by candlelight, and on a cold winter morning they found that the water in the jug was frozen and to wash well, you would need at least a hammer. The attic spaces themselves were not distinguished by aesthetic delights - gray walls, bare floors, lumpy mattresses, darkened mirrors and cracked sinks, as well as furniture in various stages of dying.
From the cellar to the attic is a long distance, and the owners are unlikely to like it if the servants scurry around the house for no good reason. This problem was solved by the presence of two stairs - front and black. The staircase, a kind of border between worlds, has firmly entered Victorian folklore, but for the servants it was a real instrument of torture. They had to run up and down it, carrying heavy buckets of coal or hot bath water. While the gentlemen dined in the dining room, the servants dined in the kitchen. Their diet depended on the income of the family and on the generosity of the owners. In some houses, the servants' meals included cold poultry, vegetables, and ham; in others, the servants were kept starving. This was especially true for children and adolescents, for whom there was no one to intercede.
Before early XIX For centuries, servants weren't supposed to have days off. Every minute of their time belonged entirely to the owners. But in the 19th century, the owners began to give the maids days off or allow them to receive relatives (but by no means boyfriends!). And Queen Victoria hosted an annual ball for palace servants at Balmoral Castle.
The relationship between masters and servants depended on many factors - both on the social status of the masters and on their character. Usually, the more well-born a family was, the better it treated the servants. Aristocrats with a long pedigree did not need self-affirmation at the expense of servants, they already knew their worth. At the same time, the nouveau riche, whose ancestors belonged to the "vile class", could push the servants, thereby emphasizing their superiority. Following the covenant “love your neighbor”, the masters often took care of the servants, handed them worn clothes and called the doctor if they fell ill, but this did not mean at all that the servants were considered equal to themselves. Barriers between classes were maintained even in the church - while the gentlemen occupied the front pews, their maids and footmen sat in the back rows.
