Old servant. "Emancipation of servants": how the master's servants lived before the revolution

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Tights
In the USSR, the first women's tights appeared in the 50s of the last century. It was possible to get this miracle only through terrible pull and for an unthinkable price. And our women called this piece of clothing "stocking leggings."

They brought tights from Czechoslovakia. On the label it was written: "punchohov kalgots". Actually, translated from Czech "kalgots" is general definition any pants, but "punchokhovy" - in fact, the tights themselves.

But who knew the details? The word "tights" has firmly taken root among the fair sex!

By the way, when buying tights in Czechoslovakia - do not get into trouble and remember that "tights" are in Czech women's "panties".

Why are the words "trousers" and "pants" always plural?

Because initially each leg was cut and sewn separately. Actually, they wore them separately, attaching each leg with ropes to belts or clothes. Since then, they have been called trousers - trousers in the plural. Moreover, not only in Russian, but also in many others.

Do you know when the arrows on trousers came into fashion?

Before the era industrial production clothes, it never occurred to anyone to iron arrows on their pants. But in the second half of the 19th century, when huge consignments of goods were transported by sea and land from city to city, from country to country, "arrows" suddenly became fashionable. In fact, after transportation in bales, these very folds simply did not smooth out completely.

And so a new fashion was born.

Did you know that leggings were originally men's clothing?

Initially, only the stronger sex wore leggings as an element of formal wear. Leggings were sewn from elk skin - hence the name of the now fashionable tight-fitting leggings.

How to wear a kilt?

Kilt (Scots men's skirt) is traditionally worn on a naked body. This tradition was observed especially strictly in the army regiments. IN old days officers were obliged to check whether this strict rule was violated. They took a special mirror and looked under everyone's skirts. A soldier who violated the rule was obliged to take off his underwear and was subject to punishment.

Contemporaries believe that the kilt can be worn with underwear, and without it. But on holidays they still remember ancient traditions.

From the history of the tie

The forerunner of the tie, familiar to all contemporaries, was the armbands worn by Croatian mercenaries in the 1630s. It was a simple badge.

With the arrival in French army mercenaries, in France, the fashion for neck bandages, "Croats" or "Cravats" soon took root.

Its almost modern look I received the tie in 1924 at the suggestion of Jesse Langsdorf. The little difference with that tie was that it had to be at a 45 degree angle.

Interesting facts about ties:

Ties are sewn from jacquard, silk, wool, satin. Budget option - made of polyester.

There are bulletproof ties. They can withstand the onslaught of even a nine-millimeter bullet.

More than 200 million ties are produced in China every year.

A tie is the most common of all possible gifts for men.

By the way, did you know that it takes 110 silkworm cocoons to make a quality tie?

Why were metal buttons sewn on the front side of the sleeves in the Russian uniform?

This was done by decree of Peter the Great, who thus wanted to wean Russian soldiers, people from remote villages, to wipe their mouths with their sleeves after eating and drinking. Uniforms were sewn from expensive cloth, and, thanks to the order of the emperor, soldier's clothing began to serve much longer, and the state treasury's spending on new uniforms decreased.

The descendant of what noble rich man was forced to wear the old dresses of his sisters?

Rockefeller had five children: four daughters and one son. The family constantly lived in austerity, and younger son wore out for the sisters all their clothes.

As an adult, he did not even think to hide this strange fact. On the contrary, he was proud of it and always said that without saving, no one will ever become a millionaire.

Have women ever worn open-breasted dresses?

Korean women of the late 17th and early 20th centuries who wore blouses with partially or completely bare breasts. It was normal, everyday wear.

For what noble ladies wore fur?

The fact is that the skin of the beast, trimmed or thrown over a luxurious dress, allowed women to at least partially avoid flea bites. Another way to deal with these annoying insects was to carry a special box with slits in which pieces of cloth soaked in blood and sticky honey or wax were placed - flea traps.

Is it possible to sew a dress out of cobwebs?

It turns out you can. Only it is very expensive. The first tailor who tried to make a masterpiece from the web was a Frenchman by origin and an inventor-inventor by character de Seu Hiler. This eccentric scientist in 1710 sewed unique gloves and socks made of "spider silk" for Louis the Fourteenth.

This is not an isolated case of sewing garments from threads woven by spiders.

A few years ago American Museum natural history was enriched by a piece of matter measuring about 3.5 square meters. m. It took 4 years of labor of several dozen workers to make it, whose duties included catching golden spiders and extracting their property from carriers of valuable threads. After the removal of the cobweb, the spiders were released into the wild.

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 magazine "Ogonyok" No. 47 of November 23, 1908, Mrs. Severova's reasoning was published ( pseudonym Natalya Nordman, unmarried wife of Ilya Repin) 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.

On an empty stomach, serve all your life with your 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. Women's, for the most part unmarried youth, arriving in masses from the villages and entering the service of the St. Petersburg "gentlemen" as cooks, maids, laundresses, etc., quickly and irrevocably environment, and countless, unceremonious womanizers, starting with a “master” and a lackey, and ending with a dandy soldier of the guards, a powerful janitor, etc. Would 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 ...

IN modern serials they look quite happy during friendly conversations in closets. But the truth is that the life of most servants in Britain in the early twentieth century was a far cry from what we see today in romantic movies about that era.

17 hours of grueling work, terribly cramped living conditions, the absolute absence of any rights - these are the realities of life for employees in the late Victorian era of King Edward and early Britain.If the maids were harassed by the owners, then they had little opportunity to protect themselves.

Nanny

In his new series films, social historian Pamela Cox, who is the great-granddaughter of one of the servants, explains that these people's lives were far less "comfortable" than is portrayed in modern television dramas. Cox Proves Her Ancestors Never Enjoyed free time, like servants in some TV series.

One hundred years ago, 1,500,000 Britons were employed as clerks.

As a rule, most of these servants worked not in large noble houses, where there were many colleagues and camaraderie, but in the role of a lone servant in an average townhouse. These people were doomed to a lonely life in dark and damp cellars.

With the emergence of new members of the middle class, most service personnel worked as the only servant in the house. And instead of participating in a lively, merry dinner upstairs, these servants lived and ate alone in dark basement kitchens.

british family and their servants, second from the left, most likely a governess, late nineteenth century

Employees of noble houses lived a little better, but, nevertheless, without exception, everyone worked from 5 am to 10 pm for very little money.

Employers would hardly take pity on employees who were overworked, even if they were just kids. Below we provide excerpts from characteristic documents of that era, published on the website http://www.hinchhouse.org.uk.

Rules for servants:

• The ladies and gentlemen of the house must never hear your voice.
• You should always respectfully step aside if you meet one of your employers in the hallway or on the stairs.
• Never start talking to the Ladies and Gentlemen.
• Employees should never express their opinions to employers.
• Never talk to another servant in front of your employer.
• Never call from one room to another.
• Always reply when you received an order.
• Always keep outside doors closed. Only the butler can answer the phone.
• Every employee must be punctual when eating.
• None gambling in the house. Offensive language in communication between servants is not allowed.
• Female staff are not allowed to smoke.
• Servants should not invite visitors, friends or relatives into the house.
• A maid seen flirting with a member of the opposite sex quits without warning.
• Any breakage or damage to the house will be deducted from the wages of the servants.

Master's attitude towards servants:

• All family members must maintain an appropriate relationship with staff. A trusting and respectful relationship must be established with the senior servant who works directly in the family.
• Your servants are a demonstration of your wealth and prestige. They are representatives of your family, so it is beneficial that a good relationship develops between you.
• However, this does not apply to lower-ranking employees.
• While maids clean the house during the day, they must do their best to diligently perform their duties and at the same time stay out of your sight. If by chance you meet, you should expect them to make way for you, stepping aside and looking down as you pass by, leaving them unnoticed. By ignoring them, you will spare them the shame of explaining the reason for their presence.
• In old houses, it is customary to change the names of servants who enter the service. You can also follow this tradition. Common nicknames for servants are James and John. Emma - popular name for a housekeeper.
• Nobody expects you to take the trouble to remember the names of all your employees. Indeed, in order to avoid the obligation to talk to them, lower-ranking employees will strive to make themselves invisible to you. Therefore, they do not need to be recognized at all. (With)

Coty Katya. servant in Victorian England

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 pounds per 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 - Cook (30 pounds), maid (25), junior maid (14), boy for cleaning shoes and knives (25 pence a week). Advocate could 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.

Housekeeper (housekeeper)- Responds to bedrooms and servants' quarters. Supervises the cleaning, looks after the pantry, and also monitors the behavior of the maids in order to prevent debauchery on their part.

Chef (chef)- in rich houses, often a Frenchman takes very expensive for his services. Often in a state cold war with the economy.

Valet (valet)- 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 with her hair and dress, prepares a bath, takes care of her jewelry and accompanies the hostess during visits.

Lackey (footman)- helps to 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)- they sweep 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.

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.

Fairwent 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 lock of a horse's mane, masters of interior decoration premises - 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 the 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 obtain a good place required impeccable recommendations from 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 aboutits 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 middle-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, livery footman - 15-15 pounds a year, valet - 25-50 pounds a year. In addition, servants traditionally received a cash gift around Christmas. In addition to payments from employers, servants also received tips from guests. Usually, when hiring, the owner told the servant how often and in what quantities guests were received in this house, so that the newcomer could calculate what tips he could count on.

Tips were distributed at the departure of the 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., a generous tip testified to his well-being). In some houses, only male servants received tips. For poor people, tipping was a living nightmare, 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 arrange a dolce vita for him - for example, ignore or alter all the orders of the guest.

Until the early 19th century, servants weren't supposed toweekend . 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 novel of the same name Defoe, the owners called "Miss Betty" (and Miss Betty, of course, gave the owners a light). Charlotte Brontë also mentions the maids' collective name, "abigails."

With names the whole thing was interesting. The servants of a higher rank - like a butler or a personal maid - were called exclusively by their last name. A striking example we find such treatment again in Wodehouse's books, where Bertie Wooster calls his valet "Jeeves," and only in The Tie That Binds do we recognize Jeeves' name - 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. Maid uniforms developed in the 19th century have lasted 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 dress made of cotton fabric, which was worn in the morning, black dress with a white cap and apron, which was worn during the day, and an evening dress. 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. semi-annual salary of an underage maid,

In 1851, more than a million Englishmen were in the service, and in 1891, already at the end of the Victorian era, we will get more accurate numbers - 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 up 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 only maid in my house, I ask you, her former owner, to tell me if she is suitable for such a serious obligation. 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 charge 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. .

The letters of recommendation show how dependent the position of the servants was. Although the hosts were convincingly asked not to slander 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 to 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, cooked delicious jams and pickles, knew how to preserve apples through the winter, and was a master at cutting hams. 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 retained many images of housekeepers: there is the affable Mrs. Fairfax, who so cordially received Jane Eyre, and the narrow-minded Mrs. Grose from Henry James's 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, preparing dinner in the mid-19th century was quite a feat, as 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 regular time, early in the morning.

The work of the maids was hard and tedious. They had no vacuum cleaners at their disposal. washing machines, no other household appliances. 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.