Servant
ranks
Below stairs,
there was a strict hierarchy among servants, from butler and housekeeper down
to hall-boys and scullery maids. At the top was the house steward, employed in
some great houses as a general manager. Directly below him were the butler and
housekeeper who were responsible for the daily organisation of the household
and who supervised the other male and female house staff.
The ranks of
female staff in order of importance were the housekeeper, lady’s maid, cook,
nurse, housemaids, kitchen and dairy maids, scullery maids, and laundry maids.
The male staff included the steward, butler, valet and chef; beneath them were
the footman and various odd-job boys such as scullery boys, hall-boys and
pages. Each position was carefully graded and in houses where the butler and
housekeeper ruled supreme, the lower servants often lived in greater fear of
their wrath than of that of the master or mistress.
Upper servants
were addressed as ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’ by their underlings as a mark of respect. At
mealtimes, in church and at prayers, the servants entered and left in strict
order of rank. Servants ate the first course of their meals together in the servants’
hall, often in silence, after which the upper servants (the housekeeper,
butler, lady’s maid, valet and cook) retired to the housekeeper’s hall (often
referred to as the ‘Pug’s Parlour’) for desert. While lower servants were
served home-brewed beer, wine was provided for upper servants, some of whom
acquired fine palettes!
In large houses
like