Life Below Stairs (8 page)

Being the last to be relieved of his duties, the butler had the longest day and, should his master have been a night owl, he might not have got to bed
until the early hours. According to records at Leighton Hall, in Lancashire, the butler there was up and ready for work by 6.45 a.m. and expected to be on hand to lock up at 1 a.m. Notes issued by
the head of the household Mr Richard Gillow, in 1893, outlined the butler’s timetable.

His instructions detailed the areas he had to lock up as ‘two outside passage doors downstairs, Servants’ hall, Shoe place and Pantries. Lock door and window of
Centre Room, Dining Room, Front Hall and Morning Room if occupied by the family who keep the keys at night.’

HIGH DAYS AND HOLIDAYS

In the Victorian household most servants were given just one afternoon off a week, on Sunday, so that they could attend church. In addition, if the mistress was a
benevolent one, they might have had an extra day off a month.

Cassell’s Household Guide
suggested the generous extra day did away with the necessity for a maid’s friends to call on her at the house. ‘At the same time, a mistress
should be careful not to bind herself to spare her servant on a certain day in every month, as is sometimes demanded,’ it advised. ‘“Once in a month when convenient” is a
better understanding. Most servants, in addition to the monthly holiday, ask to be allowed to go to church of a Sunday once in the day. This request is reasonable; and if a servant really goes to a
place of worship, some inconvenience should be borne by her employers to secure her this liberty, but if she goes instead to see her friends, it should be a matter for consideration whether she
shall go out or not. At any rate, the absence ought not
to extend very much beyond the time occupied in the church service.’

With sixteen-hour days standard for a hard-working maid, an extra day was a remarkably small concession and, with so many working away from home, it could be months or even years between visits
to see their families and friends ‘back home’. Frank Dawes writes of one homesick teenage maid, Harriet Brown, who wrote to her mother in 1870: ‘Dear Mother, I should of ask you
over next week only we are going to have two dinner parties one on Tuesday the other on Thursday and we shall be so busy so you must come after it is over […] I should so like to see you but
I cannot get away just now so you must come and see me soon.’ Although this was thirty years before the Edwardian age little changed in that time and even Harriet’s own daughter was to
go into service as a child twenty years after her mother.

By 1900, calls for fairer working conditions had led to an afternoon and an evening off each week, as well as church time on Sunday. But the free time was not enshrined in law and only began
after lunchtime duties were completed, often as late as 3 p.m. There would also be a curfew, usually around 9 p.m., and anyone late back could find himself or herself locked out by the angry
housekeeper. Time off could also be cruelly snatched away for the smallest misdemeanour or the overlooking of a task.

Dorothy Green was the youngest maid in a London home in the early 1900s and often had to wait up to let her colleagues in after a night out. ‘The younger ones had to be back by 8 p.m. and the older ones at 9 p.m. If the maids were late, which they frequently were, I would be trembling with fear in the kitchen and hoping the mistress didn’t decide
to check up on them because I knew there would be an almighty row if she found out.’

As the work was relentless and exhausting, there was little time to rest or play so the afternoons or evenings off were highly treasured. But not everyone had the energy left to enjoy them to
the full. Margaret Thomas reflected on one house where she was given alternate Sunday afternoons and evenings off. ‘Sometimes, when I went up to dress, I was too tired to go out so I lit the
gas fire and thought I’d have a short rest. I was vexed when much later the cook coming up to bed found me there and discovered I’d “had” my day out.’

For those who did get a monthly day off, it was a much-anticipated chance for a family reunion. Girls frequently started in service as young as twelve and would miss their parents and siblings
terribly, so their monthly visit was a cause for
celebration and a chance to push the boat out. A kind cook would send each girl home with treats such as preserves, cold meats
and cakes and, after church, the gathered family would enjoy a tasty spread perhaps topped off with some home-grown musical entertainment.

For those in service in a London house, with family living in the city, a journey on a tram, a bus or the ‘tuppenny tube’ would get them home. For those living further away, the
journey was difficult and expensive, especially on a maid’s wage. Although the Cheap Trains Act of 1883 had removed duty from all journeys charged at less than a penny a mile, this applied
mostly to ‘workmen’s trains’ in city and suburban areas. A longer journey, even in second class, would mean a lot of saving had to be done first. For example, a trip from London
to Dover, would take two-and-a-half hours and cost over 6
s
. (30p), a great deal of money for someone earning £16 a year. The cost, and the fact that servants were often expected to
return before late dinner was served, even on their one day off, made long distance visits to families impossible.

Enlightened employers, such as one family who engaged Margaret Thomas as a housemaid, allowed an overnight stay away, to combat this problem. In Margaret’s case they also allowed her to
save up her days off over a few months so she could pay a longer visit home.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, it became standard practice to allow a week’s paid holiday, usually while
the family was away itself. The lower paid staff
would save up all year so that they could afford the train fare home for this precious week and a few small gifts for their parents and siblings. After the First World War, when domestic staff were
demanding fairer pay and conditions, the holiday entitlement rose to two weeks.

CHURCH OUTINGS

Servants were expected to attend a church service on Sunday and anyone refusing would risk being branded ‘wicked’ in the pious era of Queen Victoria. Indeed,
whenever they were in Balmoral, the monarch and her husband Prince Albert insisted their servants accompany them on the mile-and-a-half walk to Crathie church every Sunday, without fail.

Under her son, Edward VII, weekends in the upper echelons tended more to parties, horse racing and the pursuit of fun but mistresses still insisted on chapel attendance for their children and
servants and most middle-class families were regular members of the congregation. A God-fearing staff was an obedient one and religion was not only thought good for the servants’ souls but a
convenient way of keeping them in check.

In some churches the master’s family attended the morning service while the domestics worshipped at evening mass but in most the household attended together. However, they sat in different
areas of the church, with the family settling themselves in a pew reserved each week for the residents of the ‘big house’ and servants relegated to the back or the gallery. Here, as in
the servants’ dining hall, the downstairs hierarchy was regimentally observed, with each servant seated according to their rank.