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Domestic Servants

Domestic Servants. Before the 1800s. A Servants life…. “There was no status in being in service, you were a nobody…” Rosina Harrison, Rose: My Life in Service, (24) “The employment of servants was a way of defining oneself socially as not being working class.” Eric Hobsbawn. Statistics….

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Domestic Servants

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  1. Domestic Servants Before the 1800s

  2. A Servants life… • “There was no status in being in service, you were a nobody…” Rosina Harrison, Rose: My Life in Service, (24) • “The employment of servants was a way of defining oneself socially as not being working class.” Eric Hobsbawn

  3. Statistics… • Most were from the country • Most went to London • Most were young females • Most homes had a servant (or 50)

  4. Getting the Job… • Referrals • Recommendations • Families • Register offices

  5. Upper and Lower Rank • In the 18th century servants moved freely between roles • Upper servants had a specific skill or were beautiful • Lower servants did mundane jobs • Difference in: jobs, wages, clothes, rooms, diet, and treatment

  6. Upper Servants • Stewards • Butlers • Housekeeper • Lady’s maid • Valet • Clerk-of-the-kitchen • Cook • Groom of the chamber • Groom of the horses • Coachman

  7. Lower Servants • Footmen • Housemaids • Kitchen maids • Dairy maids • Laundress • Nanny • Governess • Page • Scullery maid • Hall boy • Maid-of-all-work

  8. Black Servants • To be sold, a Negro boy age about fourteen years old, warranted free from any distemper, and has had those fatal to that colour; has been used two years to all kinds of household work, and to wait on table; his price is £25, and would not be sold but the person he belongs to is leaving off business.Apply at the bar of George Coffee House in Chancery Lane, over the Gate. [1756]

  9. Black Servants • Extremely fashionable • Shows position of ex-colonials and the rich • Young boys

  10. Wages • Money • Clothing • Housing • Food • Tea • Beer and ale • Vails • Candles

  11. Clothing • "I remember I was put very much to the Blush being at a Friend's House and by him required to salute the Ladies, and I kiss'd the chamber jade into the bargain for she was as well dressed as the best. Things of this natured would be easily avoided if Servant Maids were to wear Liveries, as Footmen do; or obliged to go into a Dress suitable to their Station. Our Charity Children are distinguished by their Dresses, why then may not our Women Servants?" Daniel Dafoe

  12. Clothing • Clothing was considered payment. • Cast-offs were given to upper servants. • Lower servants wore livery.

  13. Rooms • Near the family • Detached wing • Cottages • Closets • Attic • basement

  14. Houses designed for servants • Entrance • Servant hall • Second stairs • Hidden doors • Kitchen • Scullery

  15. Food and Dinning • They ate the left overs from the master’s table. • They sat in order of rank. • The lower servants served the upper servants.

  16. Treatment of servants • “So profligate and abandoned is the world become, that you had better turn your daughter into the street at once, than place her out to service. For ten to one her master shall seduce her.” JohnMoir, Female Tuition; or an Address to Mothers on the Education of Daughters ( 1786)

  17. Treatment of servants • Most servants signed a contract saying the master would provide shelter, board and sometimes clothing. • Masters often complained about servants’ work ethic • Female servants were treated as sexual objects.

  18. Rules • Servants were expected to be silent and invisible • Servants were expected to be celibate • Servants were expected to use their own entrances, staircases, and rooms • “Speak when you are spoken to, do what you’re bidden, come when you’re called, and you’ll not be chidden.” -Proverb

  19. Leisure Time • Servants spent their free time in the servant hall. • Servants went to church. • Servants stool beer, ale and wine from their employer. • Servants spied on their employers.

  20. Losing Their Job • Masters dismissed servants for almost anything. • Turn over was high in most homes. • Unemployment lead to a life of poverty.

  21. Pamela • “Richardson’s novel did not do away with the stereotypes of victim or whore; it created a third alternative, a new way of representing the woman servant as both an object of desire and a loving intimate, a sexual magnet and a family member in doing so, it also created a new erotic between master and a maid, a mix of desire and respect between individuals—if not as peers, at least as equal sharers—in a moral culture that crosses class and gender lines.” • Kristina Straub

  22. Pamela • A relationship between a master and servant. • A servant above her rank.

  23. Servants are People

  24. Questions • How would have Pamela gotten her job as a Lady’s maid? • What kind of servant is: -Mr. Longman? -Mr. Jonathan? -Mrs. Jewkes and Mrs. Jervis? -Poor John? • What kinds of wages does Pamela receivebefore and after marriage? • What kind of clothing does Pamela wear? Hannah? • Where does Pamela sleep? • What can we conclude about Mr. B and his family when we learn his daughter’s stepfather sent her a Black servant boy?

  25. Discussion • Knowing more about Lady’s maids and their job, does it change how you view Pamela? • What about other servants in Pamela?

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