Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant

From Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_ to Robert Altman's _Gosford Park_, the English country house plays a role in the imagination as it has in English society and history. It is a role that has changed greatly over the centuries, as has the role of the servants who ran the places. As Jeremy Musson describes in _Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant_ (John Murray), we seldom hear the word "servant" anymore, but "service" was what everyone used to do through the sixteenth century. Lords served the king, children served parents or went to the households of their parents' contemporaries to serve. A carryover from the time is the closing of a letter, "Your obedient servant." In medieval English, "servant" was used to mean someone who labored for a family and was lodged within its home. But "family" meant something else at the time, too, and covered everyone who lived in a household, taking on the meaning of mere kin during the eighteenth century. Such service signifies a particularly intimate relationship, often as fraught with difficulties as any family tie but often giving sustenance in both directions. The Earl of Northumberland wrote four hundred years ago, "And in this I must truly testify for servants out of experience, that in all my fortunes good and bade, I have found them more reasonable than wyfe, brothers or friends." Musson gives plenty of instances where the relationship did not go so well as that, but still the contributions of servants to the country houses through the centuries were an essential part of British history, and this is a lively and important volume to understand them and their places.One of the important changes over the centuries was the increasing participation of women as servants. Medieval and Tudor kitchens were staffed by men; this might be because the large-scale cooking required workers who could carry heavy utensils and food supplies. A cookbook of 1684 mentions alarm at the fashion for French male cooks, who, as Musson says, "remain much in evidence for the next three centuries." There were often sexual impositions by masters upon female staff (Musson reminds us to read Pepys), but sometimes there were fairy-tale ends to affairs. Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh had been a famous rake, but in 1825 he was 71 years old. That didn't keep him from being transported when he heard a new dairymaid singing, and he proposed marriage on the spot. The girl was shocked, and Sir Harry calmed her by saying, "Don't answer me now, but if you will have me, cut a slice out of the leg of mutton that is coming up for my dinner today." It turns out that the cook was irritated at the adjustment of the mutton, but the dairymaid had him, and they were happy for the rest of his life. Any household needs to get its cooking and cleaning work done, but upper English families had a particular need for footmen. In medieval and Tudor times, a footman was the insignificant servant who would run (hence the term for him) ahead of traveling nobles to announce their arrival or to run messages. By the eighteenth century, footmen were a sign of status, well dressed with powdered wigs, traveling at the back of the coach rather than running ahead. They were so important for show, and so derided by the public for the ostentatiousness of their post, that they were a target for a tax on male servants in 1777, a luxury tax to help pay for the war against the colonies.A system of country house service which had changed through the centuries essentially vanished forever in the twentieth. Workers had wider horizons by then, and girls could work in the shops, factories, or offices. World War One sent 400,000 servants to the trenches or to the factories that supported the war, where they found that the work was often comparable and the bosses less intrusive. Increased taxes on the great estates, and a modern desire for privacy, reduced the number of servants. Sir Earnest Gowers, writing about the threats to national heritage in 1950, said, "There is not now the labour available for domestic service; there is not the desire to do it; and there is not the money to pay for it." There is still a need for cooking and cleaning, but it is far less seldom done by live-in servants (and they are called "staff" now) than by firms that specialize in such services for hire. Some people still need a butler, but a director of a butler placement firm says, "Today, a butler is not so much about formal entertaining, but managing staff, sorting out the digital camera, iPod, Blackberry and house technology; liaising with contractors; and being the first port of call for bills and administration." Musson thus brings service into the 21st century. Much of what the servants were doing a hundred years ago would have easily have been recognized by their Tudor predecessors, but many of the traditions (and the excesses) described in this fascinating book are now gone forever.

If you're a Downton Abbey fan curious about the real lives of the downstairs folks, or if you're interested in servants' lives simply because it's a fascinating subject in its own right, Up and Down Stairs by Jeremy Musson is a good place to start. Musson begins his detailed description of the life of servants in the later Middle Ages to the end of the sixteenth century, working his way through the centuries to the post World War II years. He brings to light the beginning of those features of servant life Downton fans know most about--the back stairs, the Servant's Hall, and the green baize door.Musson starts with Doctor Johnson's definition of servant: "One who attends another, and acts at his command--the correlative of master." Musson then points out that we don't use the word servant any more, true enough since the word has taken on a negative connotation. As Musson takes us through the centuries, we can see how the servants' role evolved. Musson draws on primary sources such as letters from both servants and masters, newspaper articles, and how-to manuals written during the period, and his book is a wealth of information.In Up and Down Stairs Musson doesn't form conclusions about what it all meant for the servants, for their masters, or for anyone else. He's not trying to convince us of anything. He's simply stating the facts, and if you're interested in the facts--of how the word "family" evolved from meaning everyone who lived and worked under the same roof to our current meaning of kin, of how in earlier days the servants lived close by their masters, sometimes sleeping in the hall outside their masters' doors, to the desire for more privacy which created the separate living quarters upstairs and downstairs--then you will find reading Up and Down Stairs time well spent. Sometimes the information became repetitive, as if one servant's letter was too similar to the previous servant's letter, but otherwise I found Up and Down Stairs to be enlightening about a subject I knew little about. I'm already looking for my next Downton-inspired read.

This is a good, compact yet quite detailed history of servants in the English country house, organized by century. The author taps into a number of primary sources, such as diaries and household account books, letters, and period servants' manuals (e.g., Hannah Glasse's 1761 The Servants Directory, Improved). He also has information on black slaves and servants, in the chapter on the 18th century; this is the time period I was most interested in, and pleased with the level of detail given for this century. The 19th century chapter does cover some part of the early years (Regency era), which is well done if all too brief. Victorian and Edwardian eras are covered in some depth, as are the 1920s-30s. I only skimmed the later chapter that covers the second half of the 20th century. The illustrations are completely fascinating - I was amazed by how many servants were actually featured into portraits. It's very well footnoted and the bibliography is lengthy and useful for doing further research. I thought it far superior to Sambrook's "Keeping Their Place," which I found disappointing and not as detailed or as well sourced. On a final note, I was amused to note that the cover of my copy (John Murray, 2009 edition) depicts the servants' bells that were authentically recreated for the "Manor House" TV series - you can see the names "Lady Olliff-Cooper" and "Sir John," the "lord and lady of the manor" for that program.

This history of the country house servant is detailed and absorbing. Much of the material on the period up to 1800 is relatively little known and perhaps forms the best part of the book, although there is more detail for years after that date. Musson starts from an architectural perspective (and so is interetsed in issues such as the design of kitchens and associated offices), but gives plenty of detail on actual functions of servants from day to day.If I have one criticism it would be that the later chapters lean too much on the memoirs of people who served in very large households, and therefore the picture presented is sometimes a little atypical. A little tighter editing to eliminate duplicated information would also have been helpful. But this is still a very worthwhile book.

You can blame Downton Abbey for this one. In this country we seem obsessed with the age of the grand country houses, the world of Upstairs and Downstairs, the golden age before the War - nd I'll confess, I'm no exception. There's something so evocative about the era, a kind of idealised image of England that probably never truly existed to begin with - and perhaps it says something about us that we hark back to it so much.What I liked most about this book is how it managed to evoke that bygone age without surrendering to the gilt and the gloss. It pulls no punches in describing how hard the servants lives were, how often it was lonely and exhausting and miserable, and how frequently the hierachy within the ranks of the servants was as hide-bound and sharply delineated as the divide between Upstairs and Downstairs.Of course, this book explores more than just the golden age of the Edwardian era - it traces the evolution of servants and staff right the way from the medieval household of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, right up to the present day, with the majority of country homes now owned by trusts or English Heritage. It's certainly interesting to note how servants went from being part of the 'family', not hidden away or invisible, to being very much someone who should be neither seen nor heard.

This is an excellent book that traces the history of the country house from the middle ages to the present time. In the early days men predominated in service but by the 19th century women were the driving force. There appears to be more class distinction below stairs than above. There were the Upper Ten (Butler, valet, housekeeper etc) and the Lower Five (footmen, maids etc)and they protected their privileges determinedly. The author traces the development of the country house itself, which will make it more interesting next time I visit a stately home. What amazes is the number of people, 45 plus, per household, to service a family, not forgetting the outside staff, gardeners, grooms etc.The keynote of the relationship between master and servant was Trust and Loyalty. Incidentally, the word servant seems to have diappeared from the modern vocabulary.This is a well researched book, thatI recommend whole heartedly.

A fine description of life of servants in the past. The book has an excellent bibliography. It contains historical facts.

Small print, borrowed originally from the Library, but had to return it before I finished. Was so caught up in the history I had to buy my own copy