0:00:02 > 0:00:06A century ago, 1.5 million of us worked as servants.
0:00:06 > 0:00:12Astonishingly, that's more than worked in industries or on the land.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14My great-grandmothers were servants
0:00:14 > 0:00:16and, coming from this background,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19I want to find out about the reality of their lives.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Country houses like these simply wouldn't have been able to function
0:00:23 > 0:00:25without a whole army of staff
0:00:25 > 0:00:28working away above and below stairs.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31When I come to places like this,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34my first instinct isn't to go through the grand formal entrance,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37but to find the servants' door and go in that way.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43In this series, I want to dispel the nostalgia and fantasies
0:00:43 > 0:00:45that we have around domestic service,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47and reveal a much more complex world.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I'm going to tell a very different sort of history,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54one of suppressed passions, strict hierarchies
0:00:54 > 0:00:58and an obsession with status and class.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Digging through the archives,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04I'll track down the lost lives of real servants
0:01:04 > 0:01:07whose voices have largely been forgotten.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Who's this?
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Me. I weren't bad looking, were I?
0:01:11 > 0:01:12No, no, you were very good looking.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17We were the underdogs. We weren't on the same level as them.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19And we had to know our place.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23I'll visit the homes of the super-rich
0:01:23 > 0:01:24and the anxious middle classes
0:01:24 > 0:01:28in order to understand how servants actually lived and worked.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34But, above all, I want to ask some difficult questions
0:01:34 > 0:01:36that have been left unanswered for decades.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Amazing, isn't it?
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Our country was based on an ideal around service for so long,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45why was that?
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Why did that world disappear?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And what uncomfortable truths can we uncover
0:01:50 > 0:01:53by looking at the reality of servants' lives?
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Between the mid-18th and mid-19th century,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14grand country houses sprung up all over Britain.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18New wealth from the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution
0:02:18 > 0:02:22transformed feudal homes into the grand estates of a new ruling class.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26One of these was Erddig Hall, in North Wales.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Erddig was home to local landowners, the Yorks,
0:02:34 > 0:02:39and their staff - 30 outdoor estate workers, plus 15 indoor servants.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43In the servants' quarters, the first thing you see
0:02:43 > 0:02:45'is a poem blessing them all.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52"May Heav'n protect Our home from flame
0:02:52 > 0:02:54"Or hurt or harm of various name!
0:02:54 > 0:02:58"And may no evil luck betide To any who therein abide!
0:02:58 > 0:03:01"Or who from homes beyond its gate
0:03:01 > 0:03:05"Bestow their toil on this estate!"
0:03:05 > 0:03:07And toil's the word.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13The Hall was built on a generous scale,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15200,000 square feet of house
0:03:15 > 0:03:18with six formal reception rooms, a chapel,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21a grand dining room and nine family bedrooms.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26In order to service these rooms,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30there were twice as many rooms downstairs and in the outhouses,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33each with their own specific function,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36from the kitchen and the scullery,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39to the laundry and the bake house.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The family upstairs could summon the servants
0:03:42 > 0:03:45to any part of the house at any time.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47BELL RINGING
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Erddig might seem quiet now, but, in its prime,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55the economic scale of the work that kept it going was staggering.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Every week, three tons of coal were carried around
0:03:58 > 0:04:00to fuel 51 fireplaces,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04five ovens and three coppers.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06200 to 300 gallons of water
0:04:06 > 0:04:09were carted around different parts of the house
0:04:09 > 0:04:11for cooking, cleaning and washing.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14And, for washing, we're talking up to 600 items per week.
0:04:17 > 0:04:18Then, there's the food.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Four meals a day for up to 30 people,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25that would be the family and their staff, guests and their staff.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29And all this was done by hand by a small army of servants
0:04:29 > 0:04:35working 17-hour days, all year round, with no modern technology.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42This scale of service was repeated in country houses
0:04:42 > 0:04:43across the British Isles.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45But what's so unusual about Erddig
0:04:45 > 0:04:48is that the family had a long-standing tradition
0:04:48 > 0:04:52of having portraits made of their servants.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57This is the family of servants at Erddig in 1852,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59the family of servants at the front,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02the real family at the back in that window there.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Each servant is depicted carrying an implement or a tool
0:05:06 > 0:05:09relating to their role in the house.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11And historians call these "loyalty portraits,"
0:05:11 > 0:05:14you find them up and down the country in servant-keeping houses.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17You've got the butler with his bottle,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19the housekeeper with a brace of fowl,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23the lady's maid with her sewing kit.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26What's particularly nice about this one is that the employers
0:05:26 > 0:05:29wrote poems to go with the portrait.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Here's what they say about the butler.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33"Our butler in the foreground shown
0:05:33 > 0:05:35"As Thomas Murray well was known:
0:05:35 > 0:05:37"He who does nigh the centre stand,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"With bottle clasp't within his hand.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41"Clever was he at drawing Cork,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43"And a good hand at Knife and Fork."
0:05:43 > 0:05:47And I really like this one about the lady's maid.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49They don't seem to like her so much.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52"Near by our Butler, Mrs Hale,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54"Of whom our memories much do fail.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56"As lady's maid she sojourned here,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58"Black was her dress, her face austere.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01"And when she did for Brighton leave,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03"No-one here a sigh did heave."
0:06:03 > 0:06:05- (SHE CHUCKLES)- Oh, dear.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09The photograph and the poem
0:06:09 > 0:06:12give us a revealing glimpse into life below stairs.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15They hint at the tension between the staff themselves,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18whose lives were governed by a strict hierarchy.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22In houses like Erddig,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24the butler was at the top of the pile,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27overseeing the coachman and footman.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29He was in overall charge of the house,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31alongside the housekeeper,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33who hired the housemaids.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37The cook dominated a separate world,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39controlling kitchen maids to prepare food,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42dairy maids to make butter and cheese,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44and scullery maids for the washing up.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50The governess and head nurse took care of the children's universe,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52while the lady's maid and valet,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54close to their mistresses and masters,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57stood separate from the other servants.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59And, at the very bottom of the pile,
0:06:59 > 0:07:00were the laundry maids
0:07:00 > 0:07:01and hallboys.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07The hallboy usually slept in the servants' dining hall
0:07:07 > 0:07:09on a fold out bed.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Sadly, we don't know much about the hallboy in Erddig in the 1850s,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15a lad called Edward Davis.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17But hallboys in other houses
0:07:17 > 0:07:21did record their 16-hour days in gruelling detail.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25The hallboy at Longleat was a lad called Gordon Grimmett,
0:07:25 > 0:07:26and he wrote in his memoirs
0:07:26 > 0:07:29that every day he had to trim, clean and fill
0:07:29 > 0:07:33all the lamps and candles in the house, and that could be up to 300.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37And every morning, before the other servants even woke up,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40he had to polish 60 pairs of staff boots.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Every servant acquired a very specific set of skills,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48learning from senior servants or from household manuals.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53"How to clean ladies' boots?
0:07:53 > 0:07:54"The following is an excellent polish
0:07:54 > 0:07:57"for applying to ladies' boots.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59"Mix equal portions of sweet oil,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02"vinegar and treacle
0:08:02 > 0:08:03"with one ounce of lamp black.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06"When all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10"rub the mixture onto the boots with the palm of the hand
0:08:10 > 0:08:12"and put them in a cool place to dry."
0:08:16 > 0:08:17The pecking order
0:08:17 > 0:08:18was even played out
0:08:18 > 0:08:20when the servants ate their meals
0:08:20 > 0:08:22together in the servants' hall.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Mealtimes were a time when the status,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29the hierarchies between servants were enforced.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32There would be a strict order of coming in to eat
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and strict rules about
0:08:34 > 0:08:36where different ranks of servants might sit.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And you might also have rules,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40such as no speaking unless you were addressed
0:08:40 > 0:08:42by one of the senior servants.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45And the senior servants had a great deal of power,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47so the butler, for example,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50in some households, would put down his knife and fork
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and everyone else had to finish eating,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54whether you'd finished or not.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56So servants had to learn to be fast eaters.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Some houses had a strict set of rules
0:08:58 > 0:09:00governing behaviour in the hall.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03You even had to pay a forfeit if you broke them.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05For instance, rule four,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09"That if any person be heard to swear or use any indecent language
0:09:09 > 0:09:11"at any time when the cloth is on the table,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13"he is to forfeit thruppence."
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Rule seven, "Whoever leaves any pieces of bread at breakfast,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19"dinner or supper, forfeits one penny."
0:09:20 > 0:09:23But there was also divisions
0:09:23 > 0:09:26between the different branches of domestic service.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30So, famously, cooks were often very protective of their space.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32And the kitchen staff sometimes wouldn't eat here
0:09:32 > 0:09:34in the servants' hall,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37but had the privilege of being able to eat in the kitchen,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and the other servants always suspected that they had better food.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43And, of course, I imagine some servants had to serve the other servants.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45That's right. You would have had the very junior servants
0:09:45 > 0:09:49learning their trade, if you like, by serving in the servants' hall.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52Way above the hallboy,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55the most powerful female servant at Erddig was the housekeeper
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and her room is still immaculately preserved.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02From here, she did the accounts and tradesmen's orders,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04marshalled the female staff
0:10:04 > 0:10:06and looked after the most precious items,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09such as the china and the linen.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14In 1852, the housekeeper here was Mrs Webster.
0:10:15 > 0:10:20One of the most iconic objects associated with the housekeeper were her keys,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24and here's Mrs Webster, the housekeeper at Erddig
0:10:24 > 0:10:26with her keys in her lap.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29In fact, it was said that it was a mark of a good housekeeper
0:10:29 > 0:10:32that she could strike fear into the hearts of the lower servants
0:10:32 > 0:10:34with a mere jangle of the keys.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Mrs Webster didn't just look the part,
0:10:39 > 0:10:40her employers' poem paints her
0:10:40 > 0:10:45as the prefect frugal employee who rose through the ranks.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47"Upon the portly form we look
0:10:47 > 0:10:49"Of one who was our former Cook,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53"No better keeper of our Store Did ever enter at our door.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55"She knew, and pandered To our taste,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57"Allowed no want and yet no waste.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01"And for some 30 years or more The cares of office here she bore."
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Although Erddig's loyalty portraits and poems suggest a cosiness
0:11:06 > 0:11:08between masters and servants,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11the reality is starkly different.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Most big houses were specifically designed
0:11:14 > 0:11:17to keep the masters and their servants apart.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22One of the best examples of this idea of separation is Petworth.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Its Sussex estate was 15 times larger than Erddig,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30and, at its height, it employed 300 indoor and outdoor staff.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Most of the indoor staff lived and worked in a separate servants' wing
0:11:36 > 0:11:40at the back of the main house, but that wasn't enough.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44In order to keep the servants actually hidden
0:11:44 > 0:11:46from their employers and guests,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48the architect designed a tunnel
0:11:48 > 0:11:52which connects the servants' wing to the main house.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59Low-ceilinged and damp,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02you can just imagine what it was like with dozens of servants
0:12:02 > 0:12:06brushing past each other carrying trays of food and dirty dishes.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14You can think of the country house rather like a giant swan,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16gliding gracefully on the surface,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19but, underneath, there's an army of servants
0:12:19 > 0:12:22paddling furiously to keep the whole thing moving.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26It tells us a lot about the reality of servants' lives.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Most big employers didn't know their servants by name,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31some didn't know how many they had.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34In one house in Suffolk, if a junior member of staff
0:12:34 > 0:12:36came into contact with a member of the family,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40they actually had to flatten themselves against the wall.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Anonymity and invisibility were a very big part of the job.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50As if a tunnel wasn't enough,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53the main house itself was designed for invisibility,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57with its hidden passages, secret doors and backstairs,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01allowing the servants to shadow their employers' every move.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06From here, a hidden army could service their master's needs
0:13:06 > 0:13:10with invisible hands, turning up beds, lighting fires,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15filling their baths and jugs with water brought up from the range.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Scuff marks of the slop buckets.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28The contrast between the sumptuous, richly decorated family areas
0:13:28 > 0:13:32and the dull-coloured servants quarters is stark.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The very top floor of the house wasn't only designed
0:13:36 > 0:13:39to keep servants away from their employers,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43it was also built to keep servants separate from each other.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Up here in the attic is where the senior servants slept,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50the butler, the housekeeper, the valet, the lady's maids.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54The lower servants slept in dormitories above the servants' wing,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58men up one end, women down the other, separated by a locked door.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00In fact, I think you've got to think of this house
0:14:00 > 0:14:03as a physical embodiment of 19th-century values
0:14:03 > 0:14:06with separation and segregation at its heart.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10So it's segregation by sex, by skill, by age
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and, of course, in a house like this, by class.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Here, in Petworth's vast private archive,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20with records dating back 700 years,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24we see what this segregation actually meant for the servants -
0:14:24 > 0:14:26a huge difference in pay
0:14:26 > 0:14:29between the highest and the lowest.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34Here, we've got payments for servants and servants' wages.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36- And these are the servants in 1860. - Yeah.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40They more or less go in hierarchical order.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43We're starting with Henry Upton, who was the surveyor.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47£50 a quarter is roughly £14,500 a year today.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50He is, by far, the highest earner.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54And so, we go on down through the housemaids, the kitchen maids
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and probably somewhere at the bottom, though they don't tell us, are the laundry maids,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01people like Christine Anderson, who only gets three guineas a year.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Just £700 a year in today's money.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Though you have to remember that the staff here were fed,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10provided with uniforms and lived rent-free.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Surprisingly, in spite of the master/servant segregation,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17the archives have a very rare book,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21an informal photo album compiled by the master's daughter-in-law.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27All The Dear Servants At Petworth In 1860.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Yes, this was collected by Mrs Percy Windham.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33She'd had photographs taken of all her favourite servants here.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Regardless of the house design,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Mrs Windham clearly got to know the servants
0:15:38 > 0:15:42and wrote affectionate notes giving us tiny hints of their lives.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47And this is Thomas, who was maid to Mrs Percy Windham,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49who married Owen, the valet.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Thomas is presumably her surname.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53- Yes.- Oh, OK.
0:15:53 > 0:15:54THEY CHUCKLE
0:15:54 > 0:15:57"This is dear old Bowler, the nursemaid.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03"A butler, or under-butler, name forgot."
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- "Name forgot."- (SHE CHUCKLES)
0:16:05 > 0:16:08"Who was at Petworth, but not for very long."
0:16:08 > 0:16:10- Still got a photograph though.- Yes.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13There's Mr Upton, the clerk of works,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15who we know got £50 a year from the wage book.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18A dairy maid, Mrs Greenfield.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23A laundry maid, Reynolds.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Here's John Dine, who was butler for a long time.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28They didn't really want him to be butler,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- they didn't think he was quite up to it because he was so nervous. - Oh, dear.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33And if he brought them a cup of coffee in the morning,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36his hand would shake so much that he wouldn't have much coffee left in the cup.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40- But he stayed with them for years. - So they kept him on anyway? - Yes, yes.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And it's quite tantalising cos you get a sense of, you know,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47who they are from here, where they worked, what they looked like,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49but there's still so much more, I think.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53- Yes. You'd like to ask them what they thought of it.- Yes.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00The formal servant portraits in this album,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04most standing proud in their uniform, are very familiar to us.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07And yet, these uniforms were actually a Victorian invention.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15A hundred years earlier, in the 18th century,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17servants had dressed much more individually.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And this is a wonderful collection of portraits.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35They look like lords and ladies in the latest fashions.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38In fact, they're all servants.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40And, up here, is Mary Hayes,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42down here, is Mary Wells.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45They're both housemaids.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Look at them, beautifully dressed.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Look at their bonnets and their beautiful lace collars.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54This is another lovely one.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57This is the housekeeper, Mrs Edwards,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01who looks more like Marie-Antoinette in that powdered wig.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The men servants are also really well turned out.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06This is a lower groom, Francis Yates,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10but look at his orange silk waistcoat there.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Up here, we've got the gardener and his wife,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16beautiful bonnet and roses.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Beautiful silver buttons down his jacket.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23This is Stevens, who is a general man servant,
0:18:23 > 0:18:24but if we take him off the wall...
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Have a look at the back, you get some lovely detail on him.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36"Stevens, alias Lumpy, the famous player at cricket."
0:18:36 > 0:18:38I think he was the Duke's cricket coach,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41so no doubt about why he was hired.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44When you think about them as a group,
0:18:44 > 0:18:46what really comes across is their personality,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50individuality with their own looks and style.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54The most fashionable couple of all, placed in the very centre,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57look like THEY are the master and mistress,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59but they, too, are servants.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01If you compare these 18th-century portraits
0:19:01 > 0:19:04with 19th-century photographs,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07the one very clear difference - uniforms.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10This is a mid-19th-century photograph of the servant staff
0:19:10 > 0:19:14at a country house, and they're all in uniforms,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18different uniforms for different ranks, for different purposes,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20very clear division of labour, very clear what people do,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23because you can read it from their dress.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26It's even more pronounced in this one.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29This group of maid servants from the early 20th century,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31they've not only got the same clothes,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33they've even got the same hair.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36This lovely roll at the front,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39some can clearly carry it off better than others, I think.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44What's happening here, clothing is serving a purpose,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46clothing is denoting class,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49it's putting servants back in their place.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54It's almost like individual identities are being flattened to a type.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57And this even happened with names.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Fancy or higher-ranking names could be changed by employers
0:20:00 > 0:20:03to more suitable lower-ranking names,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06so Florence could become Flo, Elizabeth could become Betty.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11In some houses, footmen were given the names Henry or William,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13regardless of what their actual names were.
0:20:15 > 0:20:16As the 19th century progressed,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20service became more sharply defined as a profession,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22with specific uniforms and dress codes,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25as well as particular rules and customs.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Tracts and manuals spelt out these rules clearly -
0:20:29 > 0:20:31how to be a Victorian servant.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39This is a 19th-century pamphlet, very snappy title for servants -
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Hints To Domestic Servants,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Addressed More Particularly To Male And Female Servants
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Connected With The Nobility, Gentry And Clergy.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And it's written by a butler in a gentleman's family, 1854.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54So note, he's not a master, he's a butler,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58and this is his view of how servants should behave.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Page 74, "Cleanliness.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04"The first thing I would recommend is cleanliness.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08"No person will make a good servant who is not habitually clean,
0:21:08 > 0:21:09"clean in person and in work.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12"Nothing is more offensive to a lady or gentleman
0:21:12 > 0:21:17"than to have a dirty, slovenly servant about them, male or female."
0:21:18 > 0:21:19Page 78.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23"Be uniformly obedient to your masters."
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Page 81, "A slothful servant is a wicked servant.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30"Keep your master's secrets, never reveal what he intends should be private.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33"Defend your master's honour and the honour of his house.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37"Seize on every opportunity to promote their happiness.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40"And especially by praying for the renewing Grace of God."
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Service, with its particular codes of behaviour and dress,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49became ever more sharply defined,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53as the riches extracted from the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution
0:21:53 > 0:21:56flooded into cities like Liverpool, Manchester and London.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01This wealth fuelled a massive building boom,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05giving rise to the terraced houses with attics and basements
0:22:05 > 0:22:07of the newly emerging Victorian middle classes.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14And one way these new middle classes felt they could cement their status
0:22:14 > 0:22:16was by keeping servants.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21One such servant, William Taylor,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25gives us a rare personal view inside these middle class households.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28William was manservant to a wealthy widow
0:22:28 > 0:22:31on Great Cumberland Street, in London.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Back in the 1830s, this was a very smart row of houses.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The fact that it's a hotel now with its own doorman
0:22:38 > 0:22:40is really quite apt in a way.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44William Taylor had grown up on a small farm
0:22:44 > 0:22:47and came to London to look for work.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51He wrote a diary, which is incredibly revealing of servant life
0:22:51 > 0:22:53in the bustling social city.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57And remarkably, it survived.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00"May 14th - Mechanics and tradespeople
0:23:00 > 0:23:02"speak disrepectably of servants.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06"If they meet a servant in company they will say, one to the other,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08"'It's only a servant.'
0:23:08 > 0:23:10"But everyone must know
0:23:10 > 0:23:13"that servants form one of the most respectable classes of person
0:23:13 > 0:23:14"that is in existence.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19"They must be healthy, clean, honest, a sober set of people.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24"May 18th - We're going to have a party this evening,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26"something larger that usual.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28"It is quite disgusting to modest eyes
0:23:28 > 0:23:30"to see how the young ladies dress,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33"nearly naked to the waist to attract the gentlemen,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36"naked on the breast, except to cover the nipples.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38"If anyone wants to see all the ways of the world,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40"they must be a gentleman servant."
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Amazingly, William Taylor's diary and his scrapbook
0:23:45 > 0:23:48have been handed down through four generations of his family,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52and are now treasured by his great-great-great-niece.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55And here is the diary.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Do we know why he wrote the diary?
0:23:58 > 0:24:04Yes. He says so. He says he wanted to practice his writing.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06"As I am a wretched bad writer,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10"many of my friends have advised me to practice."
0:24:10 > 0:24:13So he writes this diary, and it's a year in his life, 1837.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16- Yes.- What are his duties?
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Cleaning the lamps and the shoes.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21And the knives, because you had -
0:24:21 > 0:24:24didn't have stainless steel knives in those days.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27And then, he would be taking the meals up and clearing them away.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30And he appears to have done the washing-up from upstairs,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34which you might think the maid servants would do, but...
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Because he was married, wasn't he? William?
0:24:36 > 0:24:41Yes, he was. It was unusual for servants to be married at that time.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43And where were the wife and child then?
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Living in respectable lodgings round the corner.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47But they also kept a scrapbook,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49and I think he was something of an artist, is that right?
0:24:49 > 0:24:50Yes, yes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54He made a scrapbook to send home to his family for their entertainment.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55Oh, is this it here?
0:24:55 > 0:25:00This is it, yes. It's a bit fragile.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02- It's obviously been much looked at. - Yes.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04"A book of entertainment
0:25:04 > 0:25:09"composed of drawings, scraps, memorandums by William...W Taylor.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13"All the drawings in this book that are marked WT
0:25:13 > 0:25:17"are drawn by William Taylor, self-taught artist."
0:25:17 > 0:25:20- That's his frontispiece, he's got here.- Yes.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22He's got a lovely picture here of a lion and a tiger.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25But he also gives us an insight into his life in service, I think,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27with some of these pictures.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Yes. Yes. There's - if we look carefully.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- I like the way the carpet is so carefully done.- Mm.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35There's servants helping themselves
0:25:35 > 0:25:38behind the screen in the dining room.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And the master and mistress having dinner.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I like the one having the swig from the bottle.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47One's having a swig from the bottle and eating one of the sweet meats.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48Yes. Yes.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51- Just before they bring them in, you imagine.- Yes.- Yes.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53You've got the master and the mistress.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55That's fantastic.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57SHE CHUCKLES
0:25:57 > 0:26:00I do wonder what his family made of him when he went home on visits.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02But there is one picture of him going home.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07"William Taylor going home and alarming his friends."
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Him arriving dressed quite smartly.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12This is Mr T.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- Buttoned trousers there and his top hat.- And gaiters.- Gaiters, yes.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Hands in his pockets.
0:26:17 > 0:26:18- Smart coat.- Yes.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Here's Uncle James, very much alarmed.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Notice he's still wearing a smock.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Yes, and he is very much alarmed in the eyes. That's great.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32There are two passages here that I think really sum up
0:26:32 > 0:26:34William Taylor's life in service.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39The first one is from one of his days off in March and he says,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41"I made to town on the omnibus.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43"Got there by five o'clock. Went to see a friend.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45"Came to Cumberland Street at seven.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49"Went to the Opera House at eight to see and hear a lecture on astronomy.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53"The man showed us how the world turned around and how fast it goes.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57"We turn around at the rate of 17 miles a minute.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59"We saw how the eclipse took place.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03"He showed us everything belonging to the sun, moon and stars."
0:27:03 > 0:27:07So he's really seeing life, the world, the universe
0:27:07 > 0:27:09as a result of his life in service.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11But, at the end of the diary,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15it strikes a much more melancholic note.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18"30th December - Have been very busy and at home all day.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20"The life of a gentleman servant
0:27:20 > 0:27:23"is something like that of a bird shut up in a cage.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25"The bird is well-housed and well-fed,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27"but is deprived of liberty,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31"and liberty is the dearest and sweetest object of all Englishmen."
0:27:31 > 0:27:34And it's really interesting that he talks about liberty,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36because a lot of other kinds of workers, working men,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38were beginning to talk about liberty
0:27:38 > 0:27:40at that time after the French Revolution.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43And you kind of don't expect to hear a servant talking about it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47"In London, men servants have to sleep downstairs underground,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50"which is generally very damp."
0:27:50 > 0:27:53So he's been to a lecture about the stars,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56but he has to sleep back down on the ground, underground even.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00"Many men lose their lives by it, by this damp,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02"or, otherwise, get eaten up with rheumatics.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06"One might see fine blooming young men come from the country,"
0:28:06 > 0:28:08like himself, "to take service,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10"but after they have been in London one year,
0:28:10 > 0:28:11"all the bloom is lost and a pale,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14"yellow, sickly complexion in its stead."
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And the very end of the dairy, 31st December, he says,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"Now, all the readers of this book
0:28:21 > 0:28:25"might gain an idea of what service is."
0:28:26 > 0:28:28So here's a diary that started off
0:28:28 > 0:28:31as an exercise to improve William's handwriting,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33but it ended up being much, much more than that.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36And, in fact, it ended up being one of the most rare
0:28:36 > 0:28:40and most moving records of service that we've got.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49As the middle class expanded, so did their voracious demand for staff.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54By 1851, an astonishing 1.3 million people were servants.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Keeping a servant was a badge of respectability.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01It marked your status as a member of the middle class.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07In 1859, a woman wrote a letter to Charles Dickens' journal,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09All The Year Round.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14In it, she says, "I am the wife of an assistant surgeon.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16"My husband has the entire charge of a branch practice
0:29:16 > 0:29:18"with a salary of £80 a year.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21"We are expected to keep up a genteel appearance.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24"The clergyman and his wife, our rich neighbour and his wife
0:29:24 > 0:29:28"and a few of the gentry call on us occasionally.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31"I must not do our household work or carry my baby out,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34"or I should lose caste.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36"We must keep a servant."
0:29:38 > 0:29:41But the new mistresses had no experience of how to keep a servant,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43so they looked to the aristocracy,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47with their centuries' experience of servant keeping.
0:29:47 > 0:29:5118 Stafford Terrace, in Kensington,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53was the home of Punch cartoonist Linley Sambourne
0:29:53 > 0:29:54and his wife Marion,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and is a perfect example of how aristocratic ideals of the big house
0:29:58 > 0:30:01played out amongst the new middle classes.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10The house is a remarkable time capsule,
0:30:10 > 0:30:14stuffed full of things and people.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19Linley and Marion Sambourne, their two children, Linley's mother,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21but also five servants -
0:30:21 > 0:30:24a cook, a parlourmaid, a housemaid,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26a nurse and even a groom,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30the only one reporting directly to the master.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33What's striking about these houses is that they are very narrow.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36There's only one staircase here, no back staircase.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41So the geography of the house is very different to that of the big house,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43but styles of service are really similar.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45And I think what's happening here
0:30:45 > 0:30:48is that the middle classes are using their new money
0:30:48 > 0:30:50to buy into old values.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54What's really central to those old values is the idea of separation.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56So here we have the servants
0:30:56 > 0:30:58pushed into the attic or down in the basement,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00illusions of space created by doors,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04by curtains, by speaking tubes and, of course, those bells.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07But the irony is that everyone in this house
0:31:07 > 0:31:09is within calling distance of each other.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Marion Sambourne kept meticulous diaries and accounts,
0:31:12 > 0:31:14as well as advice manuals.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16The fattest and most famous of all
0:31:16 > 0:31:20is Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23It's not just recipes,
0:31:23 > 0:31:29it's full of information about how to run the household
0:31:29 > 0:31:33and, of course, she's well-known for this quote at the beginning.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38"As with the commander of an army or the leader of an enterprise,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41"so it is with the mistress of a house.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44"Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment,
0:31:44 > 0:31:49"and just in proportion as she performs her duties intelligently and thoroughly,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53"so will her domestics follow in her path."
0:31:53 > 0:31:55And, for me, what's lovely about these diaries,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58although they're Marion's diaries, the mistress' diaries,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00we do get a sense of the servants' lives,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03we get a little window on their world, would you say?
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Yes, yes, definitely.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09It does seem from the diaries that Marion was quite a good mistress.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Well, in this diary, for instance,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14she's obviously having a lot of trouble with cook.
0:32:14 > 0:32:15She had a cook who has left
0:32:15 > 0:32:17and she has been trying out various other cooks
0:32:17 > 0:32:19and they're all very unsatisfactory,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22particularly this one, Mrs T,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26who obviously over-spends because not only are the books very heavy,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30but Mrs T drinks an awful lot of beer.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36And, generally, that was one of cook's perks, you provided free beer,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39and you'd have a little barrel in the kitchen for cook to help herself.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41It was quite thirsty work.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Well, it was. I mean, you were literally slaving over a hot stove.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47"Saw Mrs T about beer.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50"29 gallons went in a fortnight.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54"She either sold it on or she entertained her friends."
0:32:54 > 0:32:57So, after that, new arrangements were made.
0:32:57 > 0:33:03And, on the 10th, "Mrs T gave notice." Underlined.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06As Punch cartoonist,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10the master of the house needed photo models as the basis of his sketches,
0:33:10 > 0:33:12using not just himself,
0:33:12 > 0:33:18but the family servants and, above all, his groom, Otley.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Here we have some of the photographs
0:33:20 > 0:33:25which show what fun Linley and Otley had together.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28We've got thousands of pictures of Otley, literally thousands,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and this is one of my favourites,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35because he's dressed up as the Emperor Nero,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38and he's fiddling while Rome burns, you see.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43He's twanging a harp, which is actually a fire screen.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Otley reported directly to his master,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51who wasn't nearly as strict as Marion.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Otley clearly never worked as hard as the maids.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Marion's home, like many mistresses of her status,
0:34:08 > 0:34:13was full of new furnishings, rugs, wallpaper,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16ceramics, glassware, mahogany,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20from the new industries and across the Empire.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Marion put her housemaids to work,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25keeping all these objects in pristine condition.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28This is Marion Sambourne's household rota.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31It's a to-do list, really, for her servants.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34This is what she wants the housemaid to do,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38"Seven o'clock, bring in my hot drinking water.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41"Sweep down, thoroughly clean the stairs,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43"get the bathroom ready and lavatory."
0:34:43 > 0:34:45And then, the servant has her breakfast.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47"Eight o'clock, bring my hot water.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49"Draw up blinds, empty and take away bath.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51"Always use basin cloth and wipe tumblers.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55"8:30, clean grate in drawing room, thoroughly sweep and dust room.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57"Wipe round parquet, clean all brass."
0:34:57 > 0:34:59A lot of brass in here as well.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01"Open windows front and back.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03"Water and wipe with a wet cloth all plants."
0:35:03 > 0:35:05A lot of plants in here.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11"How to clean a looking glass.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13"Blow the dust off the gilt frame,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16"as the least grit would scratch the surface of the glass.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21"First, sponge it with a little spirit of wine or gin and water,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24"so as to remove all spots.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28"Then, dust the glass over with a powder blue tied in muslin
0:35:28 > 0:35:30"rubbing it lightly and quickly off
0:35:30 > 0:35:32"and polishing with a silk handkerchief."
0:35:36 > 0:35:40And then, what you'll see here is that every minute is accounted for,
0:35:40 > 0:35:42taking us through to the evening.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Seven o'clock, we find her tidying the drawing room,
0:35:44 > 0:35:45where we're sitting now.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48"Put the cushions tidy and tidy the papers.
0:35:48 > 0:35:49"Dust tables and the piano.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51"See to the lights and sweep the fires.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54"Eight o'clock, assist and wait at table and after see to bedrooms.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58"Turn down beds, washstands wiped, hot water, chambers and so on."
0:35:58 > 0:36:00Nine o'clock, she has her own supper in the kitchen.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Ten o'clock, she can fall into bed,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05and that's the end of her day,
0:36:05 > 0:36:09until, of course, she gets up and does it all again the next day.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Now, that sounds like a day from hell for me,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13but I guess this is the housemaid's lot.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Just reading that out gives me a real sense
0:36:19 > 0:36:21of the control that's going on here,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24that the servants' every minute is accounted for,
0:36:24 > 0:36:25nothing's left to chance,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27every detail is covered.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30It also gives you a sense of the sheer scale of the work.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35It's boring, it's repetitive, it's demanding and, ultimately,
0:36:35 > 0:36:37I think it's pretty lonely as well.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46You'd think the housemaid would get some privacy up here,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48finally asleep in her own bed.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51But Linley Sambourne clearly thought it was fine
0:36:51 > 0:36:55for him to take one of his photos of her looking utterly exhausted.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The servants certainly had a tough life,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05but the mistresses weren't happy either.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07It was challenging for both sides
0:37:07 > 0:37:10living so closely alongside each other.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12This closeness bred anxiety
0:37:12 > 0:37:16with mistresses worrying about what the servants were really up to.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21So much so, that their paranoia was even sent up in a book.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26This is called The Greatest Plague Of Life
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Or The Adventures Of A Lady In Search Of A Good Servant.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31And it's full of wonderful illustrations,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35graphic illustrations of servants behaving badly.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38So here, the nurse taking the baby out for a walk in the park,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40but the baby's fallen out of the pram,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43she's not noticed because she's chatting to a gentleman follower.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47One here with the servant sitting down in the kitchen having a chat,
0:37:47 > 0:37:48the bells ringing up above them.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51They just say, "Oh, just let them ring again,"
0:37:51 > 0:37:53so they're not going to get up for anybody.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57I think one of the most telling is this one.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59The mistress has gone out, she's come back in,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03she's found the servants not downstairs working,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06upstairs partying in her drawing room.
0:38:06 > 0:38:07This is an important one,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10because it shows this is the world turned upside down.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14And what happens when the order is overturned?
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Chaos ensues. This one I love.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Here's the mistress in the centre of a totally chaotic scene,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24baby on the floor, mirror being cracked, somebody swigging the wine.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Now, OK, these are cartoons,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30they're satire, they're meant for a joke,
0:38:30 > 0:38:31but they do tell us an awful lot
0:38:31 > 0:38:34about the neuroses, fears and anxieties
0:38:34 > 0:38:36of this new servant-keeping class.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41The Greatest Plague Of Life was such a bestseller
0:38:41 > 0:38:44that it was turned into a magic lantern slide show
0:38:44 > 0:38:46for the entertainment of both the servants
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and their anxious employers.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06And how did they prevent such bad behaviour?
0:39:06 > 0:39:10By attempting to control not just the outward manners,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12but also the inner morals of their servants.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Where better than every Sunday at church?
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Religion reminded everyone of their place.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27The Christians were all servants of God.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29Real servants had time off to come to church.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31It was quite a strict seating hierarchy.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34The masters and mistresses would be at the front
0:39:34 > 0:39:35in their finest clothes.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Servants would be behind them much more modestly dressed -
0:39:38 > 0:39:40mustn't outdo the mistress.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45THEY SING
0:39:48 > 0:39:51The message conveyed through seating arrangements,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53but even more directly from the pulpit,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56was about accepting one's station in life.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Can you tell me about the importance of Christianity
0:40:02 > 0:40:05- to Victorian society of the 19th century?- Yes.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09I mean, the thing I think that's hard for us to remember is that,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11in the 1840s, '50s and '60s,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Britain is a Christian nation
0:40:14 > 0:40:17and is becoming a very convinced Christian society.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21The home and the family becomes much more important
0:40:21 > 0:40:25and the role of the mistress and master in relation to their servants
0:40:25 > 0:40:27is a huge part of that,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and part of that moral transformation of the nation.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32What you do in your home,
0:40:32 > 0:40:36how you educate your children, and your servants,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38this is where, as it were,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40the moral regeneration of the nation can begin.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42So what this seems to be telling us
0:40:42 > 0:40:44is that there's a much bigger picture here about service.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Service isn't just about the domestic work,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48the cooking and the cleaning and the washing,
0:40:48 > 0:40:50important as those things are,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- there's a moral side to it too, would you say?- Absolutely.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56So would it be a mistake to think that servants are somehow
0:40:56 > 0:40:59passive in all of this, and this is all coming from the top down?
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Well, I think it's a complete mistake to think that,
0:41:02 > 0:41:03because, for one thing,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06it means that people are just dupes and rather foolish,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09sort of absorbing the views of their betters.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Many servants were rural migrants,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14and many of them would have grown up in villages
0:41:14 > 0:41:16where they went to church on a Sunday
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and they heard the rector or the vicar telling them
0:41:19 > 0:41:21about their station in life
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and telling them that the best thing they can do to serve God
0:41:24 > 0:41:27is to do good and honourable work,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29and that's the station to which they are called.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31What's the darker side to all this?
0:41:31 > 0:41:33For me, service is almost entirely a darker side,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36and I'm trying to give you a sense of its idealism.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40But, in reality, it's not a mechanism for social mobility.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44You know, your average kitchen maid or groom,
0:41:44 > 0:41:46you know, they don't move up the scale, they don't get richer,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48they remain in their place.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53As the wealth of the country continued to grow,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57a new category of people wanted to join the ranks of servant keepers -
0:41:57 > 0:41:59the lower middle class.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Most of them could afford just one servant,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05the kind who is largely ignored by history,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08but who came to dominate domestic service -
0:42:08 > 0:42:10the maid-of-all-work.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14Looking at the 1871 census,
0:42:14 > 0:42:18we see that two-thirds of all servants fell into this category,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20and, if you want an idea of what their lives were like,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22you can turn to Mrs Beeton.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25She said, "The general servant or maid-of-all-work
0:42:25 > 0:42:29"is perhaps the only one of her class deserving of commiseration.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31"Her life is a solitary one
0:42:31 > 0:42:34"and, in some places, her work is never done."
0:42:34 > 0:42:36In the maid-of-all-work,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39all the difference branches of domestic service
0:42:39 > 0:42:40were combined into one,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43leaving her with an endless list of daily duties,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47as outlined in instruction manuals and how-to books.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51"Brush up the range. Light the fire. Scrub the kitchen floor.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55"Sweep the hall. Dust the furniture. Shake the mats. Polish the brass.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57"Scrub the doorstep. Clean the boots. Strip the bed.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59"Empty the slops. Air the bedrooms. Dust the parlour.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02"Scrape and peel potatoes. Cook the dinner. Change uniform.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04"Serve at dinner. Lock and bolt the doors."
0:43:07 > 0:43:0824 Cheyne Road, London,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12was home to perhaps the best documented maids-of-all-work.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16Amazingly, a photographer has captured a glimpse of one of them
0:43:16 > 0:43:18peeking out of the ground floor window.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Today, this is a really well-to-do area,
0:43:23 > 0:43:24but it wasn't always like that.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26You think back over a hundred years ago,
0:43:26 > 0:43:29this was not a high-end address.
0:43:29 > 0:43:30It's too close to the river.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32You've got sewage, you've got stench,
0:43:32 > 0:43:33you've got fog rolling up here.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35But what this is
0:43:35 > 0:43:38is a typical example of a house lower down the social scale
0:43:38 > 0:43:40that would have employed just one servant.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And she would have lived and worked down there.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Two of my great-grandmothers were maids-of-all-work,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53employed in houses just like this.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56I find it quite daunting coming down here.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06So this is the world of the maid-of-all-work.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10It's very dark down here,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12and it's such a sunny day up there,
0:44:12 > 0:44:13but it still feels dark down here,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and I think, in the winter, it would be even darker, wouldn't it?
0:44:16 > 0:44:19And she's got what she needs down here.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Those are the tools of her trade, aren't they - the sink, range,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25table, even her bed's over there.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30She'd be working all day, she'd fall into bed at night
0:44:30 > 0:44:32and she'd start all over again.
0:44:32 > 0:44:33It feels very closed in.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52The maid who slept here in this bed
0:44:52 > 0:44:55would have been employed by traders or professionals -
0:44:55 > 0:44:59doctors, dentists, coal merchants, beer merchants,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01those kinds of people.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04In fact, my great-grandmother worked for a doctor's family
0:45:04 > 0:45:06just up the river, in Chiswick.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08It's always made me feel a bit sad
0:45:08 > 0:45:11that we never knew what she did or how she worked,
0:45:11 > 0:45:13but there are other ways of getting a glimpse
0:45:13 > 0:45:16inside the world of the maid-of-all-work.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Here's one.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21This is Mrs H, who remembers that she left school at 14.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Her mother had found her a job at a local builders
0:45:24 > 0:45:28and she had to look after three children, she's only 14 herself.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31She says, "Terribly homesick, cried to sleep."
0:45:31 > 0:45:33"Lived in kitchen separate from household,"
0:45:33 > 0:45:35so very like where we're sitting now.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Here's another one.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42This is from the Morning Chronicle in the 1850s.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45"When I was ten, I was sent to service as a maid-of-all-work
0:45:45 > 0:45:47"in a small tradesman's family.
0:45:47 > 0:45:48"It was a hard place,
0:45:48 > 0:45:51"my mistress used me very cruelly, beating me often.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55"When I'd been in the place three weeks, my mother died.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59"I stood my mistress' ill-treatment for about six months.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01"She beat me with sticks as well as with her hands.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05"I was black and blue and at last I ran away."
0:46:05 > 0:46:10Now, we don't know if all maids-of-all-work were treated this badly,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14probably they weren't all, but, as these voices tell us,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16some of them definitely were.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22I hope my great-grandmothers had a better time than that.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29The mistress of this household certainly didn't treat her maid servants as badly,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32but she did have a very complicated relationship with them.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36This was the home of eminent historian Thomas Carlisle
0:46:36 > 0:46:38and his wife Jane, also a woman of letters.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46She evocatively documents her daily trials and tribulations,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48and leaves us with an eloquent record
0:46:48 > 0:46:51of the bond which dominated her life -
0:46:51 > 0:46:54the extraordinarily fractious, challenging relationship
0:46:54 > 0:46:56between her and her maids-of-all-work.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02There are reams and reams of this stuff.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04Jane wrote letters nearly every day,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and a lot of it is about the relationship with her servants.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09And, although it's from the mistress' point of view yet again,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12we do still get more than a glimpse
0:47:12 > 0:47:14of the servants' lives and characters coming through.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18There's Isabella, who's described as a fiery Scottish maid,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20who basically tells Jane where to go.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23She says, "No one woman living could do my work," and when Jane says,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26"Well, actually someone's been doing this for years," she says,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29"Well, there's some women that like to make slaves of themselves,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32"but I will never slave myself for anybody's pleasure."
0:47:32 > 0:47:34And she packs her bags and off she goes.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36And I guess what this means for me, really,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40is that...it shows us where power lies in this story.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42The power's not just with the mistress,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44with her power to hire and fire,
0:47:44 > 0:47:46the power's also with the maids,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50who had the power to leave, and leave they did.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55Jane went through 34 maids in 32 years.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59We simply don't know how many were sacked and how many walked.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03Jane was not unusual in her troubles around servant keeping.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07Like many Victorian middle-class mistresses,
0:48:07 > 0:48:11she struggled with this idea of being a manager and moral guardian,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14knowing that her personal reputation
0:48:14 > 0:48:17was based on the way her servants behaved.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22And something happened in this tiny backroom with her maid servant Mary
0:48:22 > 0:48:25that put Jane's personal reputation on the line.
0:48:27 > 0:48:34Well, the story that Jane tells in a letter is that
0:48:34 > 0:48:37a neighbour came and said, "We need to tell you this
0:48:37 > 0:48:40- "because everyone in the neighbourhood knows."- OK.
0:48:40 > 0:48:47And the story she told was the maid had given birth in this room.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Jane wasn't at home, but Thomas was not only at home,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53Thomas was there, Thomas was a couple of feet away
0:48:53 > 0:48:58for at least a period while the woman was in this closet giving birth,
0:48:58 > 0:49:04he was having, says Jane, his after-dinner tea and sitting there.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08While this story reflects on the servant,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11the interesting thing to me is the way Jane tells the story...
0:49:11 > 0:49:12Yes, yes.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14- ..Is how it reflects on Jane.- Yes.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16Jane had failed in this duty,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20and I certainly read the letter to a degree
0:49:20 > 0:49:26that she is setting out precisely why she didn't fail,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30precisely to indicate to her friends and her family
0:49:30 > 0:49:33that she wasn't the unvigilant mistress,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37which would have indicated a moral failing in her.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40It wasn't simply that the woman giving birth had failed,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43but that Jane had failed to teach her
0:49:43 > 0:49:46the ways of middle-class righteousness.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49- So she's repairing herself as moral mistress?- Absolutely.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52- So what happened in the end to this servant?- Jane sacks her.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Most employers tried to prevent getting into such a tricky situation
0:49:57 > 0:50:01by encouraging their charges to read the wealth of moral literature
0:50:01 > 0:50:04aimed specifically at servants.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07In the basement of the British Library,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09we've unearthed some rare copies.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16So these are just a small selection of a vast, vast literature
0:50:16 > 0:50:19aimed at servants produced in the 19th century,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and there's all kinds of things here.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23There are magazines, there are prayer books,
0:50:23 > 0:50:25there are fables, there are personal stories,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28so it's a really vast amount of stuff.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30How would they get this material?
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Well, some would be given to them by their masters or mistresses.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37We've got one here - A present For Servants From Their Masters.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Others would be given to them by perhaps their parents or relatives
0:50:41 > 0:50:42before they left for service.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45Others still, they might just buy themselves,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47there's one here, the Servants' Magazine,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49which I think is a commercial publication.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51And it's fascinating because it shows us
0:50:51 > 0:50:53the journey that a servant is expected to make,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55from disordered country cottage
0:50:55 > 0:50:59to ordered family home where she's stoking the fire.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01A crucial part of that journey for her
0:51:01 > 0:51:05is a moral and religious teaching that helps her to make this journey.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08So here we've got the servant kneeling by her bed,
0:51:08 > 0:51:09saying her prayers -
0:51:09 > 0:51:11The Servant Maid.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13"Though servitude's my destined lot,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17"And I am doomed to roam Far from my native peaceful cot,
0:51:17 > 0:51:18"Far from my friends and home.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20"If God saw fit to make me great,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22"He would not this deny;
0:51:22 > 0:51:24"And while I'm in a meaner state,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26"He will my wants supply."
0:51:26 > 0:51:28The message there is
0:51:28 > 0:51:31that servants should be happy with their position in life,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34God's looking after them, they're doing the right thing.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36There's another one here,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39which is a daily prayer book for servants from the 1850s.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43We've got prayers for a housekeeper or butler or any place in authority,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45and then, prayers for a lady's maid, a nurse,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48an under-maid's servant and a man servant.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50There are also specific prayers on specific themes,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and just listen to these themes -
0:51:52 > 0:51:57humility, meekness, contentment, honesty, truthfulness.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01And it's the one about contentment that really gets me.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05"For contentment - Almighty Father, who alone art wise,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07"yea, Wisdom itself,
0:52:07 > 0:52:09"make me to feel that in Thy providence
0:52:09 > 0:52:11"Thou orderest all things for the best,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14"and grant that I may be able to be satisfied
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"with the station in which Thou hast placed me,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20"not envying those who are richer and higher than I,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23"but content to be poor and lonely in this world."
0:52:23 > 0:52:25And I think that says it all.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35To see one of the most telling examples
0:52:35 > 0:52:38of the ideal, loyal and moral Victorian servant,
0:52:38 > 0:52:40I'm going back to Erddig.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Miss Harriet Rogers worked her way up
0:52:44 > 0:52:48from housemaid to housekeeper over an impressive 40 years,
0:52:48 > 0:52:52and her portrait has earned its place in the servant wing corridor.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56What's really striking about Harriet
0:52:56 > 0:52:59is that she devoted her whole life to service.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01She climbed to the top of the career ladder,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03and this is how her poem ends.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06"Then, with her life's long Task complete,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09"Did Harriet Rogers seek retreat,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11"And found it In our neighbouring town
0:53:11 > 0:53:12"Amid the kindred of her own.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14"May all such years as yet remain
0:53:14 > 0:53:16"Be peaceful, and unspoilt by pain!
0:53:16 > 0:53:18"And at the last, may Heaven accord
0:53:18 > 0:53:21"Her faithful work Its blest reward!"
0:53:23 > 0:53:26If anyone deserves her loyalty portrait, it's Harriet.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31Harriet's letters and personal possessions still survive.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34In a house near Stockport,
0:53:34 > 0:53:36a number of objects associated with Harriet,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40a picture of her father, Erddig carpenter Thomas Rogers,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44a painting of Erddig and a room full of memorabilia
0:53:44 > 0:53:47are treasured by her great-great-niece.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51The first letter's in 1846.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54This looks like almost a shrine to a life in service.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59We've got her diary, we've got her cookbooks, the instruction manual,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03her prayer books, the work book,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06the lamp, it's got her initials here.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08- Yes.- "HR," stamped there.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11And she would have used this in the halls of Erddig.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Yes. Yes, it has a spare candle holder.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18A spare candle in here.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21- And wax matches. - Oh, just here.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22I haven't tried them.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24- (SHE CHUCKLES)- Wonderful.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28One of Harriet's letters is profoundly revealing
0:54:28 > 0:54:31of how she sacrificed her personal friendships
0:54:31 > 0:54:32for loyalty to the York family.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35This is 1871.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37"Dear Miss Rogers, if I say I was pleased to receive your letter,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39"I should say what I did not feel.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41"So often we've looked forward to the pleasure of your visit,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44"but, as often as we have looked, we have been disappointed.
0:54:44 > 0:54:45"And for what reason?
0:54:45 > 0:54:48"Because Miss Rogers had not the courage
0:54:48 > 0:54:50"to ask Mrs York for a week's leave.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53"We've made up our minds that if you do not come and see us, we will never call again."
0:54:53 > 0:54:56- I know, it's pretty strong.- Yes.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Servants didn't get much time off,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01even senior servants, so perhaps there was an issue there
0:55:01 > 0:55:04with just the sheer amount of time she had. But..
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Oh, yes, they didn't have much time off,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10and if she had to do Mrs York's hair
0:55:10 > 0:55:13every time she dined out or had people to dine.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16He's berating her for not having the courage to ask Mrs York,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19but, presumably, that's quite difficult at the time.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Well, I think it would be, yes.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25"Yours very sincerely, JC Maddox."
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Did she get lots of valentines?
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Quite a number, yes. It is amazing though
0:55:30 > 0:55:34- that she kept all these valentines, don't you think?- It is.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39- They're just exquisite, aren't they, the way they're just... The work on these is just wonderful.- Yes.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41And this is quite a delicate one.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43And it's got little messages written in the folds.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Yes. And the name of the chappie at the very end.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50- I think it was a Herbert somebody. - Herbert!
0:55:50 > 0:55:53I don't think I'd have wanted a Herbert.
0:55:53 > 0:55:54SHE LAUGHS
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Let's look what this says,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59"Pray let us join both hearts in one."
0:55:59 > 0:56:01Sounds like it's quite serious.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04- Well, do you think it's a proposal? - Yes.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06She was engaged three times, you know.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08She never married in the end?
0:56:08 > 0:56:12No. I think she liked working for Mrs York.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14She was very loyal.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Just the fact that she kept all these objects,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22formal photos of herself in uniform,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24a prayer book inscribed from Mrs York,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27are a testimony to Harriet's loyalty.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30This is a really extraordinary collection,
0:56:30 > 0:56:35paints such a vivid portrait of Harriet and her personality.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38And it seems to me that Harriet really preferred
0:56:38 > 0:56:41her life as the housekeeper in the big house.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46In many ways, Harriet stands as the ideal of the Victorian servant -
0:56:46 > 0:56:49selfless, quite religious, very proper,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52indispensable to her mistress, clearly really enjoying her work.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55But this came at quite some personal cost,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58puts a strain on her friendships.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00She puts her valentines cards away,
0:57:00 > 0:57:05she turns down a few proposals of marriage, she stays single.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08And what this says to me is that servants like Harriet
0:57:08 > 0:57:11could and did make choices,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14but if they chose to remain in service,
0:57:14 > 0:57:17they really had to accept the limits of that life.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21Over the course of the 19th century,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25the starchily uniformed servants we are so familiar with today
0:57:25 > 0:57:29had become clearly defined and standardised,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33through hierarchy, segregation, uniforms
0:57:33 > 0:57:35and a strong sense of "knowing your place."
0:57:35 > 0:57:40Highly individual talented people, like William Taylor,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43housekeeper Mrs Webster and the maids-of-all work
0:57:43 > 0:57:47became just cogs in the machine of Victorian society.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55Being an ideal servant was ultimately about accepting your station in life,
0:57:55 > 0:57:57and this wasn't just an elite view,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59this was a view shared by many, many servants,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02especially the successful ones.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05And, for me, it's that word, station, that's so revealing here.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08It implies that people have to somehow stand still,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11even though the world around them is changing very fast.
0:58:11 > 0:58:12And it's this ideal
0:58:12 > 0:58:15that was going to be seriously challenged and questioned
0:58:15 > 0:58:18by the next generation of servants.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21In the next episode - servants in the run-up to the First World War
0:58:21 > 0:58:26start to challenge their station in life, in private and public.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29And it doesn't go down well with the masters and mistresses.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd