I am looking for a complete list of victorian servants, (both domestic and garden) and what jobs they where expected to do. If you can help me with this I would be most greatfull. Thank you
Diane Wolfthal's 2022 book, Household Servants and Slaves: A Visual History, 1300–1700, is the first book-length study of both images of ordinary household workers and their material culture, covering 4 centuries and 4 continents.
It is full of paintings of servants and slaves, with information about what is known about the subjects. It's fascinating.
But I'd like to see a book about England with some explanation of how they went down the slipper slope from households full of family retainers to being slave owners of people of other races.
Just reading about Pepys' change in attitude towards his household from the beginning of the Diary to the end is revealing. Money and larger lodgings led to distance and annonimity. But to the end he desires a quiet and harmonious household, so he is still very aware of them personally, even if he's stopped sharing the information. There is even a hint that he may have allowed their Black cook to dance at a party. He pays for the wedding of two of his favorites. He is far from uninvolved.
After the Diary Charles II puts him in the position of buying slaves to row a galley warship. Fortunately the experiment wasn't a success, so Pepys must have escaped that role fairly fast. How did he deal with that? How did anyone deal with it? The Christian/heathen excuse wasn't invented for another couple of decades ... was it sufficient that the slaves were "others"? Or maybe being a slave was seen just as God's will, and that's as far as the thought process went?
5 Annotations
First Reading
mrs shirley seddon • Link
I am looking for a complete list of victorian servants, (both domestic and garden) and what jobs they where expected to do.
If you can help me with this I would be most greatfull.
Thank you
Jim • Link
Try this website: "Below Stairs: Life of the Victorian Domestic Servant" URL http://www.geocities.com/victoria…
Nix • Link
There is long and interesting discussion of the Pepys household staff online in chapter 8 of The Making of the English Middle Class —
http://texts.cdlib.org:8088/xtf/v…
in Aqua Scripto • Link
A must read thanks Nix unfortunately it be apoiler too.
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Diane Wolfthal's 2022 book, Household Servants and Slaves: A Visual History, 1300–1700, is the first book-length study of both images of ordinary household workers and their material culture, covering 4 centuries and 4 continents.
It is full of paintings of servants and slaves, with information about what is known about the subjects. It's fascinating.
But I'd like to see a book about England with some explanation of how they went down the slipper slope from households full of family retainers to being slave owners of people of other races.
Just reading about Pepys' change in attitude towards his household from the beginning of the Diary to the end is revealing. Money and larger lodgings led to distance and annonimity. But to the end he desires a quiet and harmonious household, so he is still very aware of them personally, even if he's stopped sharing the information. There is even a hint that he may have allowed their Black cook to dance at a party. He pays for the wedding of two of his favorites. He is far from uninvolved.
After the Diary Charles II puts him in the position of buying slaves to row a galley warship. Fortunately the experiment wasn't a success, so Pepys must have escaped that role fairly fast. How did he deal with that? How did anyone deal with it? The Christian/heathen excuse wasn't invented for another couple of decades ... was it sufficient that the slaves were "others"? Or maybe being a slave was seen just as God's will, and that's as far as the thought process went?
https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2022/…