18th century Lady's Maids

I can point you to no authoritative source, but i can give you a brief description (of not entirely absolute certainty) from having read hundreds of books on the period, both fiction and history, and written during the period. The problem you'll have is that the "underclass" was socially invisible, so a direct account would be very hard to find.

In the hierarchy of the household, the woman of the house would keep all of the keys, and responsible to her are the Housekeeper (one of the two highest ranking employees and generally responsible for the women and the "back of the house," the other highest ranking employee would be . . . ), the Butler (responsible generally for the male employees and the "front of the house") and all the underlings of these two personages. This is in theory. In practice, either that woman was dominated by these employees, or them by the "master" of the house (although usually throught the woman of the house--who could be his wife, mother, daughter, sister); ideally, of course, her role would be that of benign supervisor, with the excellence of the employees assuring a minimum of effort on her part to keep things running smoothly. That assumes, of course, that everyone concerned was happy with their lot in life--i'll leave that surmise to you.

Below the Housekeeper are any and all Maids. In a large household, her immediate inferior, and responsible for all other maids in the front of the house, downstairs, would be the Front Parlor Maid (in America, not certain if that title applies to those in England). The Upstairs Maid would fulfill the same function in the public areas and guest rooms in the top front of the house. All maids would live upstairs, high up, in the back of the house.

The Housekeeper would also supervise a Cook and kitchen maids, and usually there would be a scullery maid, a girl, paid little, or even nothing (other than bed and board) for the heavy cleaning and the "scut" work (any undesirable task in the kitchen). As well, if the house were prosperous enough, there would be a washerwoman, who might have a laundry maid or two.

All the personnel of the 18th and 19th centuries (the trend for servants as status symbols, which grew into an obsession for "maintaining standards"--i.e., of cleanliness and convenience--began in the late 17th century, and reached a peak before the First World War, after which it became prohibitely expensive to keep so many servants, for all but the very wealthiest) were necessary to provide their employers with a quality of life afforded modern inhabitants of the industrialized world, with sufficient means, of "all the comforts of home." These days, of course, we rely upon appliances, or are likely to hire someone to come in for a specific task at set times and rates.

The height of this expression of the personal servant were the Valet (the "gentleman's gentleman") and the Lady's Maid. The exact nature of their duties would depend upon the degree of wealth, or at last the desire to display status, of their employers. In a household with but few servants, but wishing to project an image of affluence, the Lady's Maid might find herself responsible not simply for the careful storage and appearance of the clothing of the lady of the house, but might well be obliged to wash and press it as well. At highest levels of society (read: real wealth), she would be responsible for assuring that the clothing of her mistress were properly cleaned and pressed, and would then assure that it were properly stored. This would entail laying out the lady's clothing for her use in the morning, or the night before if her immediate employer were a woman of sufficient sense, and little fickleness, who would make provision for it. Otherwise, she would be expected to "wait" opon her lady as she performed her toilette and chose her apparel (these same duties and routines would fall to the lot of the Valet in his service to the master of the house). She usually would assure the appearance of the lady's coiffe, as well, if she did not in fact dress her lady's hair herself (which might be a responsibility of the Lady's Maid in a less affluent house). She would be responsible for the cleanliness of the lady's private chambers, pack and care for her garments and her personal effects and hygene and hair-care items when travelling, and assure that such things were properly arranged and stored when at home. She would usually accompany the lady when she left the house, and both the lady and her companion (a paid position) if that were the case. She would be expected to carry anything which the lady cared to take along, and any packages or bundles representing purchases. She might also be expected to take care of any petty cash which the lady might receive as an allowance, or from her own personal sufficiency (many society marriages were arranged on the basis of the woman's estate). She would attend the tea service for her lady, in concert with the housemaids of the front of the house, and she might serve at table (sometimes, ritually, only for her lady and her lady's female guests), and in less wealthy households would be expected to serve all guests at table.

In the less wealthy households, she might be expected to assume the housekeeping duties of the Upstairs maid, although her efforts might be seconded by one or more housemaids, and usually, at the least, a girl. In the least well-off households which nevertheless aspired to keeping one or more servants, she might combine all of the Lady's Maid duties with those of a house maid, and have the assistance of one or more girls, who were paid a very small wage and "slept out"--that is, at home (many girls and boys "in service" were paid a pittance, or nothing at all, as they lived on the premises and received their meals; in provincial towns and the less wealthy households, they probably would "sleep out.")

Oddly enough, one of the best books which i have read for describing the hierarchy of the 18th and 19th century households with many employees in service is to be found in a book written near the end of the last century, by Charles Palliser, entitled Quincunx. In the section entitled "Mompesson," the protagonist takes service in the household of those he imagines to be his enemies (they do not recognize him, for plausible reasons) as a Knife Boy. On the household ladder, this is the bottom rung, occupied with the Scullery Maid. This passage of the novel gives a wonderful picture of life in the "back of the house." I'm really at a loss to recommend to you any particular book which will answer your questions. However, if you care to read several dozen novels by Dickens, Austen, Eliot, the Bronte sisters, etc.--you would probably begin to get the picture. If you need to know right away, as i suspect, i can only offer you good luck.

Setanta, many times we see long posts like this one and merely skim them, at best. This one was fascinating. I read it all the way through.

Thanks, Boss, you're very kind . . .

Me, too! (Read all the way through.)

This show was extremely enlightening, the website is good, too:

http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/

(Period isn't right, though, 1905. But gives an idea.)

You might perhaps like to read this book (or only the content/reviews):

THE GENTLEMAN´S DAUGHTER - Women`s Lives in Georgian England

Might well be that
PUNCH'S GUIDE TO SERVANTS
from the 'Dictionary of Victorian London is worth looking at as well.

Ah Walter, you are the King of the pertinent links, your contributions are always welcome and helpful.

Soz, by 1905, the household service culture had reached its height, and your link is very informative.

Most Serene Boss!
I'm glad, you didn't write "impertinent" :wink:
Thanks you very much indeed.
Meanwhile farewell and hold your Peace.
Your Serene Boss' brother in thoughts,
Walter I

I can't thank you enough for replying, Setanta, thanks! I just have a couple more questions that perhaps you might know the answers to: what was the typical age for a lady's maid and where were they found (i.e. did a girl train to be a lady's maid?)?

I watched a series on pbs called 18th century house.
The amount of work was overwhelming for the mother and she hired a girl to come in to do most of the work. I could not believe the work.
Laundry took 3 days to wash , dry and iron. Cooking breakfast and cleaning the dishes took 3 hours. Sweeping the house and then scrubbing the wood floors to get the mud/dirt off took all day. Hanging rugs out and beating them with the "new" rug beater took 1 hour. Killing and Cleaning a chicken for dinner, (which was kept by the family) took all the rest of the day after lunch. Feeding domestic animals...dogs chickens, pigs or goats or rabbits or a cow took over an hour. Sewing on a daily basis to mend socks, shirts, jackets, underclothes. Then sewing a new garment took days. The beds had to be stripped all the way down to the frames about 2 times a year and wiped or cleaned with a strong, tear your skin off, type of soap/detergent. They did this to clean bacteria and germs. The mattresses had to be rotated and cleaned for sanitary reasons. A person had to make their own shampoo which left the hair dry and coarse. Then there was individual room cleaning. There was a daily cleaning of the fireplace and the wood stove. Just to clean the kitchen table they ate at took 1 hour to scrub the wood clean of grease and dirt and food. The work never ended. Not to mention child rearing at the same time. The woman would fall into bed, utterly exhausted.

Sure that was 18th century? I remember some of the above as well - and I'm born past WWII!

Maybe it was the 19th century house.

I think it was "The 1900 House".

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house/

<Ahem> Might I suggest the series of books written by "anonymous" to enlighten one about the 'other' duties of the ladies maids.

Actually, that was a big part of the life, wasn't it? Sort of expected to be at the gentleman's disposal if comely enough?

Jora, a housemaids girl would not receive formal training, just on the job training. I cannot state it with any certainty, but i do not believe that there were formal training courses offered anywhere, except perhaps toward the end of the era of "private service." A housemaids girl might take service as a housemaid when old enough. If her employers "gave her a good character," she would have the opportunity to work her way up the pay scale by moving to more affluent households. To be a Lady's Maid, however, she would have to be selected, arbitrarily, by a woman in search of such a servant, or be taken on because of a "good character" from a previous employer.

Not getting a good character, or being known for a "bad character" would be very likely the end of her working life as a domestic servant. Often, prostitution was the only career left open, for those who could not return to a family. This applied to paid companions and governesses, as well, despite their education, and despite usually having come from a middle-class background. There were few options for unmarried women in a "christian" society.

I just know a little bit about this from continental Europe/Germany and by primary sources only from 19th century (and from my own family's history - then 18th and 17th century, however and not nobility related).