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Victorian Servants The September speaker was Pat Hase who spoke on “Victorian Servants”. When she asked for a show of hands on who had ancestors who were servants or had employed servants she was surprised to find more of the latter which in her experience was unusual. On the 1901 census there are 1million & fifty thousand servants. Some people entered as servants were actually family. If you had three live in servants you were considered to be of the professional class. Because of a tax on male servants you had to be wealthy, and it showed your social standing. Male servants therefore were shown off and their duties were usually above stairs, as opposed to the women who were mostly below stairs. A maid’s day started at 5.30 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m. with a two hour rest from 2.30 to 4.30. Upstairs work was done before the family got up. By the late 19th century more people were employed as servants than any other industry, these were not all domestic servants, but also included nurses, teaching assistants, apprentices and many more. 34% of all women were employed in domestic service in 1891, and according to the census they travelled widely to find their posts. The term housekeeper might be used to hide unconventional marital relationships. Pat finished by explaining the different ways by which people found their employment. |
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