Victorian Servant System

Victorian Servant
“He who is not a good servant, will not be a good master.”-Plato. The butler, servant, and the service system played a huge role in the Victorian Era. In this time, the Service System was very important. It is the only way some houses got anything around the house done. Many households would be a wreck or would not be able to stay running without the master's servants. The service system played a huge part in the Victorian Era. Most people in the service system were female. In the smaller houses, the butler would have to combine a number of different jobs, including the footman, valet, and page boy. Some of those duties would have been: “Waiting on the table at mealtimes, looking after the silver in the house, locking up the house at night, caring for the wine cellar, cleaning the knives and the shoes, answering to visitors who called, cleaning the furniture, looking after his master’s clothes, taking letters from/to his master and mistress, and winding clocks” (The Victorian Servant). If the victorians did not have a servant, butler,
footman, or something of the sort, the family had to work a little extra to get all the chores done, meals cooked, and clothes made. “At the end of the Victorian Era in 1901, every middle class home, and above, had at least one servant. However, it was fading in popularity by 1891. The hours worked were very long, the work was arduous and often lonely, and it did not provide the freedom which was available to factory and shop workers. Large households could expect to employ dozens of servants” (The International Butler Academy). During the Victorian Era there was not just one kind of servant or butler, there was a whole service system.
There were 7 different sections in the service system. There was Servants (servants were the main ones in the system), Butlers, Housekeepers, Cooks, Valets, Footmen, Maids, and others that fell under those sects. The servant was usually hired for a year-around term. After they served that term they could retire or choose to do another term. The mister/mistress would find a place for them to stay on their property. They got paid by the quarter. During the term, the servants were supposed to dedicate all their time to please the mister and mistress unless given consent. In the service system, each sect worked in different parts of the house or property. There was not just one type of servant, there were all different kinds, different names, different duties, and different genders of service men and
women.
Most people in the service system would have been female. “Outnumbering the men 20 to 1“ (The Victorian Servant). In the Victorian Era men were thought to be above women. Men got the better jobs, they got easier work, and they were the head of their houses. The same idea was used in the service system. The men would usually have the higher jobs like, the butler, footman, chef, and other. The ladies would have the dirtier or more hard working jobs like maid, nursery keeper, and more. “Even a modestly prosperous household could expect to retain the services of a general domestic servant, and mostly these were young single women. In fact, right up until the start of the First World War, domestic service was the largest single occupation for women ”(The International Butler Academy). Also the men's job in the service system paid more than the women's. But the servant’s enjoyment was all based on their compatibility with the other servants and their head Miss and mistress. Of course they got more productive if they liked their environment, the people that they worked with, and worked for. If they all got along it would be easier for every servant to know his or her place. The lower servants would follow their management better and accept the directions of the higher servants that were placed in charge. It would also make, for a more humble, more encouraging, friendship like relationship with the other people they worked with or their employers. If they did not get along and they did not accept the role that they were given to fulfill, the servants would have a lot less enjoyment, less production, and The servants would be less likely to come back and work for the Miss and Mistress of the house or might be entitled to even quit the job that they were currently entitled to. So, the servants should feel at home with the family, and should feel like part of that home and family, and not their paid worker. The family should trust the servants as the servants should trust the family. They should not be dishonest or careless with one another. If the servant and master feel that kind of bond the job should be one worth doing for the servants.

With all this, the victorian service system played a huge role in this era. Without some of that service, the victorian era would have been different. From servant, to maid, every part of the system helped keep middle class, and especially upper class, houses running. Even though in modern America, most of the population do not have servants, they played huge parts in some eras, like the victorian. With so many modern day chores, a lot of people did not have to worry about chores. I hope that the style of having servants and butlers will come back and they can do all my chores.

Bibliography

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Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1895. Print.