Men in Service

We were at Petworth House this afternoon to see the Constable Sketch Book exhibition. Interesting but not exciting. Would have been more interesting if the National Trust could have run to at least one original oil to go alongside it’s preparatory sketch, but maybe that’s asking a bit much.

We had tea afterwards in the Servants Hall, an incredibly lofty room which could take at least 2 if not 3 stories. Must have been hell to keep warm with only one fireplace. Most interesting to me was a series of enlarged photographs of the servants in mufti. Some of them could easily be mistaken for ‘above stairs’ ladies. They were all named. How wonderful that the below stairs people, who are often faceless, are commemorated today.

This larger photograph is just outside the door to the Hall and has some wonderful characters from the 1870’s, not named, but we know their occupations. There is no mistaking the Chef. What amazes me is that what seems a valid occupation to me also has a more lowly version. In my own family, I have a great great uncle who was an Under-Boots, not even a Boots, but an Under-Boots employed to clean boots left outside the bedroom doors in a hotel in Bradford in the late 1800's. Here is an Under-Butler and an Assisant Under-Butler. You can imagine how he was ordered around, and he’s not a young man just starting out either. The Lodge Keepers with their splendid hats obviously had a bit more status, but the real top servants - the Butler and the House Keeper - didn't lower themselves to be in the photograph.


Left-Right:
Back Row:
Steward’s Room man, the House Steward, a Footman, the Under-Butler, Assistant Under-Butler
Middle Row:
A Lodge Keeper, the Chef, another Lodge Keeper, Second Chef
Front Row seated on the ground:
Three Footmen