Domestic Servants in Victorian England

Daily Life of the Scullery Maid, House Maid and Lady's Maid

Nov 9, 2008

The Victorian domestic servant had a gruelling and exhausing life comprising of long hours filled with demanding physical labour and very little time off.

In the early nineteenth century, it was common for children to go into domestic service at a very early age, usually around ten years of age but sometimes as young as eight. The daughters of working men and women had to earn their living and domestic service was considered an ideal occupation for young girls and single women.

Working time could be up to 17 hours long each day, from 5.30 a.m. in the morning until 10.30 p.m. The work was endless and physically demanding.

Servants were seen as dispensable creatures solely in existence for the comfort of the family and so health and safety issues for the servant were not considered the employer's responsibility. The issue of servants' injuries was finally included in the Workman's Compensation Act of 1907. Maids and cooks had to endure lack of fresh air, monotonous, long hours of work and accidents in the course of their work such as burns and falls.

Servants slept in the kitchen or in cupboards under the stairs or in attics. They were often forbidden to sing or laugh and had to remain as noiseless and invisible as possible. If they came into contact with a member of the household, they were to keep quiet, avert their eyes and walk out of the room backwards. If anything was broken or damaged, the servant was made to pay and the sum would be deducted from their wages.

Victorian Scullery Maid

This was the lowest occupation of all, usually taken up by very young girls. Her day was filled with duties such as emptying and cleaning chamber pots, polishing brass work and silver, scrubbing the front stairs, washing dishes and scouring pots.

The Victorian scullery maid cleaned the kitchen floor as well as stoves, lit bedroom fires first thing in the morning, and carried heavy cans of warm water up the stairs for bathing, each load would weigh around 15kg. She would usually stumble into her bed in the attic, exhausted, at around 10.00 p.m. She would have her food and clothes provided for and earn a wage of between 10 to13 pounds per annum.

Victorian House Maid

The Victorian house maid came under the supervision of the Housekeeper and depending on the number of servants kept by the family, could fulfill a number of different positions such as chamber maid, parlour maid, in between maid (commonly known at the time as a tweeny), kitchen maid or laundry maid.

The work performed by these servants was back-breakingly strenuous and included duties such as changing linen, making up beds, dusting and cleaning bedrooms, cleaning out fireplaces, polishing grates, hauling coal up to the bedrooms and lighting fresh fires.

Other duties would include scrubbing floors on hands and knees, brushing carpets, beating rugs and cleaning and filling lamps each day. Laundry maids would typically soak loads of laundry, wash, rinse, wring out the washing and then iron the household's laundry when dry. The Victorian house maid could expect a wage of between 15 to 20 pounds per annum, the tweeny earning the least.

Victorian Lady's Maid

This was considered a more privileged position and as such the lady's maid was expected to be literate, have excellent needlework skills in case a garment needed mending and was expected to be scrupulously honest. In constant attendance on the Lady of the House, she would help her dress and undress, help style her hair and even prepare beauty lotions for Her Ladyship. The Lady's Maid could expect to earn around 24 pounds per annum.

Victorian Domestic Servants were often lonely and met with other servants on their afternoon off. If a maid happened to fall pregnant by a man servant or by one of the men of the household, she risked instant dismissal. The majority of servants would eventually get married, typically at around 25 years of age.

The live-in arrangement of servants started to go into decline at the end of the nineteenth century.