The Life of the Lady's Maid

Nicola here. The third series of Downton Abbey starts in the UK this week and so today I thought I would look at the role of the lady’s maid. The lady’s maid has frequently had a bad press. Dramatists of the 18^th century portrayed her as a vain, twittering creature. Lower servants tended to dislike the lady’s maid, partly for her affectations to gentility and partly for the fact that she had the ear of the mistress of the house. Certainly in Downton Abbey Lady Grantham's maid O'Brien is a complicated and interesting creation who reflects many of these elements but has a few saving graces. However the role of a lady’s maid was an exacting one.

 The maid of all work

 Margery, the heroine of my latest book, Forbidden, was a lady’s maid when her life was turned upside down with a sudden and unexpected inheritance. It was interesting to study the sort of work Margery did and the way her life had progressed up until that point in order to see how dramatically it would change with her elevation to the Ton.

Margery’s story is fictitious, of course, but it is based on the kind of life any number of women might have had in service at the turn of the 19^th century. She started her working career at the age of twelve as a maid of all work in a modest household in a small country town. (Her back story is given in an earlier book in the Scandalous Women of the Ton series, One Wicked Sin.) Her employer, Mrs Goodlake, was the wife of a successful tradesman. As such Mrs Goodlake had a small staff, much smaller than one would find in a grand country house. Rather than having a specific function, such as scullery maid or housemaid, Margery had to turn her hand to most jobs, from working in the kitchens to carrying the water up to the bedrooms. These “general maids” played the part of housemaid, parlour maid and cook as the need arose. Whilst a nobleman and his family might employ twenty or more indoor servants (there were, for example, twenty eight indoor servants at Ashdown House in the Regency period) a gentry or middle class household might be able to afford only two or three.

The fact the Margery could turn her hand to anything came in useful when she went to work for Lottie in One Wicked Sin. Lottie had a small cottage and only one female servant to answer the door, do the cooking and take care of just about everything else. Margery performed much the same role for Susanna in Notorious. The benefit of such a role was that she became close to her employers and was warmly appreciated, as much a friend as an employee. It was through the connections of these ladies that Margery progressed in her career because next she went to be lady’s maid to the Marchioness of Darent and then to Lady Grant and so became a senior servant in a large household at the tender age of only twenty three, with the potential to become a housekeeper in good time. This was a huge leap for maid-of-all-work.

The Senior Servant

A lady’s maid was a personal servant and as such was senior, highly-prized and comparatively well paid. One of the perks of being a lady’s maid was that you received your mistress’s cast off clothes to wear or sell as you pleased (which gave Margery the original idea for exchanging her confectionery for cast offs in the bawdy house.) A noblewoman of the highest rank might in fact possess several personal servants. In 1772 the Duchess of Marlborough had a lady’s maid, three housemaids, two footmen and a male French hairdresser in her personal entourage. The hairdresser was very skilled and earned £42 per annum, almost at the top of the servant pecking order, but more modest households than Blenheim Palace would expect the lady's maid to pick up the hairdressing responsibilities. 

So what were the requirements of a good lady’s maid? She had to be discreet, cheerful, obedient, healthy enough to be able to work long hours, considerate enough not to fall asleep on her employer in the carriage, virtuous enough to withstand the attention of male servants, honest enough to care for the jewellery, educated enough to read to her mistress, and have an expert knowledge of needlework, hairdressing and fashion. In return she would be rewarded with a room of her own, she would take her meals with the housekeeper and in a superior household she would be expected to attend only one lady. 

Contemporary opinions on the nationality of lady’s maids are very amusing. French maids were considered to be the height of chic for their fashion sense and their skill with a needle and comb. However in times of war they were a liability in case their loyalties were compromised. Swiss maids were considered safer and more trustworthy but were criticised for lacking vivacity!

The lady’s maid had to dress, undress and re-dress her mistress as many times as was necessary during the day. She would lay out her mistress’s clothes in the morning and tidy the room after the mistress was dressed. She would then occupy her day with sewing and ironing unless required to accompany her mistress on an outing. She repeated these activities during the day as required until it was time for her mistress to retire to bed, whereupon she would brush her hair for a half hour as well as help her undress. It doesn’t sound very exciting unless one was maid to a lady who travelled a great deal, in which case you would get to see the world.

One aspect of the maid’s work that did sound rather more interesting was the creation of various concoctions to help a lady with problems such as freckles and sunburn. These potions would be made in the stillroom using anything from herbs such as lavender and rosemary to milk, lemons, lard and bullocks’ gall, which the housemaids also used to clean marble!

A rather sad reflection on the role of the lady’s maid comes from one contemporary writer: “Your elevation into comfort and luxury – your better clothes, your seat in the dressing room and in your master’s carriage – are only circumstances in your service and are not given to you to last…” It is a clear indication that as a lady’s maid got older not all could rely on the loyalty of their mistress in keeping them at her side.

Some lady’s maids did become housekeepers but this was not common and it was a promotion resented by the housemaids who felt that they had more appropriate experience. Some also married above their station but again they were warned on the dangers and temptations: “If you have any personal attractions, beware of the least familiarity with any of the gentlemen of the family. Anything of the kind will lead to improper consequences.”

I have collected a pretty extensive collection of books about life below stairs and it was fun to be able to draw on this for the background to Forbidden. It was such a different world from that of high society and to explore it gives a very different perspective of Regency society. It also emphasises how different life was with servants in the sense that there was a lack of privacy that was taken for granted at the time whereas these days many of us would shudder at the thought of a personal maid who had so much intimate knowledge about persons and our lives! I think I would much prefer to have been an outdoor servant (if only they had employed women gardeners) or perhaps the stillroom maid!

Do you think you would you have enjoyed any of the roles in the Servants' Hall? Do you have the skills - or the patience - to ba a lady's maid? Would you have preferred living in a large aristocratic household or a small one?

Comments

[Margaret Morton Kirk]

Fascinating post. By the twenties, would you say having a lady's maid was becoming something only the very very aristocratic/wealthy would consider the norm?

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you for your comment, Margaret. I have the impression that there were a great many changes by the 1920s. With the economic decline of so many great country estates and a variety of different employment opportunities I would think it would be difficult for many people to both find and afford lady's maids. I imagine that only the very rich and the very aristocratic could maintain a "staff" with personal servants into the mid 20th century and that the nature of those relationships would also start to change. Big houses like Chatsworth and Cliveden did still have an army of servants but those families were in the minority.

[CateS]

Well, I'm not cut out to be a ladies' maid, as I really don't have any sewing ability.. Your research is so interesting. I suspect in country homes, staff was easier to keep in that the temptations of city life weren't available. But I reallllly envy you that Downton Abbey starts... I have to wait til January with the rest of the USA..

[Nicola Cornick]

Thanks, Cate, I am glad you found it interesting. Yes, once other job opportunities opened up for servants it did become increasingly difficult to find and keep good ones.

I too would be hopeless as a lady's maid. My grandmother was a seamstress and tried to teach me to sew but I was a hopeless case!

[Jennifer Tanner]

Hi Nicola!

I've got a book written by Lady Astor's maid on my Amazon wishlist. Now that I've read your post, I need to order it.

It would be interesting to track the evolution of ladies fashions against the number of people who left the service for better paying jobs in the cities.

Love your posts!

[Kathleen Henderson]

I would be a terrible lady's maid. Fashionable has never been title I aspire to. Since I already posses the title, "The maid of all work" in my own home in the 21st century if given the chance to inhabit a home during the regency I would want to be the mistress of said home.

[Jenny Reid]

Quite frankly I am too independent to be a lady's maid, or any other sort of maid. I like to have my own way, and am quite unskilled in anything remotely domestic. Reading all these wonderful Regency books, I believe I would probably have starved if I belonged to the sevant class. What a thought!

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Jennifer! Thank you - I am very pleased you liked the post! That book by Lady Astor's maid sounds great!

LOL, Kathleen! Yes, you definitely deserve to be the one giving the maids the directions!

[Nicola Cornick]

Jenny, I think a lot of us would have that problem. I am terrible at being told what to do! If you are independent and like being in charge, the servant's life probably wouldn't be for you! I do think this must have been a problem for strong-minded women at the time. Not everyone cold become a housekeeper or be in charge!

[Natalie]

The person I am now would have had a very hard time with the authority to which a maid of any kind would have to submit. However, I just saw "Farewell, My Queen," and I think I could just about handle being a reader to someone immensely wealthy with a fantastic library and other servants to do all the other work.

[Nicola Cornick]

Natalie, I do like the idea of a job as a reader to someone with a fabulous library! What a wonderful job that would be (provided we shared the same taste in books, I suppose!)

[Diane Sallans]

I like to help people, but it would very much depend on my employers to make it a good situation. I think I would rather be in a large household where there would be other servants to help with the tasks. I remember watching a British "reality" show where current day people spent several weeks living as if in the 1800's - I think it was called 'Regency House Party'. The people taking the roles of servants really had a hard time, even knowing it was only for a short time. I wonder how much of that was based on our current day mindset of not wanting to be totally controlled by others.

[Anne Gracie]

Fabulous post, Nicola. I think if I'd been started off as a servant in childhood, and the alternative was starvation, I could have made it, but not as a lady's maid. I'm no kind of seamstress and can't bear fussing with clothes and hair. But a stillroom now, or the kitchen. . . I think I'd enjoy that more. Though not the scrubbing and endless washing up, so much. :) We are so lucky to be born into this time.

[theo]

I would have been more inclined to be the shop owner than the Lady's Maid. A Lady's Companion, that's another story. But I imagine those were few and far between.

Did anyone who was above the typical working class but below the "rich and famous" have day help? Was there that type of servant, female and male? Say, a relatively wealthy doctor. Would he have maybe one or two live ins and then servants who would come for the day and leave at night?

[Nicola Cornick]

I think that is so true, Diane. The current day mindset isn't in tune with the idea of doing other people's bidding!

Absolutely, Anne. I think we are very fortunate to have the opportunities we do rather than having to take the "in service" route in order to be fed and housed. I would have hated being a housemaid. I don't like cleaning. I do enjoy washing up but not on an industrial scale!

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Theo! A companion or governess might have offered more opportunities, I suppose but your idea of a shop owner is much more appealing. You'd be your own boss!

I'm not sure about day help in the late 18th/early 19th century. A wealthy doctor or lawyer would have a few household servants living in. In my reading the "daily" seems to be a feature of the later Victorian and early 20th century servant situation.

Interestingly because Ashdown House didn't have sufficient servants' quarters some of the staff there did live out during the 19th century and came in from home every day.

[theo]

Nicola, thank you!

It's been difficult for me to find anything pertaining to servants other than live-in. Since it's something that was a real possibility, I think I can use it as such.

I am always so happy with the things I learn here :o)

[LouisaCornell]

Fascinating research, Nicola. The life of a lady's maid is not for me. With my luck I'd get a mistress who makes Leona Helmsley look like Mother Teresa!As the manager of a bakery I deal with plenty of spoiled young ladies with a sense of entitlement and voices like steam whistles. They're called brides.

[Nicola Cornick]

I'm so pleased you're pleased, Theo! It's very interesting when there are gaps in records on particular topics. I knew there had to be servants who "lived out" from Ashdown because the house did not have sufficient servants' quarters to house everyone. Sure enough when I looked at the census for the surrounding villages a number of people were recorded as working at the "big house." Whilst this is probably quite unusual and happened because the house was relatively small clearly it *did* happen. In later periods "living out" became more the norm, I think, especially for servants in smaller households where there wasn't the accommodation.

[Nicola Cornick]

LOL, Louisa! I'm sure you deal with those young ladies with a great deal of tact and charm but one might not necessarily choose to work with anyone who was so spoiled!

A friend of mine worked for a certain Lady (that was her title not a reflection on the way she behaved!) and we heard some extraordinary stories of how she behaved. No amount of money would have been sufficient to make up for working for such a diva!

[j prince]

Since reading 'Rebecca' as a teenager, the thought of being a companion gives me the shudders.

[Artemisia]

After reading all this it seems that as a full-time caregiver for an Aged Parent I already am a maid, companion, housekeeper, and cook.

[Nicola Cornick]

I agree the role of companion has been given a sinister twist in some fiction!

Good point, Artemesia. I think people with caring roles actually do more than the servants of previous years.

[Carol Cork]

I wouldn't have minded being a lady's maid provided my employer was like Lady Grant in 'Forbidden'. I would quite enjoy dressing her hair and handling all those beautiful gowns and jewels. Probably the next best thing to wearing them!

[Nicola Cornick]

Carol, I guess some ladies and their maids were friends like Margery and Joanna Grant and then the maid would get the cast off clothes!