Servants

Everyone of any means has servants in London, be it only a Maid of all Work who comes in every couple of days to help the mistress of the house, or who comes in the mornings to "do for" a bachelor.

For further information, see also the StereotypedDescriptions which fit literary rather than strictly historical models.

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Servants vary even more than most commodities. The best way to get one is to select from the advertisements in the daily papers. The next best, to advertise your wants (see Advertising), though this will expose you to the attacks of a considerable class who will call simply for the purpose of extorting their "expenses." In either case insist upon a personal character. Written characters are not worth reading. A false character--written or personal--is an indictable offence, and the London courts will convict both the servant who uses and the person who gives it. It is not a safe plan to go to a Registry unless you know all about it first, though there are some which are really trustworthy. But a servant who once finds his or her way to a Registry Office is almost always unsettled, and no sooner in a place than loking out for another.

The average London wages may be set down as:

• Butlers, £40 to £100;
• Footmen, £20 to £40;
• Pages, £8 to £15;
• Cooks, £18 to £50;
• Housemaids, £10 to £25;
• Parlourmaids, £12 to £30;
• "General Servants," Anglicé Maids of all Work, £6 to £15.

A month's notice is required before leaving or dismissing; but in the latter case a month's wages will suffice. For serious misconduct a servant can be discharged without notice or its equivalent.

If economy is necessary, bear in mind that the payment of commissions from tradesmen to servants is an almost universal London custom, and a fruitful source of deliberate waste. "Kitchen stuff" is another expensive institution, specially designed to facilitate the consumption of articles on the replacing of which cook may make her little profit. Dripping, which is a perquisite for which almost all cooks will make at least a fight, not only means a good deal more than its name would imply, but leads to the spoiling of your meat by surreptitious stabbings that the juice may run away more freely. This ingenious arrangement is also much favoured of late years by the butcher, who nowadays in "jointing" always cuts well into the meat.

The avoidance of these and other similar forms of robbery requires a little intelligence and a good deal of firmness. Give good wages, and let it be clearly understood before hiring that no perquisites are permitted. A serious mistake, and one too often made, is to lay down the hard-and-fast rule, "no followers allowed." Servants always have had and always will have followers whether their masters and mistresses like it or not. It is much wiser to recognise this fact, and to authorise the visits of the "follower" at proper times and seasons, first ascertaining that his antecedents and character are good. -- (See also Householders, Hints to.)

• From Dickens' Dictionary of London, 1888 (see LondonGuidesAndMaps), re-formatted

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 28 Dec 2004

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