And yet people still feel guilty about having someone in to clean their house once a week.

So you’re thinking of getting some servants. Do you even know what all the different kinds do? Here’s a handy little guide (if you’re living at Downton Abbey, that is!):

The Different Kinds of Servants:

The Butler:

• The Butler is the most senior male servant, but he is only a butler if there is other staff below him. A single male servant with no other servants in the house is called a houseman (and is mostly called a houseman if he is part of a husband and wife team of servants, though you could call him a butler.)
• Butler’s Duties:
  • Answering the phone and the door
  • Serves as valet to the men of the house if there is no specific valet
  • Serves the dinner, with help from footmen or maids if there are any.
  • Generally in charge of the dining room and pantry, especially taking care of the wine and silver and choosing which dishes will be used to serve meals.
  • In smaller houses, he does more hands on work, in larger houses he oversees the work of the staff.
• Butler’s Clothing:
  • Butlers generally wear a normal suit during the day, with perhaps a more formal suit with vest and tail coat in the afternoon. After 6pm, the butler wears a dress suit with a vest, white tie, and tails. A butler is distinguished from the gentlemen of the house by the simplicity of his suit and lack of all jewelry and adornments.

The Valet

• Valet’s Duties:
  • It is always pronounced val-ET and not val-AY. Beau Brummel called the valet the “gentlemen’s gentleman”. (Do you guys know about Beau Brummel? I think he needs a post of his very own!)
  • Helps his employer dress
  • Manages his clothing, shopping, keeping everything repaired and shoes shined.
  • Often does things like making travel/restaurant/theater reservations
  • Packs and unpacks luggage for the male members of the household and any male guests.
• Valet’s Clothing:
  • A regular, dark business suit

Footmen

• Footmen’s Duties:
  • Footmen are the male servants who help the butler serve meals
  • They also help clean, especially heavier tasks like moving furniture. And especially, in very large houses, one footman, when not serving meals, spent all of his time polishing silver!
  • They also help answer the door
  • In many places, footmen were especially chosen for their looks- they often had to be a particular height and have nice legs (given what they had to wear!)
• Footmen’s Clothing:
  • Footmen traditionally have a particular livery they wear when serving meals consisting of knee breeches, stockings, and fancy coats. Many very fancy families also had their footmen powder their hair (in the 20th century! in this country! people paid other people to dress up like servants in a French Court EVERY DAY!).
  • Usually a household will have a set of colors- like cream and navy and the footman’s livery and the females servants uniforms will be in those colors.

The Chauffeur

• Chauffeur’s Duties:
  • Drives the cars and cares for them
  • Often doubles as a butler or gardener/stableman
• Chauffeur’s Clothing:
  • A strict chauffeur wears a traditional livery.
  • Nowadays, most chauffeurs have multiple duties and wear a regular gray or black suit with a dark tie.

The Housekeeper

• Housekeeper’s Duties:
  • The Housekeeper is IN CHARGE!
  • She totally runs the household, standing in for the mistress of the house if she is unable or not inclined to do it herself.
  • Housekeepers are treated with great respect and always called Mrs. Lastname (even if she isn’t married!)
• Housekeeper’s Clothing:
  • She wears dark clothing of her own.

The Social Secretary

• Secretary’s Duties:
  • Handling much of the household’s business and correspondence.
  • She often does the general bookkeeping and bill paying.
  • In households without a housekeeper, she often takes on many of those duties, such as meal planning.
  • She helps with party planning- guest lists, menus, invitations, etc.
• Secretary’s Clothing:
  • She wears her own clothing.

The Cook and Kitchen Maid:

• Kitchen Duties:
  • A professional cook only cooks. She will also keep control of the kitchen and see that it is properly stocked. She often does the shopping. She collaborates with the mistress of the house on menus.
  • In larger households, there might be a second cook who mostly cooks for the servants and only helps the main cook with simple dishes.
  • The kitchen maid assists the cook, especially prep work and does the washing up.
• Kitchen Clothing:
  • The cook wears her own white dress, white stockings, and neutral shoes.
  • The kitchen maid wears the same short sleeved uniform dress as the rest of the servants with an apron over it.

The Parlor Maid:

• The Parlor Maid’s Duties:
  • The parlor maid takes care of cleaning the downstairs rooms. She might also answer the phone and the door.
  • Sometimes she might also help serve meals and wash up.
• The Parlor Maid’s Clothing:
  • The parlor maid wears the uniform dress of all the servants with an apron. In some houses, the maids also might wear some kin. Don’t you wish you could have this many people doing every little thing for you?

The Lady’s Maid:

• Lady’s Maid Duties:
  • The lady’s maid has many of the same duties as the valet: tending to the clothing and person of the lady of the house.
  • She draws baths, lays out clothing, does mending, sometimes does the laundry of just the lady’s clothing.
  • Often she does the hair and nails of her mistress.
• Lady’s Maid Clothing:
  • A lady’s maid may wear her own dark clothing or she may wear the uniform of the other maids.

The Chambermaid (or Housemaid):

• Chambermaid’s Duties:
  • The chambermaid is in charge of all the bedrooms of the house.
  • She makes the beds and cleans the upstairs rooms
  • She makes sure the bathrooms are clean after every use.
  • She is in charge of the linen room and makes sure it is all clean and mended. She collects the family’s laundry.
• Chambermaid Clothing:
  • She wears the same uniform dress as the other female servants.