Up and Down Stairs - Jeremy Musson [124]
He vividly evokes the strict social division below stairs, which had increased in intensity in the nineteenth century:
Position and rank also took precedence in the hierarchy of the servants. They were divided into the ‘upper servants’ – also called the ‘Upper Ten’, and the ‘lower servants – referred to as the ‘Lower Five’. [The royal footmen] belonged to the Lower Five. The two groups did not mix socially, the lines were drawn more strictly perhaps than those whom we served. Moreover, we ate separately. The Upper Ten took their meals in the steward’s dining room and they were waited upon by two steward’s room footmen.13
The Upper Ten had white wine, claret, and beer for lunch and dinner. He added proudly: ‘The china, silver, and glass which was used to serve them, and which was taken care of exclusively by the steward’s room footmen, was much finer than the gentry had in some of the smaller houses in England.’14
Servant hierarchies had their own dress code:
Mr Spedding [the steward], the wine butler, the under butler, the groom of the chambers, the Duke’s valet, the housekeeper, head housemaid, and ladies’ maids – and any visiting ladies’ maids and valets – were designated the Upper Ten. At Welbeck, visiting ladies’ maids were expected to wear a dress blouse for dinner, and the visiting valets were required to wear smoking jackets for late supper.15
For Gorst, looking on the scene from a junior position, the social divide could clearly be quite galling: ‘The Upper Ten came to the table similarly dressed and full of their own importance. Their evening meal was in the nature of an intimate dinner party except when there were visiting maids and valets, often as many as forty at one time.’ It was a different story for the others:
We, the Lower Five, ate our meals in the Servants’ Hall, the old refectory of the Abbey. We Royal footmen ate at the same time with the housemaids and stillroom maids. The two footmen on duty always carved and the hall porter and the hall boys served the meals. We had two or three fresh vegetables served with the meat and potatoes – all good, solid food which came to the table piping hot and nicely served. We had delicious bread that came directly from the bakery and freshly churned, country butter.16
The ritual echoes of the table, observed in Welbeck’s servants’ hall, still had echoes of the medieval and Tudor worlds: ‘After the main course, the maidservants left the table. The sweet was served to the menservants and maidservants separately. The maids had theirs in their own departments, in the stillroom or the housemaid’s sitting room, where they had a table laid in readiness. Traditionally the men and woman servants were always separated before the end of the meal.’17
Snobbery was rife: ‘At Welbeck the upper servants adopted an arrogant attitude towards the under servants. Mr Clancy, the wine butler, was the haughtiest and most pompous of all.’18 On the other hand, Mr Gorst recognised the greater responsibilities and the hard work put in by those he served under, the chief steward Mr Spedding and others. He expressed particular admiration for the under butler, Mr Owens, who was in charge of all the silver and gold service. He alone was in control of the plate closet, which contained enough silver to serve hundreds of people. ‘There was also a complete gold service to serve fifty people; in which every conceivable utensil was included.’19
Work even left