Up and Down Stairs - Jeremy Musson [82]
Another long-term housekeeper was shown consideration by the 6th Duke of Devonshire, according to his privately printed Handbook of Chatsworth and Hardwick (1845): ‘From unwillingness to disturb Hannah Gregory, the house-keeper who dwelt here for a half a century, there had been no attempt made to alter the distribution of these the most agreeable rooms at Chatsworth.’ He later converted them into a Grotto Room.35
Whilst some housekeepers were married and others were widowed, many seem to have been unmarried but were given the title of ‘Mrs’ as a mark of respect.36 They characteristically carried large bunches of keys on a ring attached to their waists (known as a ‘chatelaine’), as everything from the linen to the spices had to be kept locked up.37 By long tradition, no doubt to reinforce a sense of hierarchy below stairs, in some households the upper servants took their meals, or at least the pudding course, in the housekeeper’s room, which the junior servants often dubbed ‘the Pug’s Parlour’, whilst in larger country houses this was the function of the house steward’s room.38 Why upper servants were known as ‘pugs’ is uncertain; it is possible that it referred to the haughty upturned nose and downturned mouth of an upper servant of caricature being compared to those of the pug dog.
As in the eighteenth century, housekeepers were generally delegated the task of conducting passing visitors around the house, usually when the family were away – but not always, as fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will remember from Lizzie Bennet’s unexpected encounter with Mr Darcy whilst paying a tourist’s visit to his country seat Pemberley. There is a portrait of Mrs Garnett, the housekeeper at Kedleston, painted by Thomas Barber around 1800, showing her with the catalogue of the Kedleston pictures in her hand. She impressed Dr Johnson with her knowledge, and another visitor recorded that, of all the housekeepers of a noblemen’s houses, ‘this was the most obliging and intelligent . . . she seem’d to take a delight in her business’. Senior servants were expected to be enthusiastic in their knowledge of family history and their oral transmission of the stories of both house and family.39
In 1832, the artist Mary Ellen Best, renowned for her precise interior scenes, visited Castle Howard in Yorkshire and painted the famous Orleans Room (later the Turquoise Drawing Room). Her exact watercolour depicts the ample and dignified figure of the housekeeper in her bonnet, with her bunch of keys, much as she must have seemed when accompanying visitors. This individual was Mrs Flynn, whose conduct came under scrutiny in the winter of 1826–7 when it was noticed that the consumption of tea among the servants was excessive. John Henderson, the resident agent, and James Loch, superintendent of Lord Carlisle’s estates, enquired into the matter in minute detail to see whether any theft had occurred, calculating the rate of tea consumption per person and the price of ‘Servant’s Tea’ (a cheaper brand than that served to family and guests).
Today it seems incredible that such a senior management figure would concern themselves with such a trivial matter, but a tea allowance was considered a valuable commodity (tea itself being an expensive, imported item) and was often a separate part of the wages. Mrs Flynn was acquitted of any wrongdoing, and it is now thought that suspicion fell on her as a result of her feud with the cook, Samuel Damant.40 Housekeepers were required to keep exact accounts of provisions and this incident illustrates the emphasis placed on the accounting and management of those valuable supplies, especially if bought in.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the housekeeper, along with the steward and butler, would be key in the preparation of the house for the reception of important guests, not least because she commanded the linen and supervised the housemaids who would clean and maintain bedrooms. Famously, when preparing for a visit from Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington