Up and Down Stairs - Jeremy Musson [92]
The menservants in the ranks below steward, butler and valet generally wore liveries. At the very end of the eighteenth century, the Earl of Pembroke’s butler at Wilton was responsible for distributing these. The 1790s Wilton household refers to how ‘the livery servants are allowed two suits of Frock Clothing, two hats, and one working dress annually, and one Gt: coat every two years, as is the Coach Man.’108 At Arundel Castle, a series of names have been found inside the lining of a later nineteenth-century state livery coat (which was used only for state occasions), showing how, certainly at that time, they were worn by a succession of footmen.109
In large country houses the most senior liveried manservant under the butler was still the groom of the chambers – a rather forgotten figure now, but standard in grander households of the nineteenth century. He ensured that the reception rooms were always in order, the silver properly polished, and the desks and writing tables stocked with appropriate stationery, ink and quills.110 In large houses at periods of heavy use during a major house party or family entertainment, this could be more arduous than it sounds. A groom of the chambers was sometimes trained in upholstery and made responsible for cleaning valuable objects such as pictures.111 He also made sure that the state rooms were in presentable order to be shown to the well-heeled tourist, and sometimes acted as a guide.
As well as serving at mealtimes, the groom of the chambers in the more formal country houses had a primary role in the grander moments of ceremony, being on duty in the front hall to announce guests and to receive cards, to open the doors to libraries and drawing rooms, and also to show guests to their bedrooms.112 In the later nineteenth century his role was often combined with that of a valet.113 In smaller country-house establishments his duties were carried out by the butler or first footman.
The next senior male figure was usually the valet, although Mr and Mrs Adams considered the duties ‘of this servant are not so various nor so important as those of the footman, indeed they are very frequently, and particularly in small families, a part of the business of the footman’.
As the lady’s maid does for the lady, so the valet does for the master. He ‘waits on him when dressing and undressing, has the care of his wardrobe, brushes and keeps his clothes in good order and ready to put on when wanted’. Preparation was the key: ‘every garment or other article of wearing apparel, should be carefully examined, cleaned or brushed on the first opportunity that offers, and then put away in its proper place.’
The valet starts the day polishing his master’s shoes and boots, checks that the housemaid has prepared the dressing room, and himself prepares the washing stand: ‘fill the ewer with clean soft water, and the caroft [carafe] with fresh spring water – The basins and towels, the hair nail, and tooth-brushes clean, and in their proper places; hot water, and all the necessary apparatus for shaving, quite ready; his dressing gown and slippers airing before the fire.’ The valet should then set out his master’s clothes for the day, ‘with a clean linen or brown Holland wrapper thrown over them, to save them from dust.’114
Next, the valet assists with shaving his master and combing his hair. Then when the master has gone down to breakfast, he will ‘set the room in order’, look over his things, put away his night clothes, wash his brushes and combs, and clean the dressing stand. He had to be on hand for a change of clothes after a ride or a journey, and was responsible for packing sufficient and correct clothes, as well as shaving kit, when his master stayed at an inn or another house, where the valet should set out his clothes as if at home.