The life of a female servant in an English household of the 18th or 19th Century was a lonely one in terms of romantic entanglements, and we can only imagine how easily such a woman might be tempted to “taste” what her position denied her. The idea of a young girl, with aspirations of marriage and of love, entering her first position, only to encounter the handsome son of her wealthy employer to be seduced is a common motif in many historical romances. But how “common” was the situation?
Needless to say, the majority of the female servants were moral and respectable. They would not consider such an alliance, finding the “suggestion” of an assignation as repugnant. However, we must keep in mind that the choice of a marriage partner was greatly limited by their position. That was not to say that NONE achieved a higher position. According to Frank Huggett’s Life Below Stairs [page 117], “In 1763, Thomas Coutts, co-founder of the bank that bears his name, married his brother’s housemaid, Susannah Starkie, the daughter of a small farmer from Lancashire. Before she died in 1815, she had seen her first daughter marry the third Earl of Guildford; her second daughter, the first Marquis of Bute; and her third, Sir Francis Burdett. (Her husband’s fortune was, of course, a big attraction.) Samuel Horsley, Bishop of St Asaph, also married a servant. Shortly after his first wife died in 1777, he married her maid, Sarah Wright. Edward Miles, a nineteenth century Quaker, not only had two careers as a druggist and a dentist but also two wives – the second under common law – both of whom were servants.
“Such marriages were commonplace in ‘silly, sensational’ magazines, but much more exceptional in real life. The peak of most girls’ possibilities had been reached, if they were fortunate enough to marry an honest butler or footman (Downton Abbey plot between Daisy and William Mason, as well as Carson and Mrs. Hughes), who might then set up as a shopkeeper, a cabbie, a publican or a boarding house keeper on their joint savings, small businesses which seem to have failed almost as often as they succeeded. Otherwise, they could hope to marry a man of no higher social standing than a groom, a tradesman, a policeman, a soldier, or a sailor. Many of them returned home, with their little nest eggs, to marry the ‘penny post correspondent’ whom they had left behind in their own village years before.”
(Image via http://www.britishmuseum.org – Cruikshank’s “Check Mate) Yet, there many who did succumb to the perils of life below stairs. Male servants could set the eyes upon a naive miss. Gentlemen guests in the household sometimes took advantage of the females (another plot in Downton Abbey when Anna Bates is raped). Employers’ sons could also be a threat, as well as the master of the house himself. Being sent on an errand, especially at night, could prove hazardous for unsuspecting females. The girls could be followed by a “young, disreputable gentleman in his cups” or a street thug. Sailors streamed upon shore and sought out “satisfaction” in port cities. Uniformed soldiers could affect (or is the word “infect”) many a servant girl with “scarlet fever.”
We must also remember that the expectations of a girl from a small village or rural community were quite different from those from the gentry and the aristocracy. In reality, the female from the rural communities likely held a better idea of “sexual matters” in nature than did the young ladies in Town. There were also rural traditions, such as “hand-fasting”in Scotland and “bundling” in Wales, as well as wife-swopping and trial marriage among those who kept with the older ways. Ancient orgiastic rites did not fall away so easily. And there still hiring fairs in the rural areas where farm and domestic servants were acquired, sometimes to the detriment of the females. However, a few “dollymops” cooperated with those who approached them in exchange for a bit of money or a present.
“There is no means of knowing how many servants were also part-time prostitutes, or enthusiastic amateurs as we might call them, but according to some contemporary experts the number was surprisingly high. One of the greatest authorities on early Victorian prostitution was William Tait, who saw many of the final, and often fatal consequences in Edinburgh Lock Hospital (for venereal diseases), where he was the house surgeon. He estimated that there were about eight hundred full-time professionals in the Scottish capital; but, in addition, there were no less than three hundred servants working part-time at the same trade. Nurses, who had the greatest freedom to spend many hours out of doors, were sometimes inclined to combine their regular calling with a little moonlighting, even, occasionally, in broad daylight. One nurse from ‘a very respectable family’ used to leave her two young children sitting in the High Street, while she went off to oblige a gentleman in a house of assignation nearby. Most of these ‘clandestine prostitutes’ were ‘common servants’, like the one from Leith who visited a house in Edinburgh every alternate Sunday night for four years; but governesses, ladies’ maids and housekeepers were also involved.” (Huggetts, page 122) Imagine the master of the house meeting one of his servants in a house of ill repute. It happened to several.
Was Sawney Bean Real or a Legend?
Unfortunately, the authorities of the time had few crime investigation skills available to them. In a time when people still believed in witches and vampires, many innocent people stood accused of Sawney’s crimes and lost their lives. As travelers were traced back to the inns in which they took shelter, local innkeepers were often charged with the crimes. Naturally, travelers began to shun the area.
The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy
Upper servants (cook, lady’s maid, governess, parlour maid, and nurse) usually got an extra hour sleep while others began their days as early as 5 A.M. The cook was responsible for 4 meals daily for the master and mistress and their guests, the children, and the other servants. She prepared a different type of meal for each group. All the servants, minus the nursery staff, sat down to breakfast shortly after 8 A.M. They would dine on leftovers of yesterday’s roast or cold meat pie and a slice of bread, along with a weak tea or home brewed beer. A tea break for the servants came at approximately 11 A.M. The cook would meet regularly with the mistress to discuss the menus for the day. The servants had their “dinner” between midday and one o’clock. Generally, it was a roast and vegetables with a rice or suet pudding. Beer was served with the meal. The nursery staff were given a shepherd’s pie or mutton stew. The master and mistress and the older children had a luncheon served by liveried footmen. This was a more formal meal than was breakfast. The course was usual fish, which was followed by hot dishes and then a sweet dessert or fresh fruit. The ladies would be out the door for afternoon social calls. 
Nursery maids swept and cleaned the day nursery and lit the hearth for warmth. The governess saw to the children. Upper class ladies rarely visited their children in the nursery for longer than 30 minutes per day. With infants, a wet nurse was engaged. Ladies of quality never breast fed their children. Governesses were occasionally accused of using a bit of laudanum to keep the children in order. The first duty of the day was to bath and feed the babies/children. A mixture of milk and barley water was used for the infants. The governess was also responsible for administering prescribed medicines and purges of castor oil, senna, or peppermint. They took the children out for morning and afternoon excursions. Older children were bathed and dressed. Even little boys wore stays until the age of 7 or 8. Breakfast was a porridge or gruel. It was quite bland when compared to what the parents ate.
On 22 January 1879, one of the world’s most remarkable military engagements took place. It was a short, but intense, battle in what is known as the Anglo- Zulu Wars. For two days, some 150 British soldiers defended Rorke’s Drift mission station from an estimated 4,000 Zulu warriors.
As preparations were nearing completion, a group of cavalry on retreat from Isandlwana arrived and offered to take position on a hill near the station in the direction the Zulus would be coming from. They added their numbers to between 100 and 350 foot soldiers from Natal who had been ordered to remain at the garrison to support B Company. At this point there were several hundred men in the vicinity of Rorke’s Drift, including ‘walking wounded’ in the hospital, and Chard felt his force was sufficient to stave off the coming threat.
Introducing 
What do you think of The New Game of Human Life? Do you enjoy boardgames, or think you will find one under the Christmas tree? 
Early on, I convinced my traditional publisher, Ulysses Press, to print one of my Regency romances – a book I originally called A Touch of Gold and later called A Touch of Scandal. Ulysses released the book under the title The Scandal of Lady Eleanor. That book has been followed by seven others, each the tale of one of the members of a fictional covert military group operating out of the Home Office during the Napoleonic Wars and known as “the Realm.” The men of the Realm have served their country honorably and have returned home to claim their titles and a chance at love, a fleeting hope each held during their service. Unfortunately, a Baloch warlord claims one of the group has stolen a fist-sized emerald, and Shaheed Mir means to have the jewel’s return, or he will know his revenge.
Introducing 
Every Woman Dreams... 