General servants cheapest option

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (129) continues the series of studies about domestic service advertising for female staff to work in the resort 1878-1881. The analysis references a database constructed from details of job requirements and advertisers which appeared each week in the Western Gazette. This article concentrates on applications for domestic staff advertised by private families.

Victorian Bournemouth (129): background

Households

According to the numbers of advertisements placed 1878-1881, households had a greater appetite for domestic staff than hospitality businesses. Almost seven hundred advertisements for the former appeared in the Western Gazette, but about a third less for the latter. A small number of domestic advertisers used the terms ‘business’ or ‘business house’. The majority used the word family. Sometimes, they qualified this with such terms as ‘small’, ‘private’, ‘gentleman’s’, ‘doctor’s’, or ‘clergyman’s’. Advertisers perhaps used the three last terms to suggest a more affluent social context. The positions advertised for ‘business’ tended to consist of activities more likely to occur within a domestic household, for example cooks or different types of maids. Thus, advertisers perhaps used this descriptor more as a social than an economic gloss. It signified a household belonging to middling people having a business successful enough to support at least one servant. 

Trends

As discussed elsewhere, the numbers of advertisements placed for servants to work in Bournemouth grew at a significant rate during this period. This may have occurred because growing circulation attracted increasing numbers of advertisers. On the other hand, the trend may refer to economic or social events. In the former case, it suggests the hospitality business experienced a growth in tourist visits. The latter case may imply an increase in residents having sufficient resources to afford servants. These households also had a social need to display their resources through expenditure on domestic staff. At earlier times, social divisions at Bournemouth fell into affluent visitors and residents for the most part having humble backgrounds. The possible increase in domestic servants, however, could suggest that more affluent people now chose Bournemouth for their residence. Thus, as Bournemouth moved into its fifth decade of systematic development, a residential social pyramid unfolded.

Victorian Bournemouth (129): domestic servant types

Main types sought

The categories of staff sought by domestic advertisers differed in their proportions from those needed in the hospitality business. In the latter, the position offered most often consisted of upstairs staff. Thereafter, hotels had a greater interest in kitchen staff. Lodging-houses, however, looked for general servants. Domestic residences advertised for general servants most often. They had almost no need for any types of kitchen maid. In comparative terms, they had a greater interest in cooks than upstairs maids, though together these comprised the same number as general staff. Lodging-houses showed an interest in general servants having cooking ability. The same pattern occurred for some domestic households. Advertisers also looked for other types of multi-tasking, for example, a proficiency at needlework. The same interest in breadth perhaps occurred in their requirement for cooks. In many cases, they sought plain cooks who had no specific style of meal preparation.

Remuneration and rules

Some advertisers for domestic staff stated the wages on offer, though the numbers do not support detailed analysis. The range went from under £10 a year to over £20, though the latter occurred not often. The numbers clustered at £10 and £15. The distribution seems to skew towards higher levels than those found for situations advertised by hospitality businesses, though, once again, only small numbers exist. Perks also featured on occasion. The most common consisted of ‘all found’ and ‘washing put out’. ‘All found’, however, carried the explicit exclusion of beer provision. Other households specified that they wanted abstainers. Temperance activists often conducted programmes in the town. Some, also, had no qualms in making an open request for ‘churchwomen’ in their advertisements. Other requirements also touched on personal aspects of an individual. Some wanted ‘early-risers’, others ‘country girls’ or a ‘farmer’s daughter’, and others did not want hospitality experience.

Victorian Bournemouth (129): qualities

Respectability above all

Many advertisements included descriptors which related to the required work characteristics and personal qualities desired in prospective staff. The list contained many words, but a handful occurred with great frequency. Employers looked for strength, respectability, steadiness, as well as a sense of activity in the domestic staff. Strong and respectable had about equal appearances, as did active and steady, albeit at a lower frequency. Thereafter private advertisers looked for experience and cleanliness. These attributes referred to different aspects of the individual. ‘Strong’ related to the individual’s physique, while ‘active’ and ‘steady’ concerned their application to labour. ‘Respectability’ and ‘cleanliness’, however, had a greater external reference. This suggests that private employers had a sensitivity to how outsiders might perceive and react to their servants. Victorian middling people took significant steps to achieve respectability. Thus, requiring this amongst their staff, suggests they regarded them as a reflection of their family’s status.

Suitability for specific jobs

The descriptors appear to vary according to the position advertised. Cooks attracted least requirements. Apart from respectability, the description ‘good, plain cook’ seemed to suffice. The requirement of ‘plain’ restricted the possibility for variation. Thereafter, the decision perhaps lay on basic capability. For general and upstairs staff, however, more personal descriptors applied. Above all, general servants had to have strength. They also had to keep busy. Respectability appeared, but to a lesser extent. In contrast, upstairs staff needed to have respectability but also experience. This differentiation of descriptor according to position may support the point made above. Servants who might become visible to visitors had to appear respectable. Experience would have helped with this. General servants might appear less often. Employers in this case perhaps valued strength because they looked for deployment over a wide range of tasks. Strength would provide the best guarantee of a return on their investment.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (129) has analysed the advertisements placed by private families looking to employ domestic staff. It has found a rapid increase in requirement for such staff over the monitored period of Western Gazette advertising (1878-1881). Most of all, such advertisers looked to employ general servants, people capable of working over a range of tasks. They showed least interest in specific kitchen staff other than cooks, although they often looked for general servants who could cook. Above all, in terms of personal qualities, people looked to employ respectable servants, people who might reflect their desired public image.

References

For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See also here, here, and here for Bournemouth servants. Thanks for the illustration.