From The Archives: Upstairs Downstairs
4 months ago
The Hestercombe archives are bursting at the seams with facts, pictures and accounts of the history of Hestercombe and those who lived and worked here. In this installment of
_Memories of Hestercombe_ we find out about the domestic structure of Hestercombe - who the domestic servants were, and how they kept Hestercombe and its estate running smoothly.
_Written by Kim Legate, Archivist_
- Fig. 3 - William Duppa Miller (2nd from right) with Mrs. Portman (3rd from right) and her middle son, Osbert Eustace (extreme right), at Hestercombe 1904._
**The Hestercombe Household in 1911**:
- Fig. 1 - Hestercombe Reading Room as featured in Lawrence Weaver’s Village Halls and Clubs (1920)_ The Hestercombe household in April 1911 was organised according to a long established servant hierarchy that had at its apex the
**butler** and the
**housekeeper**. A servant’s seating position at mealtimes reflected his/her position in this hierarchy. The
**butler**, as head of the servants, sat at the head of the table with the housekeeper at the end and the male and female servants arranged on either side in order of authority. Thus, the valet would be found sitting on the butler's right, followed by the first footman, the second footman and the hall boy. The lady's maid sat on the butler's left, with the first housemaid, cook, and kitchen maid seated beside her. All of the male domestics reported to the
**butler**, who was usually accountable to the lady of the house and was responsible for the pantry, wine cellar and dining room. The purview of the
**housekeeper**, who was in charge of all female servants, was the house and its appearance. The
**valet** performed personal services such as maintaining his employer's clothes, running his bath and perhaps shaving his employer. He could also be responsible for making travel arrangements, dealing with bills and handling money matters concerning his master or his master's household.
_Fig. 2 - Albert Hubbard, Hestercombe Head Gardener 1902-c.1913_ Some valets began as
**footmen**, learning the relevant skills as part of that job, and picking up others when deputising for their master's valet, performing valeting tasks for his sons (before they had a valet of their own), or attending to the needs of visiting guests. Traditionally young and unmarried, the footmen in the house normally performed a range of duties which included the care of the silver, serving meals, opening and closing doors, carrying heavy items, or moving furniture for the housemaids to clean behind. The first footman served as deputy butler, acting as butler in the butler's absence. The lowest ranked male servant was the
**hall boy**, usually a boy or young teenager whose main duties were in the servants' hall where he may also have slept. The hall boy would have been expected to work up to 16 hours per day, seven days a week, carrying out the most disagreeable chores in the house, such as emptying chamber pots for the higher-ranking servants, and cleaning their boots. The cook supervised the kitchen and kitchen staff, reporting directly to the lady of the house, but sometimes to the housekeeper. The lady’s maid waited on the lady of the house in a position similar to a gentleman's valet. Her duties included helping her mistress with her make-up, hairdressing, clothing, jewellery, shoes, wardrobe care, and all related shopping as well as assisting with household-related activities. In total there were twenty-one domestic servants at the beck and call of Edward William Berkeley (‘Teddy’) Portman and Constance Mary Portman by the spring of 1911, with all but three of them residing with their employers in Hestercombe House.
_Fig. 4 - St Mary’s Church, Hestercombe (built 1895)_
**Domestic servants at Hestercombe in 1911**:
**Frederick Coole** - butler, aged 34
**Claude Bradbury** - valet, aged 27
**Joseph Marshall** - footman, aged 22
**Henry Palmer** - footman, aged 20
**Albert Swanborough** - hall boy, aged 16
**Hannah Potter** - housekeeper, aged 48
**Elizabeth Robinson** - lady's maid, aged 70
**Mary Roberts** - cook, aged 39
**Amelia Major** - kitchen maid, aged 16
**Mary Steevens** - lady's maid, aged 41
**Susan Stagg** - house maid, aged 31
**Emily Child** - house maid, aged 24
**Rose Marsh** - house maid, aged 21
**Dorothy Colbourne** - house maid, aged 19
**Isabel Pile** - laundry maid, aged 24
**Katherine Pile** - laundry maid, aged 21
**Ada Poole** - laundry maid, aged 19
**Alice Wyatt** - kitchen maid, aged 24
**Alice Chater** - scullery maid, aged 19
**Nancy Miller** - stillroom maid, aged 40
**Agnes Young** - stillroom maid, aged 20
_Fig. 5 - Miss Elizabeth Mary Robinson (1840-1913), seated right with Mrs. Blakey c.1905._ At the time of his death on the 27 April 1911, aged 54, E.W.B. Portman employed over sixty people on the Hestercombe estate, including at least eleven gardeners, most of whom were young and unmarried.
**Henry Britton** (28),
**Charles York** (2
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