Do the aristocracy have staff?

[Mamarsupial]

Just been watching the original 70s series of Upstairs Downstairs.

Obviously the world has changed, but there are still a few old aristocratic families (and a lot of ultra-rich in new money as well). I imagine they have staff- but what sort of staff? I’m guessing not parlour and scullery maids - but then, surely somebody does their laundry? Who?
What about butlers? Do they live in? How do they address their employers?
So many questions! Does anyone know?

I have a friend who is a live in housekeeper (separate property on estate) and includes her cleaning, cooking, shopping, dog walking, looking after the chickens. They have a separate gardener and nanny. She has always loved her job.

@Rainbowqueeen that sounds really interesting. I might listen to that (if I can find it 😂)

@SmokedHaddockChowder - while that’s true for the majority of “titled” people - a lot of the super rich who are British are also from aristocratic families - the ones who didn’t just hold on to land as their only source of income !

I used to be a PA in London and one recruitment agency sent me a lot of private PA roles, I remembered reading one job spec while watching downton and realised it was the modern day housekeeper role - as in not expecting me to clean, but organise all the other staff, place food orders, pay bills, organise any logistics for the family.

I do wonder if many jobs have remained generally the same while job titles have changed. eg. If in practice, the glam squad” the Kardashian’s talk about are close to a modern day Ladies maid role.

DH family are not aristocracy but he grew up with a full time housekeeper, they were I suppose very well off.

My home (London mid-Victorian) was built with accommodation for three maids. Looking at the census details and deeds they appeared to have at least one live in until the 1920’s. 1927 deeds showed she was called Martha Browne.

We had an au pair when the children were little as well as contracting on a weekly or regular basis:
cleaner
gardener
window cleaner
ironing service
handyman

In our dotage we hope to be able to have a live in carer(s) rather then having to go into a care home.

Lifestyles are very different now for both employers and staff, I think it is a far more equal relationship between employers and staff who I certainly see as experts in their fields.

Not a given now, in my experience, the inheritances are running dry.

Same here, except my Housekeeper, Nanny and Cleaner are all one person who works full-time. She does everything you'd expect a SAHP to do, plus a bit extra! Nanny Housekeeper lives out, so I get the DC ready for school and I put them to bed. She really is amazing.

The gardener only comes once every two weeks, and I'm now starting to think about securing a Handyman to come once a week to do all the jobs in my new house as it seems impossible to find reliable, available, reasonably priced trades at the moment.

We’re very ordinary, but over time have had;
housekeepers
nanny
mothers helps
gardener
cleaners
PAs

Then other traditional service jobs are farmed out - ironing, window cleaning, occasional catering or waiting, oven cleaning etc.
In old age we’ll probably go with live in housekeeping/driving and odd job couple unless we are both unfortunate enough to require care.

@MargotChateau Why on earth are they paying you to paint their portraits when they have buckets to catch the drips from the roof?

Personally I wouldn't class most of these as "staff" as lots of us have these.

In my mind "staff" would be full time or live in and be roles like butler, cook/chef, chauffeur (and maybe housekeeper)!

Some will still have lots of estate staff though. Gardeners, or gamekeepers/estate managers/ghillies in larger country estates. These people might "live in" in the sense of living in accommodation on the estate, if not in the house itself. I would imagine that for somewhere like Chatsworth or Longleat the office staff or people who work in the cafe come in every day though.

A local renowned playwright definitely has live in staff, including housekeepers. He came across two burglars during the day in and had a nice chat with them assuming they were there visiting one of the housekeepers.

Found it...

I lived with aristocracy (not employed by them) and they had a daily cleaner and a full-time gardener and a gamekeeper, who also kept an eye on fishing and boats using the waterways. When their children were small they had a nanny.

@LimeCheesecake yes true, I guess my post does refer to 'titled' people

Of course they do. Several people who worked as Hall servers or scouts at my Oxford college had worked as domestic staff at Blenheim Palace — one I remember had been fired from his footman job for some misdemeanour.

I’ve seen a number that are cash poor asset rich, so will have a beautiful home with priceless paintings and furniture, but the roof is in dire need of repair and there a buckets everywhere.

Some people seem to be equating ‘aristocracy’ with ‘rich’, so I was wondering about the ones who’re are poor as church mice.

Champagne lifestyle on lemonade income. 😀

I have worked with a lot of artistocracy. In my experience they have housekeepers, cleaners, nannies and gardeners. On the larger estates there will also be an estate manager who co-ordinates property maintenance and gardening alongside running the rest of the land. They would also tend to hire in caterers for functions or dinners quite regularly.

I have had cleaners, live-in nannies and gardeners (sometimes a married couple would do two jobs), but the one thing I always wanted and never had was a cook. The nannies often cooked for the DC but I was always left to cook for myself. I am a very average cook and at the end of long day at work it would be great not to need to think about food. If I could afford it, it is the one thing I would want now so I am not sure why it is not so common as other domestic help.

One of my cousins is a butler to European aristocracy - the Brits are much sought after for this type of role apparently. However his job also seems to encompass what a valet and chauffeur would have done in 'the old days'

I have a friend who is an aristocrat and his parents live in a a historic house. Part of the house is open to the public a few days a week and that part plus the garden is looked after by an enormous team of staff supplied by the NT, some of whom live on the estate. Maybe 6 gardeners, huge numbers of specialist cleaners and maintenance experts, office and shop/cafe staff.

Apart from that, when they have guests staying they hire some ladies from the village who come in and do everything between them- guest bedrooms cleaned daily, meals cooked and served etc- so basically everything that would have been done in the past by maids, cook, butler and footmen (sometimes there is also another cook if the guests are important). When they don’t have guests they live a lot more simply but still have one lady who comes in daily to clean the family rooms and do a bit of cooking. But the majority of the cleaning and maintenance is done by the NT. Also there isn’t the same sort of upstairs/downstairs distinction, or at least not in private- my friend’s mum will hang out in the kitchen and chat, but wouldn’t chat with the same people if they were serving her at dinner.

As PP said, some jobs have just changed name and status but the role is still there. Celebs now have stylists, make up artists and hairdressers, not ladies’ maids.

Do you have these people (eg handyman) on full time wages or ad hoc?

What does your housekeeper do?

I inwardly eye rolled when a friend called her cleaner / childminder a housekeeper!!

This is all so interesting, thank you for opening a window into this hidden world (well hidden to me anyway!)

Yep.

My cousin isn’t aristocracy but she has a housekeeper, a nanny, and gardeners every week.

Addressing the principals is largely dependant on their titles. It’s ‘your grace’ for a duke/duchess or just ‘sir/lady X’ if that is their title.

Apparently the Duke of Devonshire dislikes being addressed as "your Grace" so people are instructed to just call him Duke!

Another one here who loves reading the job adverts in The Lady. Very often live in positions are advertised for a couple who can perform housekeeper/gardener/handyman roles.

BTW @Mamarsupial I am also rewatching the original Upstairs Downstairs on ITV Hub. I saw the later series when they were first shown and way back in 80s/90s I had them all on VHS tape, long since gone. But it is ages now since I had seen any of it so am thoroughly enjoying the rewatch. Currently approaching the end of series 2 (just seen the suffragette episode). How about you?