Why did families need so many servants?

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I've done my family tree, and rather unsurprisingly some of the lines were fairly well off.

In 1861, I have a 'Gentleman' (aka posh farmer), with SIX indoor servants. He had one daughter and a wife at home.

In 1891 I have a Merchant ancestor with five servants in their house! They had 4 kids, but the house was only about 14-15 rooms.

What on earth meant they needed so many staff? How could a family of three need 6 other human beings to live with them to look after them? How was there even enough work?

Six indoor servants is an extraordinary number. The only households I've seen with that many (or more!) were:
– the very rich
– those who had "servants" who were actually workers in the business, eg apprentices, shopworkers
– those who had outdoor "servants" who were actually workers on the farm.

I agree. 6 indoor domestic servants is a heck of a lot for a middle class family.

To the previous posters who say that this isn't a lot , I think you've all been watching too much Downton Abbey ! It's all too easy to think how wonderful life was back then and see yourselves as Lady Edith, but the reality is you'd have been in the backrooms picking shit out of her shoes...

Remember, programmes like that, with the full retinue of staff in stately piles, represented a tiny tiny proportion of households in England. Sure, by the late 19th century areas of London had streets with large townhouses that needed a lot of staff to run.

In my tree, I tend to categorise anything more than 3 indoor servants as upper-middle class.