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Authors: Jacky Hyams
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finest china and porcelain. She’s responsible for checking all the washing and drying of the china following mealtimes: she must be on the lookout for any cracks or breakages. And she oversees and supervises everything in the still room – a place often used for making jams, homemade wines and distilled waters.
She also has her own medicine cabinet for the servants, which contains a number of herbal remedies and ointments to ease aches and pains.
The sitting room also has a large desk and this is where the housekeeper checks the accounts and does all her paperwork. Each day, she must meet with the mistress of the house to get her instructions and discuss all the items of expenditure.
If there are visitors due to stay, she will ensure that all the details are in order so that the smooth running of the house and comfort of the guests is not affected by the extra work such entertaining entails.
As a supervisor, she is not expected to do any rough, menial tasks. As long as her absence doesn’t create any problems in the way the house operates, she can arrange her own time off. If the family are away, visiting relatives or travelling, together with the butler and lady’s maid, she is in charge of the house in their absence – and has to make sure everything is ready for their return.
THE COOK
The cook of the house runs her own domain below stairs – and her status, in the wealthiest homes, is high: she has staff to carry out many tasks, kitchen and scullery maids at her behest: a senior kitchen maid, for instance, may be under Cook’s instructions to prepare the meals for the other servants while the cook occupies herself with the needs of the family. And under Cook’s rule, none of the other servants may enter the kitchen other than the kitchen staff.
Cook’s ingredients are prepared for her by the kitchen staff and the scullery maids are responsible for the cleanliness of the food preparation area. The cook is also responsible for the dining room and the areas around the kitchen.
She starts work at 6am and usually finishes around 10pm or later. Once dinner has been served at night, most of her day’s duties are over because the cleaning up chores are the remit of her kitchen staff (painfully labour-intensive work in a world without dishwashers when you consider that when guests were visiting, dinner for eighteen people might mean over 500 separate items of fine china, silver and valuable glassware and cutlery had to be cleaned).
She too has her own room and her main responsibility each morning is to meet with the mistress of the house to check and approve menus; often, a basic knowledge of French is required as the wealthy Edwardians love to gorge on French food when entertaining. (French male chefs were very much in vogue among the very wealthiest families wanting to impress their guests. But such chefs could be both temperamental and expensive: a top female country house cook would earn an average of £30–£60 a year, yet a top French chef could command as much as £500 a year.)
After the morning meeting with her mistress, the cook prepares soup for the next day. (The Edwardians prefer to drink soup the day after it is made.) Then she sets about creating the pastries, jellies, creams and entrées needed for the evening meal; then it’s time to supervise the family’s lunch. After that, if she’s lucky, there’s a brief lull in kitchen proceedings until the whole thing revs up again for that night’s dinner.
With one half day off a week (usually Sunday) and elaborate meals consisting of several courses, the cook’s world is hectic, hot, pressurised and unrelenting: everything has to be prepared and presented to perfection (the presentation of the food on display is just as important as the taste), so there is no room for cock-ups. Usually, she’s suspicious of change and any ‘new fangled’ devices in the kitchen – Cook likes things run her way and her way alone. With so much perfection at
She also has her own medicine cabinet for the servants, which contains a number of herbal remedies and ointments to ease aches and pains.
The sitting room also has a large desk and this is where the housekeeper checks the accounts and does all her paperwork. Each day, she must meet with the mistress of the house to get her instructions and discuss all the items of expenditure.
If there are visitors due to stay, she will ensure that all the details are in order so that the smooth running of the house and comfort of the guests is not affected by the extra work such entertaining entails.
As a supervisor, she is not expected to do any rough, menial tasks. As long as her absence doesn’t create any problems in the way the house operates, she can arrange her own time off. If the family are away, visiting relatives or travelling, together with the butler and lady’s maid, she is in charge of the house in their absence – and has to make sure everything is ready for their return.
THE COOK
The cook of the house runs her own domain below stairs – and her status, in the wealthiest homes, is high: she has staff to carry out many tasks, kitchen and scullery maids at her behest: a senior kitchen maid, for instance, may be under Cook’s instructions to prepare the meals for the other servants while the cook occupies herself with the needs of the family. And under Cook’s rule, none of the other servants may enter the kitchen other than the kitchen staff.
Cook’s ingredients are prepared for her by the kitchen staff and the scullery maids are responsible for the cleanliness of the food preparation area. The cook is also responsible for the dining room and the areas around the kitchen.
She starts work at 6am and usually finishes around 10pm or later. Once dinner has been served at night, most of her day’s duties are over because the cleaning up chores are the remit of her kitchen staff (painfully labour-intensive work in a world without dishwashers when you consider that when guests were visiting, dinner for eighteen people might mean over 500 separate items of fine china, silver and valuable glassware and cutlery had to be cleaned).
She too has her own room and her main responsibility each morning is to meet with the mistress of the house to check and approve menus; often, a basic knowledge of French is required as the wealthy Edwardians love to gorge on French food when entertaining. (French male chefs were very much in vogue among the very wealthiest families wanting to impress their guests. But such chefs could be both temperamental and expensive: a top female country house cook would earn an average of £30–£60 a year, yet a top French chef could command as much as £500 a year.)
After the morning meeting with her mistress, the cook prepares soup for the next day. (The Edwardians prefer to drink soup the day after it is made.) Then she sets about creating the pastries, jellies, creams and entrées needed for the evening meal; then it’s time to supervise the family’s lunch. After that, if she’s lucky, there’s a brief lull in kitchen proceedings until the whole thing revs up again for that night’s dinner.
With one half day off a week (usually Sunday) and elaborate meals consisting of several courses, the cook’s world is hectic, hot, pressurised and unrelenting: everything has to be prepared and presented to perfection (the presentation of the food on display is just as important as the taste), so there is no room for cock-ups. Usually, she’s suspicious of change and any ‘new fangled’ devices in the kitchen – Cook likes things run her way and her way alone. With so much perfection at
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