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administrator. Then we had Norman Smith, as butler-chauffeur, who was ex-army.
     
Fred Jolly knew of lists where you could advertise for retiring servicemen. Norman had worked in the officers’ mess in his last years in the army, so he knew what was needed. David Palmer, who came later as butler, had also been in the army and was with us until we retired to the house where we live now. There were usually three gardeners and seven or eight gamekeepers. 69
     
    Still working for the Leicesters today is Maurice Bray, who was born on the estate and started work at Holkham on 1 September 1958 in the estates building department:
     
There were different types of trades and everyone had a specific job. There was a man to mend the fences, another to mend the gates, someone to repair the cottages and so on, which worked very well. The workshop was on the first floor, with a great big open fire at one end. The oldest man, Mr Frank Stubbs, had his bench close to the fire, while I, being the youngest, had mine at the other end, near the open door and the draughts. 70
     
    The indoor staff included Mr Upton, ‘a permanent electrician, who also looked after the boilers and was always pushing round a barrowful of coke. He replaced all the light bulbs too.’
    If the buildings department had work to do in the house, ‘we had to report to the butler, Mr Rees, a Scotsman. He was a jovial type, but you would not think of walking about the house without first reporting to him. He retired in the 1970s.’ Mrs Stubbs, the mother of one of Mr Bray’s colleagues, went in daily to do cleaning and washing.
     
    The buildings department was reduced substantially in the 1960s and Mr Bray later became clerk of works, moving on in 2000 to help run the linseed oil business set up by the estate. He is now still working for the Leicesters, helping them settle into their new home in the grounds. He described working for a great estate as being ‘like being part of a family. People would always assist you. We also used things that were to hand, from flint to timber.’ 71
     
    Ian Macnab, the current head forester, joined the estate staff in 1957; his father had worked in the gardens, and his mother had been a laundrymaid. His training was thorough: ‘In those days you looked to spend two years in the nursery, growing trees in plantations, raising, weeding, and planting out. After a couple of years you would start to work in the woods.’ Those he worked for were ‘supportive but ruled with a rod of iron; they wouldn’t stand for backchat’. 72
     
    Both men considered their training in the 1950s to be strict and both felt a keen sense of history, in their own jobs and in those of their colleagues. Maurice Bray remarked: ‘I often used to think what a wonderful sight the park was when walking in to work, when all those commuters are shut up in cars or trains.’ Ian Macnab adds:‘I used to think the view of the hall from the monument must be a hell of a sight for visitors, but to us, it’s just the hall.’
     
    Lord Leicester commissioned an important series of group portraits by Andrew Festing to record the contribution of all those whose service contributed to the maintenance of the house, both for the family and for the visiting public:
     
The main catalyst was that in 1993 I had three heads of departments retiring who had been with me since I was first involved in running the estate in 1973. They were Ken Hume, clerk of the works, the administrator and the chief clerk. Whatever I have achieved here is in large part thanks to them, and I was looking for a way of recording this. I also thought that visitors to the house see plenty of my family and ancestors, but not much of the people who look after us and this estate.
     
Then I thought of the servant portraits at Erddig. After that first one, of the heads of department, with the agent and the farm manager, we had others of the office staff, and the house staff, including the administrator,