Servants and names
Posted by ElaineL on September 16, 1997 at 10:43:28:
Help! I can not find any listing giving the hierarchy of servants in a great house such as Pemberley. A librarian told me she found it somewhere hidden in web pages about the English royal house, but couldn't remember where. I have checked every reference I can think of in encyclopedias, internet, etc. I am stumped!
I am in the middle of a story and it really bugs me that I don't know if I have the proper people performing the proper duties.
Also, I know surnames were used for the gentry, but were the servants also referred to by surnames? I know Darcy's housekeeper is "Mrs. Reynolds" and Bennets maid was "Hill," so does that mean christian names were not used for the "lesser" servants? (I've been referring in my story to a servant named "John" and a butler named "Cecil" I am bothered that I may be calling them by the wrong name. (I know. I need to get a life.)
I'd appreciate any info. EL
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