Servant names & hierarchies Posted by Jessamyn on September 16,
1997 at 23:24:31: In response to Servants and names, written by
ElaineL on September 16, 1997 at 10:43:28 My source for all of
the following is the excellent book Not in Front of the Servants
by Frank Victor Dawes (originally pub. by Wayland in 1973; my
copy pub. by Century in 1993). You have the idea of first names
reversed. Using the last name was a sign of respect accorded to
the upper servants. So a butler would be "Dobbins" while the
girl clearing the coal out of your hearth would be "Mary."
There's an entire chapter on hierarchy below stairs, but here
are the highlights of the early 19th-century staff: "In large
establishments, upper and lower servants dined separately. Upper
menservants wore ordinary clothes, while their subordinates were
dressed in livery, or uniform. "At the top of the hierarchy
stood the land steward, who managed the estate, collected rents,
settled disputes between tenants and so on. A house steward or
housekeeper rule