debts and, after finally being forced to sell off his jewels, dogs, cars and carriages he is declared bankrupt. He moves to the South of France, where he dies, age 30, in 1905.
The matchmaker
New York society snobs shun wealthy financier’s daughter Mary ‘Minnie’ Stevens because there is a rumour that she was once a chambermaid. But she still manages to up her social ante by marrying into the British aristocracy and becoming the wife of Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget. Once established as an aristocratic wife, she becomes a top-end marriage broker, introducing American heiresses to British aristocrats looking for wealthy brides. Yet the English toffs claim she has made society ‘more shallow and vulgar’ than before.
Send him the bill
Because male and female roles in the aristos’ world are so rigidly cast, paying the bills is always the man’s responsibility. The mistress of the house never carries any money at all. An English aristocratic wife is never involved in the financial planning of their estates. Yet she can spend – things like expensive clothing and décor are considered part and parcel of the massive effort in maintaining appearances at all times, and, of course, keeping up with the other wealthy women in their set.
THE HAVE NOTS
What servants earn in 1910:
The Butler: £50–£100 a year
The Housekeeper: £40–£70 a year
The Cook or Chef: £18–£500 a year
The Valet: £35–£50 a year
Lady’s Maid: £20–£32 a year
First Footman: £30–£40 a year
Second Footman: £20–£30 a year
First Housemaid: £28–£30 a year
Second Housemaid: £22–£24 a year
Kitchen Maid: £20–£24 a year
Scullery Maid: £10–£14 a year
Chauffeur: £10–£25 a year
Hallboy: £16–£18 a year
Nanny: £30–£40 a year
Governess: £22–£40 a year
Chapter 3
The Pecking Order
E veryone living in or around the grand country estate has a set role to play in the hierarchy of the house. And this strict adherence to the pecking order, the set tasks or duties allotted to each person, isn’t merely a template for the servants.
Even the owners of the estate, the master and mistress of the house, are locked into rigid, firmly set behaviour patterns, a ‘job description’ if you like, of how they must conform to what society expects of them. The pecking order runs from the very top of the tree to the lowliest person in the house. ‘Everyone in their place’ describes it perfectly.
T HE F ATHER
The father of the aristocratic family heads up the whole enterprise. He’s the indisputable lord and master of the household. In Edwardian Britain, rich or poor, the family is the most important aspect of everyday life – so the father, or man of the house, is always very much the focal point.
The father’s authority is absolute: family members, whatever their feelings, cannot challenge or question his authority. He makes the decisions on everything: money, the estate, their social circle, the children’s education, the family’s religious and political affiliations and the path any sons and heirs might pursue, such as politics. (Daughters are only expected to marry someone equally grand and wealthy.)
No matter how rich they are or how ancient the family lineage, it is the patriarch of the grand country estate who controls the purse strings – and the family’s fortunes. Certainly, he will give out the rewards and the praise to his offspring. But he can also be the one to dish out the punishment. So the penalties for stepping out of line or disagreeing with him are harsh: adult children who fail to obey his wishes risk being ‘cut off’ financially or, in some cases, being packed off out of sight to a foreign country. (Since only the toffs and the wealthy middle classes travel at these times, such banishment abroad is not some kind of treat as we might see it – it means ‘get out of my sight’.)
Yet the wealthier the family and the bigger the estate, the bigger the headache when it
The matchmaker
New York society snobs shun wealthy financier’s daughter Mary ‘Minnie’ Stevens because there is a rumour that she was once a chambermaid. But she still manages to up her social ante by marrying into the British aristocracy and becoming the wife of Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget. Once established as an aristocratic wife, she becomes a top-end marriage broker, introducing American heiresses to British aristocrats looking for wealthy brides. Yet the English toffs claim she has made society ‘more shallow and vulgar’ than before.
Send him the bill
Because male and female roles in the aristos’ world are so rigidly cast, paying the bills is always the man’s responsibility. The mistress of the house never carries any money at all. An English aristocratic wife is never involved in the financial planning of their estates. Yet she can spend – things like expensive clothing and décor are considered part and parcel of the massive effort in maintaining appearances at all times, and, of course, keeping up with the other wealthy women in their set.
THE HAVE NOTS
What servants earn in 1910:
The Butler: £50–£100 a year
The Housekeeper: £40–£70 a year
The Cook or Chef: £18–£500 a year
The Valet: £35–£50 a year
Lady’s Maid: £20–£32 a year
First Footman: £30–£40 a year
Second Footman: £20–£30 a year
First Housemaid: £28–£30 a year
Second Housemaid: £22–£24 a year
Kitchen Maid: £20–£24 a year
Scullery Maid: £10–£14 a year
Chauffeur: £10–£25 a year
Hallboy: £16–£18 a year
Nanny: £30–£40 a year
Governess: £22–£40 a year
Chapter 3
The Pecking Order
E veryone living in or around the grand country estate has a set role to play in the hierarchy of the house. And this strict adherence to the pecking order, the set tasks or duties allotted to each person, isn’t merely a template for the servants.
Even the owners of the estate, the master and mistress of the house, are locked into rigid, firmly set behaviour patterns, a ‘job description’ if you like, of how they must conform to what society expects of them. The pecking order runs from the very top of the tree to the lowliest person in the house. ‘Everyone in their place’ describes it perfectly.
T HE F ATHER
The father of the aristocratic family heads up the whole enterprise. He’s the indisputable lord and master of the household. In Edwardian Britain, rich or poor, the family is the most important aspect of everyday life – so the father, or man of the house, is always very much the focal point.
The father’s authority is absolute: family members, whatever their feelings, cannot challenge or question his authority. He makes the decisions on everything: money, the estate, their social circle, the children’s education, the family’s religious and political affiliations and the path any sons and heirs might pursue, such as politics. (Daughters are only expected to marry someone equally grand and wealthy.)
No matter how rich they are or how ancient the family lineage, it is the patriarch of the grand country estate who controls the purse strings – and the family’s fortunes. Certainly, he will give out the rewards and the praise to his offspring. But he can also be the one to dish out the punishment. So the penalties for stepping out of line or disagreeing with him are harsh: adult children who fail to obey his wishes risk being ‘cut off’ financially or, in some cases, being packed off out of sight to a foreign country. (Since only the toffs and the wealthy middle classes travel at these times, such banishment abroad is not some kind of treat as we might see it – it means ‘get out of my sight’.)
Yet the wealthier the family and the bigger the estate, the bigger the headache when it
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