The Scullery Maid: One of the Hardest Job Below Stairs in a Victorian Household.

The Scullery Maid: One of the Hardest Job Below Stairs in a Victorian Household.

Today I want to explore the life of one of the most overlooked people in a Victorian household: the scullery maid. It is easy to focus on the owners of these grand country houses or even the senior servants. But hidden away in the kitchens were the young servants whose work was often the hardest and the least appreciated of all.

During the Victorian period, many girls from poor families entered domestic service, some  as young twelve, often because their families needed the extra income or could no longer afford to support them. Service offered the girls food, accommodation and a small wage. Some parents hoped that service would provide their daughters with skills and a more secure future.

 

For some, becoming a scullery maid was their first job. They were usually among the youngest servants in the household and were at the very bottom of the servant hierarchy. Victorians placed great importance on status and rank, and everyone was expected to know their place. While a butler, housekeeper or cook held positions of responsibility, the scullery maid had very little status at all and usually earned the lowest wages in the house.

This may seem unfair to us  because the scullery maid often had the most physically demanding job. However, Victorian employers did not usually pay servants according to how hard they worked. Wages were based on a servants rank and the responsibility and trust that they had. A cook was responsible for feeding the household and a butler managed valuable property and supervised other servants. A scullery maid was considered inexperienced and easily replaced, so despite her workload, she received the least pay.

A typical day for a scullery maid often began before dawn. While most of the household was still asleep, the scullery maid was already working. One of her first tasks was usually to light the kitchen fires so that the days meals could be prepared later in the day. This involved carrying coal, cleaning the grates and removing the ashes, it was dirty work.

The work must have seemed endless. The scullery maid was also responsible for washing large piles of pots, pans, dishes and cutlery by hand. There were no modern dishwashers or labour-saving devices. After a grand dinner, can you imagine the mountains of greasy cookware that had to be scrubbed. She might also clean the floors, wash vegetables, fetch water, polish kitchen equipment and help to prepare food. Whatever unpleasant or tiring task needed doing it usually found its way to the scullery maid.

The kitchen could be a difficult place to work. In winter, carrying water through the yard must have been horrible. In summer, the heat from ovens and stoves would have been almost unbearable. They worked  long hours often between twelve and sixteen hours. If the household hosted a dinner party or ball, she could find herself still washing up long after the guests had left, sometimes even working until midnight before needing to get up again before dawn. Many of these girls had to work with aching backs, sore hands and tired feet.

Being so young and living away from home for the first time must have been hard, it may even have been lonely. Many struggled with homesickness and they were often overwhelmed by the demands of the job.

 Scullery maids were usually supervised by the cook and other senior servants. They all demanded high standards at all times. Some were fortunate enough to have employers that were kind and taught them valuable skills, but others were faced with harsh and critical employers who would demean them for even small mistakes.

Despite the hardships, many scullery maids hoped it would lead promotion. A diligent servant could eventually become a kitchen maid, cook or move into other  roles with even greater responsibility and better wages. Many though left service before this happened. For girls from poor families, service offered them a chance, however difficult, to build a better future for themselves.

Victorian households depended on the scullery maids unseen labour. The  comfortable lifestyles that were enjoyed by wealthy families were often made possible by young girls working long hours behind the scenes. Their names are often not remembered, but the  work they did kept some of Britain's largest households running smoothly.

Do you think that the hard work and sacrifices that the scullery maids made receives enough recognition today?

 

Image info:

Artist: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin

Date: 1738