Georgette Heyer's Regency World (5 page)

The lady’s maid was also known as an abigail or dresser, and was the personal attendant to the lady of the house who directly employed her. She was required to wait on her mistress before breakfast to ensure that she had hot water and was ready to rise. She then laid out her lady’s clothes, helped her dress, did her hair, attended to any clothes that needed mending, special cleaning or ironing, tidied things away and made sure her mistress was looking her best before going downstairs. During the day she attended to her lady’s wardrobe and other household tasks, such as making lotions and cosmetics, or accompanied her mistress while shopping or walking. A lady’s maid had to be well dressed, quick, efficient and discreet as she was often in her employer’s confidence as well as her company. Some lady’s maids developed a close personal relationship with their mistresses and, while they remained respectful, took on the role of confidante and advisor. In
Lady of Quality
, Annis Wychwood’s formidable abigail, Jurby, had attended her mistress since childhood and knew her better than her own family.

Starting at 6.30 a.m. in summer and 7.00 a.m. in winter, the footman began his day filling the coal scuttles in the main rooms, cleaning the household’s shoes and boots, polishing plate and laying the breakfast table. In
The Corinthian
it was the under-footman who discovered, as he went about his morning duties in Sir Richard Wyndham’s library, the shawl, the cravat and the telltale strands of guinea-gold hair that set Sir Richard’s family in such a bustle. At every meal it was the footman’s job to lay the table, carry in the food, wait at table, stand while the family ate and then clear away. Back in the kitchen, they washed the glasses and silverware before starting the whole routine again. In houses with more than two footmen, the third footman and below did the rougher jobs such as fetching wood, coal and water and cleaning the boots, while the first and second footmen cleaned plate, trimmed lamps and candles, answered the door (after midday) or went out on carriage duty (sitting or standing behind the carriage). As Frederica discovered, a footman could also be required to attend a member of the household on a walk or shopping trip, following on foot at an appropriate distance. Footmen slept in the basement or cellar and wore a formal livery of knee-breeches, tail-coat, stockings and a powdered wig.

Next to the kitchen, scullery and laundry maids, the housemaid was one of the hardest workers in the house. She was up by 6.00 a.m. to light the fire in the kitchen, open the shutters and start sweeping, cleaning and dusting the hallways, living rooms and stairs and polishing the banisters, grates, fenders and furniture. Before her master or mistress got up she lit the fires in their bedrooms and, after they had gone down to breakfast, made their beds, dusted and swept their rooms and emptied the chamber-pots and wash-basins. Maids were expected to fulfill their duties as quietly and unobtrusively as possible and were often so good at moving quietly about the house while they worked that in
Arabella
the sound of fire-irons crashing in the hearth was so unusual that it woke the heroine from a sound sleep. The kitchen maid mainly worked as an assistant to the cook, preparing food, cleaning utensils and sweeping the kitchen. The scullery maid rose at dawn to clean the kitchen range and start the fire so that the cook could prepare breakfast, and spent the day washing the dishes and cleaning, scrubbing and scouring any pots, pans, bowls and utensils not dealt with by the kitchen maid. She also scrubbed the floors. The laundry maid did most of her work in the wash-house at the back of the main house. If there was more than one laundry maid then the more skilled of the two was usually responsible for the family’s personal linen while the other maid did the general washing and the servants’ laundry. Maids earned between £6 and £8 a year, slept on the top floor of the house and were each provided with a close gown, stockings, cap and apron to wear while they worked.

Servants were often able to augment their income through tips and other perquisites such as cast-off clothing or household items. The lady’s maid and valet had first entitlement to their employers’ unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories which they would often sell, and the cook and butler in some households were not above fiddling the books or helping themselves to extra food or wine as did the Groombridges—and later the Bradgates—in
Friday’s Child
. At Christmas time servants could expect a gift of money and when visitors stayed in the house it was expected that they would tip the staff according to their station and the degree of service. These tips, known as vails, were an important addition to many servants’ wages and, in houses where employers failed to entertain, servants often felt compelled to seek a place where tips were more likely to be forthcoming. Charles, the new footman at Darracott Place in
The Unknown Ajax
, was so unimpressed by his employer’s ill temper and parsimony that he had decided to leave his lordship’s employ at the end of a year and seek a position in London where the potential for tips and ‘extra gelt’ was far greater.

Great Estates and Country Living

Although many wealthy families came to London for the Season, most spent a large part of the year at their homes in the country. Land had long been the foundation of wealth and power in Britain and, although the nation was still largely rural in the early nineteenth century, industrialisation had begun to make its presence felt with improvements in agricultural techniques and transport, the growth of towns and many new technologies. For those new to the peerage or to positions of wealth and power, a great estate was essential for consolidating their social position and, it was hoped, the means of establishing a dynasty. Stacy Calverleigh in
Black Sheep
understood fully the social cachet attached to being ‘Calverleigh of Danescourt’. Landed families were careful to protect their estates through a system of primogeniture and entail whereby the house and lands were bequeathed to the eldest son or next male heir and he was prevented from selling any part of the estate during his lifetime. Many upper-class families considered it their duty to enlarge the family estate with each new generation (often through marriage to the heir or heiress of a neighbouring property) and encouraged interaction between the sons and daughters of local landowners. In
Lady of Quality
Lord and Lady Iverley had long held hopes of a match between their son Ninian and Lucilla, the daughter of an old friend and heiress to the neighbouring estate.

Country houses varied enormously in size, style and layout, and castles, manor houses, converted priories and even palaces—some dating from as early as the fourteenth century—were home to many of England’s noble families. Usually built beside or in the midst of the owner’s tenanted farm land, the great houses, such as Stanyon Castle in
The Quiet Gentleman
, were often architectural showpieces kept separate from their more mundane agricultural acres by beautiful landscaped gardens, lakes or wooded parkland. The private land immediately surrounding the house (known as the demesne) was often laid out with formal garden beds, topiary hedges, rose gardens, rolling lawns and magnificent stands of trees. Many houses had a ha-ha on the edge of the manorial lawn to divide the garden from the surrounding parkland. This was a ditch or escarpment, designed to be invisible from the house, with a vertical wall on the inner side and a shallow slope on the park side designed to keep out wandering livestock. In addition to the ornamental garden, a country estate also had a well-stocked kitchen garden that supplied the main house with most of the fruit, vegetables and herbs necessary for its day-to-day running. A very wealthy estate often had a whole series of rectangular walled gardens linked by lockable wooden doors as well as several succession houses which could produce such desirable fruits as melons, grapes, peaches and nectarines, and exotic blooms, such as orchids and carnations. Succession houses enabled gardeners to cultivate a range of fruit and ornamental trees and plants by bringing them on in stages and re-potting or re-bedding them in protected conditions. A few of the great houses also had a pinery for growing pineapples and during the Regency these exotic fruits were highly prized. It was considered a great honour to receive one of the coveted fruits from a noble friend or relative. Lord Charlbury in
The Grand Sophy
had some of the finest succession houses in the country and the Ombersley family were grateful for his gift of grapes and honoured by the promise of the first ripe pineapple from his famous pinery.

Architecturally, the great houses varied in design from the medieval priory to the Elizabethan hall or the newer Gothic buildings which had become fashionable by the time of the Regency. Sometimes houses were a mix of architectural styles, the result of several centuries of additions. Staplewood in
Cousin Kate
had been home to succeeding generations of the Broome family from the time of James I and the ensuing two centuries had seen each new heir enlarge or embellish the original manor house with its Great Hall and Grand Stairway. Magnificent from the outside, the interiors were frequently designed for breathtaking beauty as well as habitation and housed many priceless works of art including sculptures, paintings by the great masters, weapons and armoury, tapestries, rugs and furniture.

Life in the country tended to be lived at a slower pace than life in London and, for the upper classes, the months spent on the family estate could be either a wonderful escape from the demands of city living or a period of intense boredom to be endured until the return to the metropolis. Houses were generally large with spacious rooms, high ceilings and large fireplaces in the main hall and living rooms. Most great houses had several wings, at least one of which was reserved for the family. The rest of the house usually comprised a main entrance hall, drawing-room, dining room, breakfast room and library on the ground floor, with the bedrooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms upstairs. Many houses had a grand ballroom and, increasingly during the Regency, a billiard room. Richmond Darracott in
The Unknown Ajax
preferred to challenge his sporting cousin Vincent to a game of billiards rather than spend the evening playing cards with his mother and grandfather in the long drawing-room. The master of the house usually had a study and his wife had a small sitting room or boudoir next to her bedroom. Conservatories were also popular during the period and were generally built on the south side of the house to catch the sun. Many aristocratic houses had their own private chapel, either in the house or as a separate building.

While the master and mistress of the house had certain responsibilities and duties to perform to ensure its smooth running as well as that of the estate, unless they took an active interest and physically involved themselves in the farming or household work (as a few of them did), they mainly spent their time in recreational pursuits. With a large contingent of servants to ensure there was always plenty of good food, cosy fires, pleasant rooms and personal service, the country house was ideal for playing host to large numbers of guests. For several months of the year the family and their guests spent their days enjoying (or enduring) the rituals of country living. In
False Colours
a house party at the Denville family’s country seat of Ravenhurst was enjoyable for those among the guests who appreciated the quiet entertainments of country living. For women this usually meant taking pleasure in the garden or going for a walk, ride or drive in the countryside or parkland belonging to the estate. If they preferred being indoors, or if the weather was inclement, they could read, write, embroider, paint or indulge their musical tastes on the pianoforte or harp. Men had a wider range of activities available to them and could spend entire days out of doors with their dogs tracking game, shooting or fishing, with fox-hunting in the winter. Visits between local landowners were also an important part of rural life and evenings were often spent conversing over the dinner table with friends and neighbours and their families, followed by cards, music, or an impromptu dance. In
The Nonesuch
Sir Waldo Hawkridge’s extended stay at Broom Hall was the signal for the local gentry and other well-to-do families to embark on a series of increasingly lavish dinner parties, dances and balls with Sir Waldo and his cousin as the honoured guests.