Details About Life As A Victorian Servant That History Likes To Leave Out

Charles Dickens said it himself: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” And it’s what was “worst” about Victorian-era England that we remember the most, from the rampant poverty to the stomach-churning lack of hygiene. Household servants and maids did the dirty work no one else wanted — or had the stomach — to do, but now, almost 200 years later, we’re finally learning their stories...and they’re even more disturbing than we thought. 

Gruelling Jobs

If you had to choose between being a factory worker or a maid, you’d probably choose “maid” without question. Who would risk their life in a factory, no doubt surrounded by toxic chemicals and dangerous machinery, when you can fold linens? Well, you might want to re-think that choice.

Dangerous Homes

“In 1851, one in three women between the ages of 15 and 24 in London worked as a domestic servant,” according to Judith Flanders’ book Inside The Victorian Home. As it turns out, factories weren’t actually the most dangerous place for a woman to work: houses were. 

Disgusting Kitchens

You’ve heard of the unhygienic practices of Victorian England, but it was the housemaid who had to clean up the worst messes. Kitchens and sculleries (a room attached to the kitchen where you washed clothes and dishes) were the worst offenders.

Food Scraps and Dirt

Despite being rooms where so much cleaning went on, kitchens and sculleries were particularly disgusting. In the maids’ haste to get meals on the table, scraps of food and mud and whatever else was on someone’s plate or shirt would literally fall through the cracks.