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What does the employer - servant relationship tell us about class, gender and imperial inequalities in this period?
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WHAT DOES THE EMPLOYER - SERVANT RELATIONSHIP TELL US ABOUT CLASS, GENDER AND IMPERIAL INEQUALITIES IN THIS PERIOD? In 1851 domestic service was the second largest occupational group in Britain with over one million servants in employment. Servants did not just work in the 'Great Houses' but were employed by middle and lower middle class families too. Victorian England measured social acceptability in terms of the number of servants employed in a household. In the 19th century most domestic servants were of humble origins and in the early Victorian period at least, were from rural backgrounds. The self-image of a middle or upper class Victorian woman depended on her management of the household and her entourage of servants. Distinct from the duties that devolved naturally on a wife and mother, were those of a mistress, or female head of household. And as Vickery says, 'An inevitable component of genteel administration was...
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