The wealthy paid the servants for their services, which kept the Paternalistic system functioning for many years.
The vast majority of the population in England during the Regency Period (late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century) was considered to be part of the working class. The working class often performed manual labor and worked as bricklayers, laundry maids, farmers and factory workers (White 22-7). Approximately sixteen percent of those in the working class worked as servants to those in the upper class (Giles 1). The amount of servants that one had was a telltale sign of how much wealth a family owned (Walshe 1). The more servants one had, the better well off they were seen. As Judith Terry puts it, “to be without a servant is to be poor indeed” (1). For a family with money, owning several servants was to be expected and completely accepted in Regency society.
There were several different positions that the servants could hold with each title carrying its own tasks and responsibilities. The head positions included the roles of the butler and the housekeeper, and these two people were the closest to the master and mistress of the home in which they worked (Koster 1). Below them were the cook, the valet, the various maids, the coachmen and the footmen, who all worked within the household (Terry 1). Outside of the household, other servants such as the gardener, the gamekeepers and the steward worked, as well (1).
Each of these positions held specific responsibilities with varying levels of importance. For example, the housekeeper not only kept track of the inventory of goods the family owned and oversaw the other female servants, but she also took care of the household while the family was away. Unfortunately, the servants, especially the women, were often uneducated in matters outside of their housework, with very few people to fight for their education. The young boys would sometimes be taught basic language skills in a type of public school, but their education usually did not go further than their childhood years. However, the servants were a vital part to the functioning of everyday life for the upper class during the Regency Era despite their educational disadvantages.
Servants in Jane Austen’s Work
While Jane Austen’s stories focused mainly on the upper class of her society, she always included the servants in her stories. The housekeepers, butlers, ladies’ maids and other members of the serving staff are mentioned throughout all of Austen’s books, and a select few are given lines and slight characterization in her works. Mr. Darcy’s housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, plays a role in Pride and Prejudice that promotes Darcy’s character and causes Elizabeth to reconsider some of her previous misconceptions about Darcy.
The fair treatment that Darcy shows towards his serving staff speaks measures to Elizabeth. Austen often portrays her characters who are more amiable towards their servants in a much kinder light than those who are cruel to the servants in their households. In doing this, Austen reveals her opinion of servants and their importance in her life (Walshe 1).
Though there are scholars who criticize Jane Austen for overlooking the serving staff in her books, others recognize the amount of times Austen shed light on those working in the background. Those who argue that Austen silenced her servant characters point to the passage in Mansfield Park where Fanny Price sees William and the book says that the “first minutes of exquisite feeling had no interruption and no witnesses, unless the servants chiefly intent upon opening the proper doors could be counted as such” (182). This passage seems to suggest that the servants were somewhat invisible to the main characters of the story, making them unimportant to both Austen and her readers. Some scholars argue that even when the servants are not directly mentioned, the serving staff’s presence would have been assumed by the audience, making the mentioning of their presence redundant (Walshe 1).
Austen did, however, manage to highlight the importance of the servants when it came to secrets and gossip. The servants were always present, whether it be in the dining room, the dressing rooms, or wherever else the family would be gathered. This created a sense of omnipresence among the serving staff that allowed them to know all of the drama of the family that they were serving (1). This gossiping helps move several of the plot lines for Austen’s books along, including Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, proving the importance of the behind-the-scene workers that are more present and important than a surface reading of Austen’s work would cause one to think.
The serving staff was incredibly important not only to Austen’s stories, but to her society, as well. The servants acted as the backbone of high society by making sure that everything was functioning for the wealthy, who fueled the economy. In doing their duties, Regency servants ensured that the lives of the upper class, both real and fictional, were as comfortable for the wealthy as possible. In turn, the wealthy paid the servants for their services, which kept the Paternalistic system functioning for many years surrounding Jane Austen’s time period.
Bibliography
- Austen, Jane. The Annotated Pride and Prejudice: Interactive Edition. Random House LLC, 2014
- Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Giles, Kelly. “Help!- Servants During the Regency.” Randolph College, n.d. Accessed 9 October 2016.
- Hatch, Donna. “Servants in Regency England.” Donna Hatch, 29 Apr. 2016.
- Mayer, Petra. “Austen Unvarnished: Q&A With Jo Baker, Author Of ‘Longbourn’.”NPR, 10 October 2013. Accessed 25 October 2016.
- “A Primer on Regency Era Servants.” Kristen Koster, 29 November 2011. Accessed 9 October 2016.
- “Servants.” The Regency Town House. 25 October 2016.
- Terry, Judith. “Seen But Not Heard: Servants In Jane Austen’s England.” Persuasions: Journal Of The Jane Austen Society Of North America 10.(1988): 104-116. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 7 October 2016.
- Walshe, Natalie. “The Importance Of Servants In Jane Austen’s Novels.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal Online 35.1 (2014): 1. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 9 October 2016. White, R.J. Life in Regency England. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1963. Print.
- White, R.J. Life in Regency England. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969.
Originally published by Xavier University Wiki, Fall 2016, to the public domain.