R-EX data - house servants

Servants were a necessity to aid the smooth running of a household and a way of defining social status. The more servants a family employed, the greater their standing amongst their peers. Having many servants signified great wealth.

The Regency Town house was no exception. The first 25 years of the house’s existence saw the comings and goings of numerous people who used it as a second home. Sometimes they brought their servants with them and at other times they employed local staff. The Kepps who had the house from 1857 until 1892 brought servants from their home in London and also employed local people.

The Butler is responsible for security, silver plate and glasses. He supervises wine deliveries, decanting and rebottling. He makes sure the table is correctly laid and supervises the serving of food. He could expect to earn £25 to £50 per annum. A Footman acts as a valet to the master of the house, cleans boots and shoes, and takes care of oil lamps and candles. He attends to the family when they go out in a carriage. He can expect to earn £20 to £40 per annum. The Housekeeper takes orders from the lady of the house and is responsible for organising the food shopping, household tasks and laundry. She can expect to earn £18 to £40 per annum. A Housemaid is given all her tasks by the Housekeeper. One of her jobs is to get up earlier than the rest of the household to clean grates and light fires. She could earn £10 to £17 per annum. The Cook like the Housekeeper takes her orders from the lady of the house. She supervises the cooking and delegates tasks to the kitchen staff. She can expect to earn £12 to £26 per annum. Hopefully the above will give a flavour of what servants may be expected to do. Other roles might include coachman, groom, kitchen maid, parlour maid and maid of all work. Salaries quoted are those recommended in 1861 when £1 was worth about £100 in today’s money.

Families could find servants in a number of ways. Many came as recommendations from other people. Some servants advertised themselves. Philanthropic organisations such as the Girl’s Industrial Home also trained and supplied servants.

Five servants are listed in the census taken in 1841. They were James Twyma aged 25, Louisa Badcock aged 25, Susan Burston aged 24, Ellen Tompson aged 25, Marion White aged 24. They were all described as House Servants and none of them were born in Sussex and the 1841 census provides no clue to where they came from.

In the 1851 census the house was described as unoccupied.

By the 1861 census the house is owned by the Kepp family and for the next thirty years they divided their time between their home at 15 Sussex Place London and number 13 Brunswick Square. Some of their servants were local while others moved with them between the two addresses. The 1861 census shows just two servants in residence at number 13, Louisa Mills aged 22 and Elizabeth Wright aged 26. Louisa Mills was born in Brighton and her father, Thomas Mills, was a cab driver. Elizabeth Wright was born in 1835 in Great Hormead, Hertfordshire. 

Edward Agnew worked for the Kepp family for many years starting out as a Page, advancing to Footman and finally in 1891 he is the Butler. Edward was born in 1843 in Watford, Hertfordshire, son of Andrew Agnew, a publican. In 1874 when 31 he married Mary Anne Hutchings aged 36 at the Parish Church in Hurstpierpoint. 

From 1892, 13 Brunswick Square was occupied by Willoughby Furner and his wife Ada. In the 1901 census five servants are listed: Agnes Clairy aged 25, a cook born in Whitstable, Kent; Ellen Walker aged 38, a housemaid born in Buckinghamshire; Rhoda Ruff aged 37, a Parlour Maid born in Oving, Sussex; Mary White aged 33, a housemaid born in London; May Sedgewick 17, a housemaid born in Putney, Middlesex.

There is no census return in 1911 for number 13. However, Willoughby Furner is on the electoral register in that year as living at the house. For the 1911 census the Furners are listed as resident at 22 The Drive, Hove with three servants.

In the 1921 census number 13 is occupied by two families. Dr John Richard Griffith is the head of one of them living with his wife Elsie Maud, two servants, Rose Terry and Maude Gertrude Sommers, and a visiting anaesthetist. The other family headed by Reginald Cardwell Barron doesn’t have any servants.

By thwe 1930s there are no more records of servants at number 13.