Free Up and Down Stairs by Jeremy Musson

really uses the word servant any more; people do use the word staff, although not everyone likes it. People still use the words butler and housekeeper,although the word maid is used less and less. There are a number of other phrases used, such as confidential aide or personal aide, although some lines are blurred.’
     
    Modern attitudes can vary enormously. ‘One of our housekeepers was being interviewed and asked whether there would be any cleaning involved. Her potential employer said, “no, you’re the housekeeper”. She asked the same question at another interview and the answer was, “of course, you’re the housekeeper”, which shows that people have different ideas about these job titles.’ 81
     
    One of Miss Rough’s colleagues, Laura Hurrel, who is in her twenties, was recently on the other side of the fence:
     
I worked as a housekeeper for several families, travelling between London, country residences and abroad, including the owners of a traditional country estate. Things have certainly changed in terms of job titles and technology. There is less of an accepted structure. When I worked for the owners of a country house, I did so alongside the staff there, organising functions, and meeting and greeting.
     
Those going into housekeeping now tend to come from a background like nannying, hotels or corporate hospitality, and there are a lot of couples whose children have grown up and left home. It requires a lot of practical skills and what is required can vary widely.
     
    What is it like working in another family’s home? ‘You do have to be careful not to get too involved in their lives, to know when not to listen and to leave people alone. You have to be aware of sensitivities and be discreet.’ It all sounds very familiar. 82
    In recent times, ‘conservation cleaning’ has taken a higher profile in the work of the National Trust when caring for and presenting country houses to the public, whether they are still occupied by a family or not. It is recognisably work that was once undertaken by the historic hierarchies of housemaids, footmen and housekeepers. According to Helen Lloyd, the head housekeeper for the National Trust, serious research has been done into the traditional housekeeping methods of country-house servants to understand best practice. 83
     
    ‘In earlier periods, the expensive furniture of the day was incredibly valuable so it was looked after just as the most expensive technologyis cared for today: for instance, furniture was always supplied with case covers. The elaborate process of coaching household servants was for centuries predicated on a process of training, in which they would gradually assume responsibility for more and more precious objects. They really understood how to care for things, as we can see from the extraordinary range of brushes available for every possible purpose.’ 84
     
    The National Trust has evolved a formula for the care of houses, dictated by the size of house, the density of furnishings and the number of visitors: ‘It is the activity of people that makes dust, be it a private family or the visitors.’ The National Trust’s recent
Manual of Housekeeping
gives a detailed description of the preferred staffing levels needed to care for a house and its contents. There would normally be a house manager, with curatorial training or a qualification; a house steward, with direct responsibility for the people doing the physical work, as well as managing the opening up and closing of the house; and an assistant, to provide cover seven days a week.
     
    Then there are the ‘conservation assistants’: depending on the number of rooms and the density of furniture, anywhere between two and nine, but probably averaging around four. Most houses would also have various assistant cleaners who, although not specially trained, clean the offices and the other visitor facilities. 85 It is all these people who make a critical difference in the care and