Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies

Estate Staff General advice Records relating to domestic staff for Buckinghamshire estates are disappointingly scant at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. It is not entirely clear why this is the case. It may be that records like registers of employees were never drawn up. It could also be because estates were simply more assiduous about keeping records like title deeds that they valued more highly. As a result, many of our estate collections contain large quantities of deeds at the expense of other types of documents, but that doesn’t mean that no information can be found. This booklet aims to cover those records which do survive and have a specific staffing dimension. However, they are not the only items which might be helpful. Correspondence, bills, accounts etc. are all possibilities and may mention staff in some context. They are rarely comprehensively indexed in archival catalogues and will therefore require more thorough research. This extra work can be extremely rewarding. The household correspondence for the Mentmore Estate (reference DRO/2/73) is a good example. It includes extensive correspondence from Alice Slater, a cook for Lord Rosebery, r e f u t i n g allegations of wastefulness. If we hold nothing useful, it is sometimes worth contacting the relevant estate if it survives. Some estates (like the Verneys at Claydon) maintain their own archives. Contact details can be Taplow Court, home of the Grenfell family (reference phTaplow 66) found through A R C H O N (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon). Bear in mind that private families have no obligation to allow you to inspect their records, they may refuse access or charge you a fee to do so. Access to some more modern records is restricted for data protection reasons. As a general guide, we advise you to contact us in advance if you are interested in looking at records less than 100 years old.

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Useful record series Each estate was managed in a different way, with the resultant records dependent on how those running the estate worked. Not all estates generated the same records. Almost any records about estate management might contain something useful, but some you might encounter are listed below. Labour books/accounts Few labour books survive at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, but they are probably the best sources to use where they do. The information they record generally includes names of those working (potentially surname only), a brief description of their work (e.g. ‘For Carpentry’) and their wages. Labour books can be a lot more detailed though, giving more thorough descriptions of the work involved for instance. Wage books or payrolls Much like today, wage books and pay rolls list employees and the amount they have been paid for their work. Household accounts Household accounts are a key source for studying the life of a landed estate. They include a lot of information about the amounts spent on an array of goods and services. This can include expenditure on domestic and estate staff for some properties. Where such expenditure is recorded, the accounts may not be specific about the names of the servants. You may find that a total figure for wage expenditure is given or the outlay recorded just as ‘Maid’s wages’ or something similar. Correspondence Estate correspondence often deals exclusively with matters relating to the land itself (purchase or sale of property, rents, tenancies and the like) but sometimes staffing matters are dealt with too. This can include subjects like appointments and dismissal of staff. Vouchers Bundles of vouchers are generally bills from local tradesmen supplying the estate. However, they can also include receipts for servants’ wages. Estate records from Lord Rosebery’s property at Mentmore. 2

Census The Census can often be a useful tool in determining the extent and composition of an estate’s staff, especially from 1851 onwards. Be aware though that the census only records the people living in a property on a given date; staff living off the estate may not be easily identifiable as belonging to the estate. The heads of estates might be found at their London residence or at other properties around the country with their establishment. This would explain why Swanbourne House (home of Lord Cottesloe) is George Dashwood listed in the 1851 Census with his servants (copyright The National Archives) listed in 1851 as occupied only by a 70 year old housekeeper. Access to the census is available through Ancestry.co.uk here and in any Buckinghamshire library. Posse Comitatus Before the census, the 1798 Posse Comitatus is the most comprehensive source we have. Compiled as a list of the able bodied men between the ages of 15 and 60, it breaks down the male population of the county by profession within each town or village. As a source It The male servants of Earl Temple at Stowe, as listed in the is by no means perfect, Posse Comitatus (reference L/P/15-16). omitting as it does the considerable number of women in service. It does at least list the servants in each settlement, and for large estates (like Stowe) it specifies the employer as well. Transcriptions have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society and by the Eureka Partnership. 3

Game keepers Under an Act passed in 1710, manorial lords were able to appoint gamekeepers to act as their deputies. These ‘deputations’ were lodged with the Quarter Sessions and survive between 1711 and 1916. These list only the head gamekeeper at an estate, and are not therefore a comprehensive list of gamekeepers in the county. This deputation from 1788 shows George Bowdon, Lord of the manor of Pinks in Hudnall, appointing Thomas Tuck to be gamekeeper. The register of deputations have references Q/RSg/1-4.

Estate collections elsewhere We have almost no records relating to domestic staff at some of the largest estates in Buckinghamshire. The most notable are probably the Temple/Grenville estates and the Rothschild estates. Temple/Grenville of Stowe The majority of the Stowe papers are now at the Henry Huntingdon Library in California. Only a very small amount are here. Fortunately, some of these do identify estate staff. They are: D 104/96-99, labour books for 1805-1807 and 1867-1884. The volume for 1805-1807 especially is very detailed. Some labour accounts for the pleasure gardens at Wootton list the gardeners involved in January 1824 (reference D 104/101). Rothschild Surviving records from the Rothschild estates at Waddesdon, Wing, Aston Clinton, Halton, Eythrope and Mentmore are at the Rothschild Archives in London or the Waddesdon Manor Archives at Waddesdon. The papers of Horwood and James include the only records held here relating to Rothschild staff; weekly pay sheets for Alice de Rothschild's Eythrope estate from 1876, reference D-HJ/A/44/11. Copies of the catalogues from the Huntingdon and the Rothschild Archives are available in the search room.

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Estate Holdings Over the next few pages are listed the main sources held here for the identification of estate staff. It is always worth looking at the catalogue for the relevant estate collection for more miscellaneous material like correspondence that may also mention them. Astor of Cliveden D 158/29 Pay roll for the Cliveden Estate, compiled c. 1906-1916, although the earliest entries are from c.1895.

Left:: Image of Cliveden from a map of 1761 (reference Ma 271/1)

Church Farm, Bierton D 89/22-27 Wages account book of the Bell family, 1872-1932. Carrington of Wycombe Abbey D-CN/19/5-10 Monthly Bundles of Vouchers, including wages paid to servants, 1856-1861. Carrington of Missenden Abbey D-X 848 Notebook relating to the Missenden Abbey Estate, containing lists of day labourers with their wages, March to October 1859 [this item is fragile but may be consulted at the discretion of our conservator]. Cavendish of Chesham D-CH/C/104 Building Labour Account Book, 1857-1865. D-CH/D/25-28 Household Account Cash Books for Latimer Estate 1893-1908. D-CH/D/29 Labour Accounts for Latimer Estate 1917-1920. D-CH/D/30 Labour Accounts for Latimer Estate 1921-1925. Chester of Chicelely D-X 958 Labour account books for the Chicheley estate, 1755-1801. D-C/2/50, Yearly account for estate workmen, 25 Mar 1750 - 25 Mar 1751. D-C/2/51 Garden Account books (chiefly labour accounts), 1750-1769. D-C/2/52 Account Books (Labourer, tradesmen, carpenters etc.), 1750-1769. D-C/2/59 Account book for 1751 [contains one page relating to servants’ wages] D-C/4/39 Garden labour accounts ("No.5"), 1738-1740. D-C/4/40 Garden labour accounts ("No.5"), 1749. D-C/4/41 Garden labour accounts ("No.5") 1783-1788. D-C/4/42 Labour accounts for places including Chicheley 1733-1736. D-C/4/43 Labour accounts for Chicheley 1739-1745. 5

Dashwood of West Wycombe D-X 1548 Booklet of wages paid to domestic staff, 1776. D-D/14/41 Labour accounts 1795-1796. D-D/14/45 Labour accounts, 1872. Drake of Shardeloes D-DR/2/150-172 Series of bills from individuals for work on the estate, 1681-1844. D-DR/5/119 A list of several of the household servants late of Mountagu Garrard Drake deceased, undated but post 1728. D-DR/2/176 'Book of receipts for servants wages and other odd things', 1729-1732. D-X 963 General Account Book for the Shardeloes Estate, 1747-1768. D-DR/2/177 Receipt book of William Drake, for servants' wages, 19 Jan 1748-21 May 1757. D-DR/5/121 Lists of servants' names with places occupied, when they came and wages, 1748-1758. D-DR/2/181 Receipts for servants wages, 1785-1790. D-DR/5/123 Return of servants (with names) and carriages on Shardeloes estate, 1787-1788. D-DR/2/182 Receipts for servants wages, 1788-1791. D-DR/2/183 Receipts for wages, 1790-1791. D-DR/2/184 Vouchers for servants wages etc, 1793-1794. D-DR/5/113/8 Bundle of Vouchers relating to servants' wages and clothes, 1792. D-DR/5/127 Letters of reference regarding servants, no date but 19th Century. D-X 1378/3 Shardeloes Estate Day Book, 1912. D-X 1378/6 Shardeloes Woodmen’s wages book, 1931-1933.

Extract from list of servants, showing their position, wages and when they joined the Drake staff (reference D-DR/5/121)

Farrer of Cold Brayfield D-X 762 Account of wages of men servants paid, 1728-1745 and signed receipts by maid servants for wages, 1725-1745. 6

Receipt for wages paid to Martha May, a laundry maid at Bulstrode (reference D-RA/A/4A/12)

Fortescue of Salden House D-X 1280/11 Account book, Mursley, including intermittent mentions of wages, 1647-1652. Fremantle of Swanbourne D-FR/129/2 Miscellaneous Correspondence, servants' characters, etc c.1875-1890. D-FR/155/7 Papers relating to servants' investments. Household accounts D-FR/227/1-6, 1859-1874. Grenfell of Taplow D-GR/6/44 A small sheet of paper "P.G.'s servants volunteers": butler, cook, valet etc., undated but 19th Century. D-GR/18/1-4 Household Account book for Taplow Court, 1911-1934. D-GR/18/14 Taplow Court Maidservants' Weekly Wage Book, 1908-1933. Hampden of Great Hampden D-MH/31/9 Hampden Estate Wages Book (for boarded servants), 1778-1780. Lawson of Hall Barn 38/4-5 Ledgers covering a series of accounts including wages, 1907-1933. Lowndes of Chesham D-LO/6/16/2, 5, 8-10 Household Account books covering 1760-1768 and 18661877.

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Mackenzie of Fawley Court

AR 1/1993/306 Household account books, 1864-1868. AR 1/1993/310 Houseservants wages at Fawley Court, 1877-1881. AR 1/1993/312 Household account books for Gyldenscroft, Marlow, 1881-1908. AR 1/1993/425-427 Weekly wage accounts for Fawley Estate, 1913, 1917, 1920. AR 1/1993/443 Wages books, 1853-1855 and 1863-1864. AR 1/1993/444-451, Weekly wage accounts 1915-1932 (with gaps). AR 1/1993/468 Bundle of papers including lists of Christmas gifts for tenants and employees, 1905, 1908. AR 1/1993/545 Weekly wages sheets for Fawley Estate, 1925-1930. AR 1/1993/558 Wages books 1865-1912. AR 1/1993/617 Notebook recording names of men, women and boys employed in haymaking at Fawley Court, 1878-1880, 1878-1883. Paget of Marlow D-X 728 Autograph account book of Sir William Paget, 5th Baron Paget (1609-1678) giving wage payments to household servants, 1649-1652. Ramsden of Bulstrode D-RA/3/22 Bulstrode Labour Accounts, 3 Feb-26 May 1866. D-RA/5/57-71 Papers relating to household accounts. The sections relating to servants are generally 1860s, but include correspondence and testimonials, relating to appointment and dismissal of staff at Bulstrode, 1862-1883. D-RA/A/4A/6 Bulstrode estate wages account bank book, 1919-1927. D-RA/A/4A/12 Receipt for board wages of laundry maid Martha May at Bulstrode 1881. D-RA/A/4A/49 Correspondence about staff and staff wages, in various Ramsden residences, 1921-1927.

Bulstrode House, as depicted on the First Edition OS map (reference D-RA/A/6/13) 8

Rosebery of Mentmore D/RO/1, Large series of Mentmore estate accounts covering the first half of the 20th Century D/RO/2 Un-indexed estate correspondence 1883-1913 D-RO/6/19 Mentmore Estate and Garden Labour book 1875-1882 D-RO/8/12-16 Workmen’s Wages Book 1885-1938 D-RO/10/1 Mentmore Estate and Garden Labour Book, Jan 1883 - Mar 1884 D-RO/10/2 Workmen’s Accounts for Mentmore Estate Aug 1895 - Apr 1901 D-RO/10/3 Wages Book for Mentmore Estate, Apr 1938 - Jan 1940 Stewart Liberty of the Lee AR 81/2001 address to Faith Calvi Stewart-Liberty signed by members of staff of The Lee Manor Estate, 1943 (1 paper) D-X 823/4 Letter from Miss Kate Morris describing her fellow servants at Lee Manor House, c. 1938 Tower of Iver D-TR/3/9-15, Farm Book for Huntsmore Farm, Iver giving the names of labourers and workmen and tasks undertaken, 1851-1880 Uthwatt of Great Linford D-U/4/15 Labour accounts for the Linford Estate, 1792-1793. Other estates If the estate you are interested in is not listed here, it is worth getting in touch with us to ask if we have any other suggestions for you to look at. Unknown woman in maid’s uniform, Waddesdon, c. 1915 (reference phWaddesdon70)

You can often find records of Buckinghamshire estates held in other Record Offices by searching the National Register of Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra) or Access to Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a).

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