How Many Servants do I need?
8th August 2023What servants do I need in my Regency/Late Georgian household? Well, it all depends on your income.
A struggling widow on £100 pounds a year will have to make do with a single maidservant. Ideally, she should be young and cheap (around 5-10 guineas per year).
A family living respectably on £700 a year should have around five servants - a cook, two female servants, a footman and a groom. It may also me necessary to get in a part-time gardener to keep the weeds down.
At around £3500 a year, you will need at least 20 servants. For the very, very rich, the sky is the limit.
All this information is available in Samuel and Sarah Adams, The Complete Servant: Being A Practical Guide To The Peculiar Duties And Business Of All Descriptions Of Servants, published in 1825.
For your convenience, I have extracted this set of information < here > or from Resources/Life and Money/Household Servants on the menu.