Victorian Life Style

Money Advice on Debt, and Personal Budgeting that Victorians Loved

Consider some of these wise proverbs and sayings, many of which were penned hundreds of years ago and which are just as applicable today as they were back then.

Saving Money and Personal Budgeting

On budgeting carefully and not investing hastily: — Proverbs 21:5: “Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough.” Today’s English Version.

On seeking advice before making decisions: “There is a frustrating of plans where there is no confidential talk.” —Proverbs 15:22

On having a definite plan and avoiding impulse buying: “The shrewd one considers his steps.”— Proverbs 14:15

Keeping money in its place: “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” — Proverbs 30:8

Expressions and Quotes regarding Finances in Victorian Times

• Neither a borrower or a lender be.
• When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window.
• Spend not where you may save; spare not where you must spend.
• Worth has been underrated ever since wealth was overvalued.
• The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
• Do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
• All that glitters is not gold.

Victorians lived well and generally even middle class families could afford a cook or a housemaid at least.  However, although fairly extravagant themselves, they expected servants to be frugal and make every penny count.

A Butler today

The Victorian butler held a position that was, for the most part, sought after in Victorian times.

The word butler originates from the French word Bouteillier which means ‘a bottle-bearer’. Originally this is what a butler was, a cup-bearer who eventually became the servant in charge of the wine cellar. Eventually more duties were added until the butler became the head of the male servants in large households in Victorian England.

Butler Duties in Victorian Times

Large households in the 18th and 19th centuries could expect to employ dozens of servants such as Butler, UnderButler, Housekeeper, Cook, Footman, Ladies Maid, Kitchen Maids, Scullery Maids, Chamber Maids, Housemaids, Coachman and Groom.

The Butler was responsible for the footman and other indoor menservants. Among other things and he would arrange the dinner table, announce dinner, carve joints of meat and serve wine. He would brew the servants’ beer and generally be in charge of the dining areas, cellars and pantries.

The Butler would sleep in his own quarters, usually a small but comfortable room. He was always dressed in a special uniform, different from the junior staff and he was expected to look neat and immaculately groomed at all times.

In Victorian times, Butlers could expect to earn around 40 pounds per annum and had all expenses cared for except for clothes. In addition, the butler was entitled to the ends of candles and entitled to one bottle of wine for every six opened. Butlers and Valets usually worked their way up through the ranks, aspiring to the position after a lengthy apprenticeship as footmen.

Butlers Today

Yes, the butler’s job still exists and is still sought after as a good job by many men. The butler’s job description in today’s world is not clearly defined. A butler these days is expected to be multi-talented and can expect to do everything from organizing other servants to being a household manager.

A butler may be referred to as a Personal Secretary, Household Manager, Estate Manager, Majordomo or Steward. Hotel Butlers are in demand in hotels and spas around the world.

Butler duties can include valeting of clothes, swimming pool maintenance, gardening duties and driving. Sometimes cooking skills are required. Butlers can be found working in palaces, yachts, stately homes as well as for busy corporate executives who do not have the time to manage their personal affairs. With new-found wealth in China, demand has surged for European trained butlers.

In the early nineteenth century, it was common for young children to go into domestic service at a very early age, usually around ten years of age but sometimes as young as eight. The daughters of working class men and women had to earn their living and domestic service was considered an ideal occupation for young girls and single women.

The life was gruelling and exhausting. Working hours could be up to 17 long each day, from 5.30 a.m. in the morning until 10.30 p.m. The work was endless and physically demanding.

Servants were seen as dispensable creatures, barely human, solely in existence for the comfort of the family and so health and safety issues for the servant were not considered the employer’s responsibility.

The issue of servants’ injuries was finally included in the Workman’s Compensation Act of 1907. Maids and cooks had to endure lack of fresh air, monotonous, long hours of work and accidents in the course of their work such as burns, falls and cuts.

Servants slept in the kitchen or in cupboards under the stairs or in attics. They were often forbidden to sing or laugh and had to remain as noiseless and invisible as possible.
If they came into contact with a member of the household, they were to keep quiet, avert their eyes and walk out of the room backwards. If anything was broken or damaged, the servant was made to pay and the sum would be deducted from their wages.

Victorian Scullery Maid

This was the lowest occupation of all, usually taken up by very young girls. The scullery maid’s day was filled with duties such as emptying and cleaning chamber pots, polishing brass work and silver, scrubbing the front stairs, washing dishes and scouring pots.

The Victorian scullery maid cleaned the kitchen floor as well as stoves, lit bedroom fires first thing in the morning, and carried heavy cans of warm water up the stairs for bathing, each load would weigh around 15kg. She would usually stumble into her bed in the attic, exhausted, at around 10.00 p.m. She would have her food and clothes provided for and earn a wage of between 10 to13 pounds per annum.

Victorian House Maid

The Victorian house maid came under the supervision of the Housekeeper and depending on the number of servants kept by the family, could fulfill a number of different positions such as chamber maid, parlour maid, in between maid (commonly known at the time as a tweeny), kitchen maid or laundry maid.

The work performed by these servants was back-breakingly strenuous and included duties such as changing linen, making up beds, dusting and cleaning bedrooms, cleaning out fireplaces, polishing grates, hauling coal up to the bedrooms and lighting fresh fires.

Other duties would include scrubbing floors on hands and knees, brushing carpets, beating rugs and cleaning and filling lamps each day. Laundry maids would typically soak loads of laundry, wash, rinse, wring out the washing and then iron the household’s laundry when dry. The Victorian house maid could expect a wage of between 15 to 20 pounds per annum, the tweeny earning the least.

Victorian House Maid

This was favourite among the Victorians, it is a rich and filling pudding still popular today, filled with candied fruit which was a beloved treat at the time. English puddings were generally warm and filling in the winter, served with custard or cream.

Ingredients:

• 125g (1 cup) sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 beaten eggs
• 125g (1 cup) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup sultanas (optional)
• 1 tablespoon candied peel
• ½ teaspoon ground mace
• 1 tablespoon milk and pinch of salt

Method:

1. Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Then fold in the egg mixture.
3. Add the raisins, sultanas, peel (finely chopped) and mace to the mixture and add a little milk if the mixture seems too stiff. Place the mixture into a greased pudding basin. Cover with a buttered greaseproof paper sheet and seal with silver foil. Steam the pudding for 1½ to 2 hours.
4. Serve, whilst still warm, with custard or cream.
   

   Victorian Images of Food

Collecting and creating miniatures is a wonderful and absorbing hobby that can transform you into a new world of tiny people.

The best way to start is by deciding on what period interests you (Victorian, Edwardian, Tudor, Georgian, American Victorian) and then start on a one-room project.

Miniature Rooms and Furnishings

After Deciding on a Period, Decide on a Room and Start collecting!

What will it be? A bedroom, Victorian children’s nursery, Victorian servants quarters, Victorian kitchen or a dining room?

A one-room box is the easiest way of starting off a dolls house collection. A simple plywood box which can then be fitted with a glass front when complete provides the start.

Simply paint or wall-paper the interior (miniature wall papers are easily available at miniature craft fairs), then either collect the furniture required (also available at craft fairs or make a few simple items yourself. Tiny dolls can be bought or made out of polymer clay and dressed with scraps of fabric.

Antique Dolls and Miniature Doll’s Houses

Victorian Dolls House Sitting Room

Dolls and Doll Houses – A Great Hobby and Wonderful Gift

Dolls houses and antique dolls are often found second hand at yard sales, in the attic or people sell them on eBay if they want to raise some extra cash. There is no need to rush out and buy the newest and most expensive items that are brand new, especially in the beginning stages of collecting miniatures.

It is fascinating to see what is out there and what people are prepared to sell. Deceased estates sometimes have a huge variety of dolls and antiques that may have belonged to granny and which hobby the kids are not interested in.

Shop around, do the research and you can find wonderful dolls house items that will make the little girl in your life (or the big girl) smile from ear to ear.

Doll's house to fill with Miniature People

Small Victorian Head Adornment

The Victorian period began in 1837 when Victoria became Queen of England. She ruled until she died in 1901. Hers was the longest reign in United Kingdom’s history.

The Victorian Era (1837-1901) began when Queen Victoria took the throne in England. It was a time of great change and invention. The wealthy lived extravagantly and wastefully, the poor had a life of grinding hard work and near-poverty. Lavishly trimmed bonnets stayed in fashion for half a century but were not worn much after 1890.

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Ladies hats were a part of life in the Victorian era, and no self-respecting lady or even servant for that matter would leave the house bare-headed. Women who gardened or lived in the countryside wore the a wider brimmed hat outdoors to protect themselves against the elements.

Bonnets and hats were lavishly trimmed. Bonnet ribbons were wide and were sometimes not tied but held in place with a brooch or pin under the chin, sometimes with a tiny bunch of flowers as an additional adornment.

The 1850 onward saw the bonnet grow smaller in the making, allowing the face and the hair to show. Later on the riding hat came into fashion and it was decorated with elaborate plumes and ribbons.

Variety of Victorian Syles

Victorian Times were Elegant and Elaborate

Heels were added to boots in the late 1840s and the 1850s and to slippers between 1860 and 1865. On both shoes and boots, the heels were small. High, straight on the inner side and curved in from the back; the toe might be squared at the tip, rounded or pointed. Coloured satin or fine kid was used for formal slippers and boots, and kid, sometimes combined with cloth uppers in white, black or bronze for informal. Elastic-sided boots continued, but lacing on the inner side of the boot increased. The tops of boots might be decorated with bows or tassels, enchantingly glimpsed under the spreading skirts

Evening hoes were made of satin with many luminous colors and intricate designs that matched the dress a woman was wearing that evening. While these shoes were slightly more comfortable than the boot, the idea at that time was to fit into the smallest size possible in order to hide the feet below the large hoop skirt. During this era, a woman held an image of innocence.

Victorian Shoe

Buttoned up Boot - Victorian Elegance