On an evening in October 1860, a scullery maid was washing up in a dirty, oppressively dark little cellar in London. The following scene was written down by the Victorian poet A.J. Munby in his diary. Why was this unusual? Victorian employers, as a rule, took no more notice of their servants than if they were a weed in the park. Not in the least concerned about their welfare, health or working conditions, servants only existed for the comfort of the family.
They were seldom discussed, except if there was the bother of finding a replacement. Mr. Munby’s notice of and interest in a lowly scullery maid was therefore very unusual. This is what he said as he observed a scullery maid or perhaps 15 years of age, at work:
“She stood at the sink behind a wooden dresser backed with choppers and stained with blood and grease, upon which were piles of copper and saucepans that she had to scour, piles of dirty dishes that she had to wash. Her frock, her cap, her face and arms were more or less wet,soiled, perspiring and her apron was a filthy piece of sacking, wet and tied round her with a cord. The den where she wrought was low, damp,ill-smelling; windowless, lighted by a flaring gas-jet and, full in view, she had on one side a larder hung with raw meat, on the other a common urinal; besides the man ugly, dirty implements around her”.
The excerpt provides us with an interesting glimpse into the daily life of the scullery maid. Occupying the lowest place among the servants, a Victorian scullery maid was almost a slave, receiving a poor wage and her food. Working hours were long and gruelling – a scullery maid would sometimes work for 16 hours a day or even longer if there was entertaining going on in the family.