In Victorian England, society was divided into those who had servants and those who did not. A third category, comprised of nearly one and a half million people by the end of the nineteenth century, formed the largest occupational group in the country - the servants.

What were the reasons for such large-scale employment of domestic servants? How were they recruited and trained? How were they treated? What were their legal rights? What were their specific duties? IN what conditions did they work? What were their problems, and how did they seek to overcome them? How did they feel about the nature of their employment? What was it like to be 'in service?'

These are some of the questions answered in this comprehensive and detailed new survey of domestic service in Victorian England. The author explains the social and economic factors responsible for the ambition of the newly affluent middle-class families to employ at least one resident servant. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary statistics, official sources and 'servants' books', Pamela Horn presents much valuable new information on such topics as wages, the private and social lives of servants, the rise of trade unions, the decline in numbers following the increase of alternate occupations, and the relations between employers and servants.

But most of all the servants and their employers speak for themselves. A special feature of the book is the author's use of her remarkable collection of servants' personal reminiscences, supplemented by similar accounts in contemporary documents. By juxtaposing the servants' own words with the author's perceptive comment and analysis, the book provides an authentic and compelling picture of a vanished social system.