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In 1851 there were over one million servants in Britain, making domestic service the second largest occupational group after agriculture. The range of people who kept servants was vast, from aristocrats like the sixth Duke of Bedford, who had three hundred, to the thousands of clerks and other lower middle class families who employed a single 'maid of all work'.

This book covers the whole range of domestic service in the nineteenth century, describing the work and conditions of servants and giving an insight into the strict social hierarchy, which was as strong 'below stairs' as above. ;

A good pair of calves was an important requisite for a footman, and extra inches in height meant higher pay. At the end of the nineteenth century 20 to 22 pounds a year was the going rate in London for a footman measuring 5 feet 6 inches. At 6 feet he might has expected 32 to 40 pounds.

Many a policeman on the beat found warmth and comfort in the servant's kitchen. One mistress, finding herself short of small change, called down the stairs