Charmian Mansell 

When Downton Abbey first aired on 26 September 2010, the public was immediately hooked. It wasn’t just the glamour, the affluence, and the scandals of the aristocratic Crawley family living in the big house that drew viewers in. It was also the cast of servants working tirelessly below stairs that captivated audiences.  

The show gave airtime to the lives of men and women who lit fires, carried luggage, mopped floors, cooked food, served food, made beds, and did laundry, all in the service of the Earl and Countess of Grantham and their three daughters. 

Downton Abbey dramatizes service in the Crawley’s country house in the early 20th century. But what if we turn the clock back a few hundred years? What was service like in the centuries before Downton? Here are five ways in which pre-industrial English service was not as Mr Carson (the butler), Anna (the lady’s maid), or Daisy (the kitchen maid), experienced it. 

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