The hall boy or hallboy was a position held by a young male

domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

on the staff of a

great house A great house is a large house or mansion with luxurious appointments and great retinues of indoor and outdoor staff. The term is used mainly historically, especially of properties at the turn of the 20th century, i.e., the late Victorian or ...

, usually a young teenager. The name derives from the fact that the hall boy usually slept in the

servants' hall The servants' hall is a common room for domestic workers in a great house. The term usually refers to the servants' dining room. If there is no separate sitting room, the servants' hall doubles as the place servants may spend their leisure hours ...

. Like his female counterpart, the

scullery maid In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female domestic servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. Description The scullery maid reported (through the kitchen maid) to the cook or chef. Along ...

, the hall boy would have been expected to work up to 16 hours per day, seven days per week. His duties were often among the most disagreeable in the house, such as emptying

chamber pot A chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets. Names and etymology "Chamber" is an older term for bedroom. The chamber pot ...

s for the higher-ranking servants. In the absence of a

boot boy A boot boy, often simply boots, was an English household servant. Usually a boy or young teenager, the boots was the lowest-ranking male servant; his main job was to clean, polish and care for the household members' boots and shoes, although he m ...

, he also cleaned the

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is cle ...

s not just of the family members but also those of the butler and those of the visitors. The hall boy also waited on more senior servants when they took their meals in the servants hall. He slept on a fold-down bed in the hallway connecting the servants' quarters. The hall boy was the lowest-ranked male servant, but he could rise to a higher position in the household, eventually becoming a

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "vale ...

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

. Arthur Inch, a former butler who acted as a technical consultant for the film ''

Gosford Park ''Gosford Park'' is a 2001 satirical black comedy mystery film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. It was influenced by Jean Renoir's French classic ''La Règle du jeu'' (''The Rules of the Game''). The film stars an ...

'' and the television series ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...

'', stated in an interview that he began his life in service as a hall boy at the age of 15.

References

Domestic work Obsolete occupations Child labour Gendered occupations {{Hist-stub

See also

References