A great house is a large house or mansion with luxurious appointments and great

retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', it ...

s 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 Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom and the Gilded Age in the United States.

Definition

There is no precise definition of "great house", and the understanding of varies between countries. In England, while most villages would have a manor house since time immemorial, originally home of the lord of the manor and sometimes referred to as "the big house", not all would have anything as lavish as a traditional

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

, one of the traditional markers of an established "county" family that derived at least a part of its income from

landed property In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two compet ...

Stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

s, even rarer and more expensive, were associated with the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Belgi ...

, not the gentry. Many mansions were demolished in the 20th century; families that had previously split their time between their country house and their town house found the maintenance of both too expensive. Many properties are now open to the public as historic house museums, either run by their ancestral owners on a commercial basis, or having been given to English Heritage or similar organisations. Others operate as hotels and wedding venues. Some still serve as the family seat. In Ireland, the term big house is usual for the houses of the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

ascendancy. In the United States, great houses can be found on streets known informally as " millionaires' mile" (or "row") in certain cities. In Jamaica, "great house" is the standard term for the house at the centre of plantation life, what in the United States is called a plantation house. One commonality between countries is that the family occupying the great house were outnumbered, often greatly so, by their staff. There was often an elaborate hierarchy among

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 ...

s, probably most familiar to people today through television dramas such as '' Downton Abbey''. As in the past, today's great houses are limited to heads of state, the very rich, or those who have inherited them; few in the developed world are staffed at the level of past centuries. Nowadays, the

International Guild of Butlers International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * International (Kevin Michael album), ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * International (New Order album), ' ...

estimates that the annual salaries of a 20–25 person household staff total in excess of US$1,000,000.

Management

On large estates or in families with more than one residence, there may be a steward (or the modern equivalent, an estate manager) who oversees direction of the entire establishment. Today, it is not uncommon for a couple to split the duties of management between them. The head of the household is not the butler, but the house manager. An estate manager manages more than one property, and usually has financial and managerial background. Practices vary depending on the size of the household and the preference of the employers, but in general the staff is divided into departments run by the following staff:

Support household staff

Sources: For the master of the house: * Valet (Gentleman's gentleman) For the lady of the house: * Companion * Lady's maid For the children: *

Governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

* Nanny * Tutor For needs of the household: *

Chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

Junior household staff

Sources: * Footman *

Hall boy The hall boy or hallboy was a position held by a young male domestic worker on the staff of a great house, usually a young teenager. The name derives from the fact that the hall boy usually slept in the servants' hall. Like his female counterp ...

* Useful Man (also called ''houseman'') *

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 ...

Maid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

(see Types of maid) ** Between staff or

Between maid A between maid (nickname tweeny, also called hall girl particularly in the United States) was a female junior domestic worker in a large household with many staff. The position became largely defunct in the 20th century, as few households needed ...

s (also called Hall girl, particularly in the US) **

Chambermaid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

Housemaid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maid ...

** Kitchen maid ** Laundry maid ** Nursemaid **

Parlourmaid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

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 ...

Still room maid The still-room maid is a female servant who works in the still room, the functional room in a great house in which drinks and jams are made. The still-room maid is a junior servant, and as a member of the between staff, reports to both the hous ...

* Page * Seamstress

Grounds staff

estate manager A property manager or estate manager is a person or firm charged with operating a real estate property for a fee when the owner is unable to attend to such details personally or is not interested in doing so. The property may be individual title o ...

may have charge of the maintenance and care of the grounds, landscaping, and outbuildings (pool, cabana, stables, greenhouse etc.) which is divided into departments run by the:

Support grounds staff

Gardeners A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supplem ...

* Groundskeepers *

Stablehand A groom or stable boy (stable hand, stable lad) is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable o ...

s * Handyman

Notable great houses

* Belcourt Castle * Boldt Castle *

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

* The Breakers *

Burghley House Burghley House () is a grand sixteenth-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, built and still lived in by the Cecil family. The exterior largely retains its Elizabet ...

Cheshunt Great House Cheshunt Great House was a manor house in the town of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England, near to Waltham Abbey (town), Waltham Abbey. It is said to have been built by Henry VIII of England for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. The family seat of the Shaw fam ...

Eaton Hall (Cheshire) Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers about . The ...

* The Elms * Hatfield House * Hearst Castle * Hillwood * Holkham Hall *

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

* The Great House at Leyton * Lyndhurst * Mansion House, London * Marble House *

Moore Hall, County Mayo Moore Hall, or Moorehall, the house and estate of George Henry Moore and family, is situated to the south of the village Carnacon in the barony of Carra, County Mayo in a karst limestone landscape. Named for the aristocratic Irish family wh ...

* Moszna *

Rosecliff Rosecliff is a Gilded Age mansion of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a historic house museum. The house has also been known as the Hermann Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House. It was built 1898–1902 by Theresa Fair Oe ...

* Rose Hall *

Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had be ...

* Westbury House * White House * Woburn Abbey

Depictions of great houses

The complex hierarchy of a staff in a great house has been portrayed in several notable productions for film and television. Among these are: * ''Backstairs at the White House'' * ''Brideshead Revisited'' * '' Downton Abbey'', ITV television series filmed at Highclere Castle, a real-life Great House * ''

The Edwardian Country House ''The Edwardian Country House'' is a British historical reenactment reality television miniseries produced by Channel 4. First aired weekly in the UK beginning in April 2002, it was later broadcast in the United States on PBS stations as ''Man ...

'' * '' ''The Gilded Age'' * '' Gosford Park'' * ''Rebecca'' * ''The Remains of the Day'' * ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' * ''

You Rang, M'Lord? ''You Rang, M'Lord?'' is a BBC television sitcom written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of ''Dad's Army''. It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC (although there had earlier been a pilot episode in 1988). The show was s ...

Notes

External links

The Domestic Staff Citizen
{{Room, great, state=collapsed Domestic work House styles House types Dwellings of the Pueblo peoples