Lady's_maid

Lady's maid

Lady's maid

Female personal attendant

For the butterfly with this name, see Vanessula milca.

A lady's maid is a female personal attendant who waits on her female employer. The role of a lady's maid is similar to that of a gentleman's valet.[1]

Illustration depicting a Parisian lady's maid in the 1630s. The illustration is made in the turn of the 18th-19th century, by Georges-Jacques Gatine [fr] (1773–1848)
Mistress and Maid by Johannes Vermeer.

Description

Traditionally, the lady's maid was not as high-ranking as a lady's companion, who was a retainer rather than a servant, but the rewards included room and board, travel and somewhat improved social status. In the servants' hall, a lady's maid took precedence akin to that of her mistress. In Britain, a lady's maid would be addressed by her surname by her employer, while she was addressed as "Miss" by junior servants or when visiting another servants' hall.

A lady's maid's specific duties included helping her mistress with her appearance, including make-up, hairdressing, clothing, jewellery, and shoes. A lady's maid would also remove stains from clothing; sew, mend, and alter garments as needed; bring her mistress breakfast in her room; and draw her mistress's bath. However, she would not be expected to dust and clean every small item, as that would be the job of a housemaid.[2]

Examples of lady's maids

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Class and the Domestic Service System through Downton Abbey" (PDF). Repositori Obert UdL. Archived from the original (PDF) on Aug 26, 2022.
  2. [2]
    Hoppe, Michelle Jean. "Article 046--Servants--Their Hierarchy and Duties". Literary Liaisons. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  3. [3]
    Helen Rappaport: Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion, 2003
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Lady's_maid, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.