Household-level predictors of the presence of servants in Northern Orkney, Scotland, 1851–1901

Abstract

Servants were an important part of the northwestern European household economy in the preindustrial past. This study examines household-level characteristics that are predictive of the presence of rural servants using data from Orkney, Scotland. The number of servants present in a household is related to household composition, landholding size, and the marital status of the household head. In addition, the sex of the particular servant hired reveals that the labor of male and female servants is not fungible. The sex of the servant hired is related to the ratio of male and female household members of working age, the occupation of the head, household composition, and the size of the household's landholding.

Keywords:

• Historical demography
• Farm labor
• Servants
• Household economy
• Sexual division of labor
• Orkney, Scotland

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (HSD052739), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32 HD007514 and T32 HD07168), the Pennsylvania State University Department of Anthropology, the Pennsylvania State University Population Research Institute, and the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We also thank Tim Murtha, Corey Sparks, Kenneth Hirth, Duane Alwin, Stephen Matthews, Debashis Ghosh, Paul Leslie, Leah Boustan, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on the earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1 Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].

2 Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].

3 The beginning of the study period coincides with the first census conducted in Orkney that included information suitable for record linkage (Sparks, 2007); the end date is determined by the statutory 100-year embargo on the release of individual-level census returns in the UK.

4 Much of the existing literature on servants seems to assume that master and servant were unrelated. However, it may be the case that servants often had kin ties to their masters. Future study using the Orkney data may be able to address the closeness and frequency of kin relationships in service arrangements.

5 It may be that some of these individuals were actually live-in servants who were at home rather than their place of employment on census night. Unfortunately, we cannot distinguish between temporary visits at home and full time residence. This may represent a source of bias in the sample of live-in servants.

6 Farm occupations include “farmer”, “agricultural laborer”, “ploughman”, “crofter”, and so on. Non-farm occupations include, but are not limited to, “fisherman”, “shop keeper”, “sailor” and “teacher”. Individuals with two listed occupations, such as “farmer and fisherman”, are coded as farm occupations if at least one of listed occupations is farm-related.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James W. Wood1

1 Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].

Patricia L. Johnson2

2 Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].