In many large houses the servants were required to be as invisible as possible. Servants would have to learn to walk around the house every quietly and avoid being seen by the house owners. When making their way to or from their rooms they would use separate staircases to their employers. There were also separate entrances to the property used by servants and any workmen or delivery men. In order to hide the presence of the servants some of the doors which they used to get into them rooms were papered over on the inside so people sitting in them would not notice the doors were there. This preference for the staff not to be seen at all was rather unpractical, when a resident required the services of one of the staff they would ring a bell in the room they were in. Down in the servants quarters on hearing the bell, staff would check which room bell was ringing and the relevant servant for that area of the house or person would travel as quickly and quietly as possible to receive their orders. Uniform The way servants dressed varied from household to household although there was normally some sort of uniform. From photographs you can see that the most common uniforms involved black dresses with white caps and aprons. Male servants again wore dark colours with white shirts and, depending on their role, jackets or waistcoats. The Decline of Domestic Service The number of families that had domestic servants declined during and after World War 1. Many families lost money during the war when businesses were closed or men who worked went to war. Women were required to work for the war effort too which meant less women were available for domestic service. The improvement of working conditions in factories also had an affect as more and more people went into factory work instead of domestic service. Now it is only the extreme rich who have domestic servants and working conditions for domestic servants are much improved. The number of families that had domestic servants declined during and after World War 1. Many families lost money during the war when businesses were closed or men who worked went to war. Women were required to work for the war effort too which meant less women were available for domestic service. The improvement of working conditions in factories also had an affect as more and more people went into factory work instead of domestic service. Now it is only the extreme rich who have domestic servants and working conditions for domestic servants are much improved." />

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