Jill Kashi
15 Oct 2018
Apart from a photo of the staff in 1905, no accounts or records of the household have survived. It was relatively small by the standards of the time. There was a strict hierarchy for servants. The Housekeeper was in charge of the female staff, with the next rank being the Cook (although thus could be a man in Victorian times) and the Head Housemaid. The Butler looked after the male staff with First Footman being the next rank down. Wages for a Housekeeper aged around 40 would be £52pa whilst a scullery maid, the lowest rank, would be £13pa; all received board and lodging free. Equivalent male ranks were paid more. Each household displayed a set of rules for staff: that from Hanbury Hall included ”Always giver way to house family members and more senior servants. Do not speak to your employer except to answer, and do not speak to a fellow servant in the presence of your employer”.
In 1880 Baddesley Clinton belonged to Marmion Ferrers (1813-84) who had married Rebecca Orpen at Deal in May 1867. They had a wedding breakfast at the Orange Tree, Chadwick End. They went to live with their friends Edward & Georgina Dering who rented Wootton Wawen Hall, whilst Baddesley was being restored: “the house was covered in plaster – not the place for a new bride”. In 1869 the Quartet, as they were known, moved into Baddesley where Marmion carried out his duties as squire, Rebecca painted, Edward tried to write novels but was much less successful than Georgina. All were fervent Roman Catholics, wore black velvet and entertained widely. Georgina died in 1876 and Marmion eight years later. He had spent beyond the income of the estate and left a mortgage of £2.8m in today’s terms. On 21 September 1885 Edward Dering and Rebecca married at St Francis of Assisi in the village of Baddesley Clinton. They entertained Catholic intellectuals to dinner and Catholic groups to lunch. Edward died in 1892 by which time the mortgage had increased to £4.3m. Rebecca continued to live in the house until September 1923 when she died of senile decay aged 94.
William Harrison was an agricultural labourer who became a gamekeeper at Baddesley. With his wife Anne he had 11 children. The ‘Harrison Maids’ were females of that family who worked in the house for over 30 years. One was Annie who started her first job at the age of 13 as a scullery maid for a printer in Northfield. She came ‘home’ to Baddesley to be the cook when 25 where her aunt, Elizabeth, was the Housekeeper. Romance in the same household was frowned upon – you were married to your job – but Elizabeth married William Blake, the Butler, in 1880. They lived in the house but had no children, and William died in 1890. Two of Annie’s sisters also worked at Baddesley and there is a picture of the three with the staff at Park Farm, the estate’s largest which produced all the dairy produce for the house, but which no longer exists. Mary Harrison rose to be a housemaid by 1911, and naughtily scratched her name on two windows. Her brother John farmed Yew Tree Farm, which still exists although much gentrified, and was also the local carrier. Other brothers worked as gardeners or labourers.
Charles Hancock (1850-1913) was born illegitimate in Ledbury workhouse. Initially an agricultural labourer, he moved into service and in due course became a footman to Sir William Petre (1817-84) at Ingatestone Hall in Essex. Charles moved frequently between Roman Catholic families and was at Worsbrough Hall near Barnsley with the Martin-Edmunds family. He had married Annie Jewell on 11 September 1877 and they had five children. He went to work for Sir Henry Ripley at Rawdon Hall near Bradford, and lived at Craggy Bottom Cottages. But when Charles moved again, Annie set up a separate home in Kent for the children c1882 and worked as a laundress. Local houses sent her laundry, as did the Martin-Edwards family and even Charles himself – such was the efficiency of the postal service. She died aged 38 in 1890 of heart disease due to ‘over-exertion’. Charles, now in London, placed the children (the eldest then 13) with two local families, one for reach sex. By 1891 Charles was a ‘Gentleman’s Gentleman’ for Sir Henry Chilton, a widowed architect in Kensington. Then he moved to Breedon Hall, Leicestershire, to be a coachman. This was a great step down but he was able to take his children with him. He came to Baddesley in 1905 and appeared there in the 1911 Census; this was the first to be filled in by the householder and Rebecca put him first and herself last !
The Harrison family is still connected with Baddesley. John is a room guide. Jem, a descendent of Thomas who had emigrated to the USA in 1875, visited from San Francisco with his wife Laura. His sister Gail came from the USA in December 2017 to celebrate her 70th Birthday at Baddesley. Her son, with his young children, also came over, as he did for a great Harrison family reunion in 2018. All expressed great pleasure in having their roots at Baddesley Clinton.
In the questions/comments that followed, it was explained which servants slept in the house; the coachman, stable boys and gardeners lived in the stables. The Poor Clares had left their convent in Baddesley village and about six years ago number of Rebecca’s paintings which they had been given were auctioned: two returned to the house.