Scullery maid

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In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranking of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported (through the kitchen maid) to the cook or chef. Duties included the most physical and demanding tasks in the kitchen, such as cleaning of the floor, stoves, sinks, pots and dishes. Scullery maids would rarely have handled fine china, stemware, crystal or plate silver; these are cleaned by housemaids and footmen. Before the advent of central heating systems, scullery maids were required to light the fires and supply hot water.

In a household with no between maid, the scullery maid may also have waited on staff in the Servants' Hall, although this may have been assigned to another maid or a junior footman. In the days before the indoor water closet she may have been required to empty and clean the servants' chamber pots as well.

This work has in modern times primarily been performed by women, but in medieval households female domestics were relatively rare. A male servant performing the tasks described above would be called a scullion. In 1386, when the English Parliament requested the removal of certain of Richard II's ministers, the king famously responded that he would not dismiss as much as a scullion from his kitchen at parliament's request.^[1]

[edit] Fiction

• The father in Nanny McPhee, played by Colin Firth, married Evangeline, a scullery maid, played by Kelly Macdonald.
• Snow White and Cinderella both worked as scullery maids at some point during their stories
• In Les Misérables, Cosette is treated as a scullery maid for the duration of her stay in Montfermeil.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Daily tasks according to PBS.

• The Book of Household Management, Mrs. Isabella Beeton, originally published in 1861, this web edition published by eBooks@Adelaide, some rights reserved.