Outdoor Staff - House Sterling
Outdoor Staff:
These jobs would have included the Coachmen, who both cared for and drove the coaches, and Grooms for the horses. There was often a Gardener, with Assistants beneath him for homes with extensive grounds. Country estates often employed a Gamekeeper to breed and feed game. (The Gamekeeper’s remote cottage often serves as an oh-so-convenient haven for the hero and heroine when caught out during storms...) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Coachman:
The coachman drove the carriages. This was a well respected position, requiring considerable skill, especially for the larger vehicles. If a family was wealthy, they might have many carriages, and a number of coachmen, one of whom would be the senior one and who would manage the others. The coachman was responsible for ensuring that the coaches were well maintained and that the carriage horses were well cared for by the other stable staff. In the stables:
Stable master:
The Stable master was responsible for all staff based in the stable area. He was also responsible for ensuring that the horses, carriages and equipment were maintained in excellent condition. He was responsible for ordering feed supplies and making certain that the quality received was good. Groom:
A groom looks after horses. That means ensuring that they are fed and watered correctly, that they are groomed (brushed, washed if needed etc), that they are shod (the groom takes them to the farrier, who, in a small town, may also be the blacksmith), that their feet are cleaned out and kept in good condition, that they are brought to wherever the owner needs them, that they are walked to cool down after working and more. Each groom may be responsible for one or more horses, depending on the scale of the establishment. Grooms also rode and were responsible for keeping the horses exercised if the owner did not use them often. (A horse not exercise becomes bored, and often then fractious when next ridden). When ladies went out for a ride, a groom would accompany them – for propriety, and to help them if needed. Many women could not mount up onto a sidesaddle without a mounting block or a hand up from a groom. Stablehands:
Stablehands did the dirty work of the stables (although the worst of it was often left to the stableboys, if there were any working there.). This includes cleaning out the stalls, carting the manure away to the manure pile, laying fresh straw, hauling large amounts of hay in and out of the hayloft, lugging bags of grain about, cleaning harness, saddles etc, washing saddlecloths and horse rugs, cleaning and polishing carriages and generally helping to get everything done. They rarely, if ever, rode. Stableboys:
Stableboys were the bottom of the pecking order in the stables. They were usually young, and hoping to move up over time (a bit like an apprenticeship). They got the worst jobs of the lots – whatever the grooms and stablehands didn’t want to do. They were the ones who got to stand out in the cold, waiting for the master to come home, so that they could be there to take his horse, they got to shovel the manure pile onto the waste cart when it came to collect it, and to be up first in the cold winter mornings, to break the ice on water troughs etc. The Grounds:
Gardener:
Every estate or house (even London townhouses which had smallish gardens) had at least one gardener, usually more. The gardeners not only cared for the formal gardens of ‘pretty flowers’ but they cared for the kitchen gardens, which provided much of the fresh produce used by each household, and for the herb and scent gardens, which provided the herbs for cooking, healing and providing pleasant scents (like lavender to put in a lady’s dressing room, to keep her clothes smelling good). There was a hierarchy of gardeners – a head gardener, and others that he managed. Groundsman:
A Groundsman had a wider remit than a gardener. He might also be responsible (mainly on country estates) for the state of the gravel on the driveway, the state of fences, of gates and of other structures, as well as coordinating any forestry activity required.
Oscar - Coachman
Human / 49 yrs old
Ulrich - Stable Master
Dwarf / 79 yrs old
Stefan - Groom
Half-Dwarf / 27 yrs old
Henry - Gardener
Human / 31 yrs old
Jack - Groundsman
Human / 29 yrs old
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