Are you being served? The return of the British butler
Traditional manservants are very much in demand – but not by the landed gentry
Look, if you’re going to talk about the servants couldn’t you at least distinguish between the butler and the valet?
The butler is the manager of the servants. The valet or manservant is the equivalent of the ladies maid for the man of the house.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Tim Newman // Oct 20, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Or, a gentleman’s personal gentleman.
2 Robert the Biker // Oct 20, 2012 at 6:26 pm
“Or, a gentleman’s personal gentleman.”
A La Jeeves!
3 DBC Reed // Oct 20, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Who cares?
4 john miller // Oct 20, 2012 at 7:04 pm
For God’s sake, I thought the whole country knew the valet’s in jail and the butler’s still at large!
5 maguro // Oct 20, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I thought the valet was the guy who parks your car.
6 Trig // Oct 20, 2012 at 8:39 pm
So who’s the one who opens the door to guests?
7 Sebastian Weetabix // Oct 20, 2012 at 8:41 pm
The footman
8 john malpas // Oct 20, 2012 at 11:43 pm
‘equivalent of the ladies maid’ – how sexist , how socialist.
The valet was often a confidant and had many other qualities not found in hired gossips.
Such is the decline of Britain.
9 Dave // Oct 21, 2012 at 4:11 am
Honestly, I really don’t see the need for a valet in this day and age. A staff of no more than two or three (not counting the housekeeper, obviously) should be ample for inside the house.
10 sam // Oct 22, 2012 at 10:06 am
You’d think, what with the almost inexplicable continuing* popularity of Downton Abbey, that people would know this shit.
*’continuing’ being the operative word. Even I quite liked the first series, which might as well have been a different program altogether.
11 ChrisM // Oct 23, 2012 at 11:14 am
Tim, it seems you have written a post that DBC Reed has no interest in. In future, could you ensure that all of your posts are of interest to him?
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