Family Album and Genealogy of Eva Mary Keay

Gamekeeper

A person who manages game and other wildlife including fish and birds on a country estate or other private or public land. Duties include preventing poaching, controlling predators and monitoring the health of wildlife. Although gamekeepers traditionally managed animals for the purposes of hunting and killing, they were also great observers of wildlife and played a conservation role, particularly in managing the numbers and species that were hunted and in what seasons.

Governess

A female employee who lived with a family and taught the children, usually girls, in the "accomplishments" expected of middle class women of the time. These included reading and writing, French or some other language, the piano or other musical instrument, also painting and perhaps poetry. Boys when old enough left the governess for a tutor or formal schooling. A governess had at least lower middle class background and education so was not a servant, although she may have begun her working career as such.

Lady's maid

A lady's maid was an upper servant and enjoyed a high status, second only to the housekeeper in rank. She was responsible directly to her mistress, usually the lady of the house. She acted as companion and was responsible for looking after the mistress's clothes, dressing her hair, assisting her to dress and arranging and packing her personal belongings for travel.

Land steward

The highest ranking male servant on an estate, more of a professional employee than a true servant, acting as direct agent for the landholder or owner. He managed some or all facets of the estate and had varying powers including the authority to hire and fire and collect rents. Aside from farming matters, some land stewards had considerable legal, financial and even surveying skills.

Power loom weaver

Weaving is the process of making textiles (eg cloth) from threads of cotton, wool, jute, linen etc, or nowadays, from synthetics. Weaving was done laboriously with a hand loom until the invention of the power loom in 1787, which was then improved and refined over the years. More than a hundred thousand such looms were operating in the northern manufacturing regions of Britain by 1845. Many power-loom operators were women; the work was physically debilitating and poorly paid.