An Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy by Thomas Webster has an indepth section on servants from the perspective on one employing them. Within the section is this passage and chart I know some will find interesting. Please remember this applies to an English servant.
“In servants’ dress two thirds of the wages only should be spent. The remainder, left in the hands of their principal, or placed in saving’s banks to accumulate, may prove a means of comfort to them beyond comparison greater than the translent pleasure which a more expensive dress might give them. In the following tables will be found estimates sufficiently accurate to show, that with judgment in the choice of the materials, and a proper subordination of the inclination for dress to the means for obtaining it, a third part, or even more, of wages, may in most cases, be untouched, and yet the personal appearance of the servant not neglected thereby, but rather improved, inasmuch as consistency in dress is always one of the its most becoming attributes.
Table I – Wages 7l.7s
L s d 1 good cotton dress, at 8d 0 7 8 2 common working gowns, at 6d 0 7 0 Linings for the dresses 0 2 0 4 petticoats 0 8 0 Body linen 0 4 6 Stockings (3 pairs) 0 6 0 Muslin for caps and handkerchiefs 0 6 0 Bonnet and trimmings 0 10 0 4 chequered aprons, 2 white ditto 0 6 0 A shawl 0 12 0 3 pairs of shoes 0 12 0 2 pairs of gloves 0 1 0 Sundries 0 10 0 4 13 2Table II Wages from 12L 12s upwards
3 gowns (making, &c) 1 10 0 Petticoats 0 12 0 Body linen 0 6 0 4 pairs stockings 0 6 0 Aprons 0 7 0 Caps, habit shirt, ribands, and gloves 1 0 0 2 bonnets and trimmings 1 0 0 Shawl 0 15 0 3 pairs of shoes 0 12 0 Sundries 1 0 0 L7 8 0







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