The under housemaid had to scrub the main hall before breakfast, and then take a cup of tea to the head housemaid in bed. She then had to carry hot water in brass cans to employers for their morning wash. She would have two hours off after lunch to go to her room, but would be back at her work after this until half past nine in the evening.

A housemaid's job consisted of dusting, polishing, cleaning, and carrying coal and water upstairs to the main rooms. Her job was made slightly easier by the conversion of rooms to bathrooms, with running water supplied.

The housemaid's cupboard contained all of the cleaning equipment, and a copper for heating water. There was a huge variety of different brushes, some inventories include twenty-two, each with a specific function. The contents of this cupboard changed little over the centuries until domestic sweeping machines were invented in the 1840s. At the turn of the century, large vacuum cleaners replaced the vast array of cleaning tools, and made spring cleaning unnecessary.

If girls did not get married, they hoped to become upper housemaids and then ladies' maids. The final promotion would be to housekeeper or cook. Upper servants had to be treated with respect, and were socially separate from lower servants. The upper servants dined in the steward's room, and took breakfast and tea in the housekeeper's sitting room.