A small number of boys were employed as pageboys, hall boys, or to help the gardeners. A hall boy had to carry coals to the grates around the house, run errands and clean boots. They also cared for the candlesticks, and later lamps, with the footmen.

When boys were older they became gardeners or footmen, with the ambition to be a valet or butler one day. Footmen would care for the servants' clothes and boots, whilst a valet looked after those belonging to the family.

Becoming a footman did not just rely on competence and length of service. They had to be a certain height and preferably look quite similar to the other footmen. This was because servants were seen as something decorative that had to be co-ordinated.

The butler's job was to oversee deliveries of food, arrange the dining table, clean the cutlery and glass, receive visitors, and hire and fire servants. The butler also had to provide wine and beer for the day. It seems to have been a common concern that the butler, the sole controller of alcohol, was drinking the brandy and wine, watering it down to cover his tracks. In small houses, the butler was the only male servant, and hiring and firing workers came under the housekeeper's duties.