At the beginning of the century, domestic service was seen to prepare girls for marriage and motherhood, providing qualities such as housewifery, cleanliness, hygiene and punctuality. However, the number of maids decreased when the school leaving age increased from eleven to fourteen, and employment opportunities for women widened.

It was in 1916, ... Women had begun to do men's work. They joined the army and worked in gun factories making ammunition. They became postwomen and railroad workers.

At Burghley, there was a convalescent Hospital for the wounded soldiers from the base hospital in Leicester. With the nurses and orderlies and thirty soldiers, the indoor staff and the family, there were over sixty people to cook for every day. We were mostly self-sufficient; six sheep were killed every week and a bullock every six weeks as well as chickens and pigs. We made our own sausages and pork pies, too.
Bertha Adams Johnstone.

In the 1920s, bicycles could be bought, but might take a maid two years to pay off the hire purchase. In larger towns, like Stamford, they could go to the cinema and dances, but employers saw it as a moral responsibility to impose a time in which they had to be back at the house.

We could go out in the afternoon for an hour or two and had an afternoon and evening off once a week. We had to have a pass from the head cook to say we could be out until ten at night. Then we had to give the pass to the nightwatchman in the Porter's Lodge who checked the time we came in. The steward then checked again in the morning. We could go to the silent movies in Stamford, two miles each way.
Bertha Adams Johnstone.

Servants' balls were sometimes arranged, but someone still had to clear everything up afterwards.

From the 1930s, it was no longer prestigious to be a servant and they often kept their employment secret when they went out socially. From 1939 onwards women worked in other occupations and disliked the idea of menial work. The number of women servants decreased dramatically and the number of male servants almost to nothing.

Today, Burghley House no longer conceals a hive of servants. The family still employs a butler, under butler and cook, but most of the staff now works for the family trust that is dedicated to the preservation of the house. These include cleaners, gardeners and restaurant staff; tour guides, a curator and conservators. The old servant quarters around the courtyards are now offices and workshops.