Queen Mary and Westfield College London University PhD Thesis ...

of interest on the Governors' part, there seems little doubt that servants were often hired (and
fired) with little ceremony, obtainable one a penny. It is likely, however, that a better class of
basketman had begun to be attracted to the hospital by mid-century, and more especially, from
the 1760s and 70s, when their salaries were augmented to a level thirteen times their previous
rate 112 In the 1750s and 60s, basketmen were for the first time wealthy enough to have their
wills registered in the P.C.C."3.
Even less may be ascertained about the recruitment and backgrounds of the maid servants
of Bethiem. For the duration of the seventeenth century, maid servants are rarely even named,
let alone details of their appointment given 114. Elizabeth Withers, Matron at Bethiem until the
death of her husband, in 1654, was subsequently appointed as maid servant there, and was not
the last officer's wife to be sympathetically retained on the hospital's payroll" 5 . Whereas the
Governors must have been familiar enough with her character by this stage, she was soon to
prove disorderly, if not unfit for her duties"6.
Only once, in the eighteenth century minutes of the hospital, is there any evidence that
maid servants were appointed on recommendations, or, likewise, that they contested their posts
with other candidates, although one assumes that this was more common a practice than the
Minutes testify. Mary Hilliard obtained her place in 1713 'being well recommended', while
Elizabeth Lewis prevailed over two other hopefuls in 1717". That one of these failed candidates,
Ellen Owen, was admitted to the very next vacancy, is another indication of the general lack
of discrimination involved in servants' appointments. Nevertheless, the contest had originally
112 See in/ri, Salaries'.
113 I.e. the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, where all testators were required to be worth £40? See e.g. wills
of Thomas Wright, William Hart, Anthony Codcrwn and Edward Davies; P.C.C. Pros 11/80, 11/819, 11/835,
& 11/903, q nos 24, 315, 34 & 230.
114 Only 6 maid servants are mentioned between 1633 and 1700, and the first or these remains entirely anonymous.
The other 5 are Elizabeth Withers, Susan Nooke, Joan Somers, Margaret Penny and Elizabeth Clashby.
See BCGM, 31 July, 2 Sept. & 20 Nov. 1657, 24 Sept. 1658, 2 Nov. 1666, 20 May & 7 Oct. 1668, 27 March &
12 April 1678, & 27 Jan. 1693; fols 822, 825, 835, 69, 15-16, 93, 110, 17-18, 21 & 220.
115 Ibid, 31 July 1657, fol. 822. Diana Hodges, Matron, and widow of the Bethiem Steward, Thomas Hodges,
was on her own request granted her salary of Lb p/a for life, in 1765, provided she quit her office and apartment
directly her successor was chosen. She appears in the Salaries Boolc of the hospital in receipt of this awn until
her death in 1784. See BCGM, 20 June 1765, fol. 135 and BeSltlem Salaries Book, 1777-1815, henceforth BSB..
116 See in/Ta, 'General Conduct'.
117 P5CM, 7 Feb. 1713 & 27 July & 3 Aug. 1717, loIs 112 & 264-5.
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