Story: Household services

A servant serves afternoon tea to Fred, Mary and Amy Barkas at 180 Salisbury Street, Christchurch, in April 1881. She is probably a ‘general servant’ – referred to as a ‘general’. The term implies she would be the only servant in the household. She would do all the housework, probably with help from her ‘mistress’, particularly with the cooking, because there was so much to do.