18th century ENGLAND - a question for THE BEST!!?

Question

During the Victorian era, to be exact, you know how some gentlemen had the occupation of a secretary for a wealthier gentleman?? What do secretaries do anyways??? (Be detailed please!!) Do they only help their emplyer by sorting out letters....and stuff??? And do the secretaries live IN their employers house? Or do they have their own home somewhere else?? And for how many hours do they work a day??? .........And what would a Steward do??

10 points for the best, detailed answer!!

Answer 1

Dear Sir,
First point, the Victorian era was 1837-1901, and should be referred to as the nineteenth century, not 18th.
Secretaries at that time would be a part of a much larger body referred to as 'the household', which included maids, cooks, valets, stable boys etc. Due to the large number of people employed there was a lot to organise.
Secretaries were much the same as is now used in politics, to filter the rubbish, discern which matters should be passed on to the Master (the wealthy gent), weed out begging letters and useless petitions. The wealthy were also 'landed gentry' who would have what are termed 'tenant farmers', who tended the land and received accomodation on the estate, and the secretary would deal with these peoples affairs, as a landlord now tends to his tenants needs. They would live at the residence of the Master, and would be available to work whenever the Master was awake, whilst clearing any lose ends when not required to be present.
There are several branches of 'stewards', some would look after the stables, horses and hounds. Most stewards though were employed by societies and clubs rather than individual households, and would look after the members interests and needs.
Hope this helps
Yours Faihfully,
English and still the best.

Answer 2

To begin with, let's look at the word 'secretary.' The word 'secret' is right in there, and a secretary was basically 'one who can keep secrets.' As you can see, this was not simply a matter of sorting mail, but had its beginnings in government.

The secretaries of the Victorian era were usually men. They handled correspondence for their employers, and sometimes this could be of a sensitive nature. They would likely make copies of letters as well (remember, this was done in longhand!) and maintain a sort of file system for them. Whether they lived with the family or not depended completely on the individual case--some did, some had their own lodgings. Their workdays varied, depending on the amount of correspondence that needed attention.

A steward was an employee who would run a country estate. His duties would include maintaining the property, seeing to the collection of rents, and various other things as required by the landowner.