The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-10-10
QUEEN VICTORIES HOUSEHOLD.
4 Rstinus of One Thousand Well.pAid
servhnts-Their Duties n Salaries.

servants-Their Duties and Salaries.
NORMALLY the principal officer Of the
Queens households the Lord Cham
berlain, who is u peer Of the realm,
draws two thousand pounds a year,
and plays . large part at c%oronations,
royal marriages, christenings and fun
erals.
Actually, up to within a recent date,
the principal parsonage in the house,
hold of Queen Victoria was a Scotch
gillie, who brought to London his kilt and
his bare legs, which always formed a
prominent feature in any public p ea
ance of the Queen. There is not known,
at least in modern history, a PARALLEL
70 the precise position which John
Brown held in the Queens household.
His title was Personal Attendant, y
and he literally fulfilled it,going outwith
Her Majesty on whatever GRAND she
might appear, whether driving in state
to open a session of Parliment, hurry
ing IN o pony-carrlage under the wet
skies of Balmoral, or walking or riding
amid the beauties of the Italian lakes.
In oil there are in the queens house
hold just under u thousand persons,
each with his appointed post and suf-
hcient salary, for the maintenance Of
which the nation sets apart the sum Of
three hundred and eighty five Thousand
pounds,
The lord chamberlain is assisted by
the vice-chamberlain, who draws a sal
airy of nine hundred and twenty-four
pounds. This, like the lord chamber
lainstip, is q political office, and is held
by q member of the house of commons.
The keeper of her majesty's privy
purse has two thousand pounds q year,
which, considering that she privy purse
is not filled with more than sixty thous-
and pounds is not illiberal recompense.
The Office is not a laborious one, all her
majesty's needs being provided for un-
der other heads in the grants for the
various departments of the household.
This sixty Thousand pounds q year Is
understood to be transferred pretty
much in a lump sum to those sssavings''
for which Queen Victoria rightly or
wrongly receives credit from the popu-
lar mind.
In this same department ranks the
Mistress of the Robes, who receives five
hundred pounds o year,; q Groom of
The Robes, who has eight hundred
pounds, and Ladies of the Bed-chamber,
Of when there are eight, at a salary Of
i've hundred pounds a year each. These
ladies rarely rank under q Duchess,
and always belong to the highest fami-
lies.
An arrangement is made by which
Ladies of the Bed-chamber are in at.
tendance for q fortnight at a time.
They settle the turns among themselves,
and usually get three a year. The
Maids of Honor, of whom there are
likewise eight, receive a salary of three
hundred pounds a year each, and are in
attendance in couples for q month at o
lime.
Formely both Maids Of Honor and
Bed-chamber Women were under strict
discipline and really did some work for
sheir wages. The Countess of Suffolk
in her correspondence lifts the veil and
allows us to peep at majesty served by
its Bed-chnmber women.
"The Bed-chamber Women came in
to waiting before the Queens prayers"
writes the Duchess, (which was before
she was dressed.
when the Queen washed her hands,
the Page of the Back Stairs brought
and set down on q side-table the basin
and ever. Then the Bedchamber Wom-
an set it before the Queen and knelt on
the other side of the table, over against
the Quean, the Bed-chamber Lady only
lookingSbn. The Bed -chamber Woman
poured the water out Of the aver upon
the Queens hand. The Bed-chamber
Woman pulled on the Queens gloves
when she could not do it herself. The
Page of the Back-Stairs was called in
to put on the Queens shoes. When
the Queen dined in public tho Page
reached the glass to the Bed-chamber
Woman and she to the Ladyin Waiting.
The Bed-chambef Woman brought the
chocolate and gave it without kneeling.n
Services of this kind is not confined
to women. There are Lords in Wait
ing who do about as much as Ladies in
Waiting. These receive the oddly pre-
else sum of 9702 a year. Of lower.
rank are the Grooms in Waiting, who
receive e335.12.6 per annum apiece.
There are four Gentleman Ushers of
the Priyy Chamber, at g20Oper annum;
four Daily Walters, at Gl50, and four
Grooms Of the Privy Chamber, at the
modest recompense of g73 per annum.
But though the income is small, these
Offices are eagerly competed for, and
are held by Vice-Admirals, Colonels
and other distinguished personages.
There are five Pages of the Back
stairs-not a lofty description, but the
salary is fair, reaching 94OO per annum.
These gentlemen really have work to
do. They wait at the royal dinner-table,
and n is always in attendance at the
door of Her Majesty's apartment from
Gin the morning until she retires for the
aight.
There are six pages Of the Presence,
%,o-called, apparently, because they do
not actually dwell in the Presence, their
iuties being to attend upon the lords,
ladies' and maids of honor, and upon any
Of her majesty's visitors. For this they
receive one hundred and eighty pounds
3 year.
There are nine honsekeepers and up
wards Of sixty housemaids. The house
hold has its ecclesiastical staff. The
Bishop of London is always Dean Of the
Chapel royal, and draws for his service
a salary Of two hundred pounds q year.
There is a complete sanitary establish
meRt at a cost to the taxpayer of two
thousand seven hundred pounds q year.
This consists Of two physicians in ordin-
airy, four physicians extraordinary, four
ap%othecaries for the Queen herself, and
two for the combined household, one
dentist, an aurist, an o%culist, and a SUR
geon-chiropodist.
There is also a Poet Laureate, at the
present time Lord Ternyson, who re-
ceiyes, e sum that seems insignificant
beside the income Of one of the Pages
Of the Back-stairs. The sister-art Of