Kitchen Staff

Madame Madeleine Petit, Chef, 1 (rank for pay grade purposes)

Addressed as Chef or Madame (although she has never been married) Petit by everyone, and off duty as Madeleine.

Duties: reports to the Countess; draws up menus; cooks for the residents;

A supremely talented chef, Madeleine was seduced by the Earl and Countess on a trip to Paris in 1919. She cooked them breakfast and they immediately offered her a position. As the highest paid servant in the house brings she enjoys many benefits and particularly loves being eaten out. She is normally to be found in the kitchen or her adjoining office. Once a week Madame Petit visits London early in the morning driven by James, the chauffer, where she places her orders at Billingsgate (fish) and Smithfield (meat) and picks up specialised spices. On those days she leaves the preparation of dinner to the Head Kitchen Maid.

Martha Quinn, Head Kitchen Maid, 3

Addressed as Quinn by the Family and Guests, Martha by staff of rank 2 and above, Miss Quinn by the lesser servants, and off duty as Martha.

Duties: reports to the Chef; orders food; shops for food; maintains the kitchen; cooks for the staff.

Martha dreams of running a restaurant one day and is learning a lot from Madeleine. She is very organised and somewhat driven, a little bit too professional in her ways for most of the staff, but has an unlikely friendship with Flora, formed on their twice weekly shopping trips to High Wycombe. She is usually to be found in the kitchen, but sometimes cooks in the stables.

Flora Jones, Still Room Maid, 4

Addressed as Flora by everyone.

Duties: reports to the Chef and Butler; shops for drinks and medicines; mixes remedies; maintains herb garden; makes the afternoon tea.

Flora is a Welsh white witch or so she likes to think. She has been with the family from a very young age and has close connections with Christina as some of her concoctions help heal Claude’s body and soothe his fevered mind and Angelica because they share a wild nature. She has modelled for Angelica but has often been disappointed with the abstract results. One of her aims is to make Martha less stuffy. When she is not busy making all kinds of balms, potions and special cakes in her Still Room, or tending the herb garden, she is to be found in the woods collecting some of the unique wild flowers and fungi. Many including the visiting doctor take a great deal of interest in her work.

Mary Taylor, Kitchen Maid, 4

Addressed as Mary by everyone.

Duties: reports to the Chef; prepares food, washes up, heats up food for latecomers.

Mary moans all day about the demanding Martha and sometimes takes it out on Minnie. She was sacked from her previous job for having sex on the food preparation area. She loves carving vegetables into rude shapes and acts very saucily with the outdoor staff. The food fetishist rarely wears bloomers and is particularly noisy at night. She is usually to be found in the kitchen, but sometimes cooks in the stables.

Minnie Fain, Scullery Maid, 5

Addressed as Minnie by everyone.

Duties: cleans the kitchen, gets things out and puts them away, serves food to the servants.

A local girl in her first job, many of the residents and staff seek to prey on her naivety. However her naturally submissive nature means she enjoys her position more than she lets on. Unsurprisingly Minnie is the most frequent recipient of the Estate Manager’s discipline. Sometimes sleeps at home where her family think she could do worse than get pregnant to one of the residents or their guests. She is always in the kitchen fetching, carrying, scrubbing, and washing the dishes in the scullery.

Eliza Kennedy, Between Maid, 5

Addressed as Eliza by everyone.

Duties: empties chamber pots, aids the scullery maid, anything the 3 senior servants want.

All you need to know about Eliza is that she has come down for Scotland and is willing to perform any duty. The chef, butler and housekeeper are all very satisfied with her work and she often appears to have more money than she could possibly be earning. Eliza can be found anywhere she is needed, often on her knees relieving people.