The Butler's Pantry, Tredegar House, Newport, c. 1890

Description

The Butler's Pantry served both as a sitting room and a work room for the butler. Butlers were originally middle-ranking servants, but by the 19th century they were often the highest ranking male servant in a household, with specific charge of the wine cellar and its accoutrements, the pantry, the family silver, and management of the male household staff. He would also be in charge of the waiting staff at family mealtimes and would assume the role of meeting and greeting visitors, if not actually answering the door (there was often a footman to undertake that task).

In Tredegar House, there is a small room off the butler's pantry which houses a large safe, where the family plate was kept. It was, and still is, in the grandest houses, a position of great trust and responsibility.