The modern role of the butler has evolved from earlier roles that were generally concerned with the care and serving of alcoholic beverages.
Ancient through medieval eras From ancient through medieval times, alcoholic beverages were chiefly stored first in earthenware vessels, then later in wooden barrels, rather than in glass bottles; these containers would have been an important part of a household's possessions. The care of these assets was therefore generally reserved for trusted slaves, although the job could also go to free persons because of heredity-based class lines or the inheritance of trades. The biblical
book of Genesis contains a reference to a role precursive to modern butlers. The early Hebrew
Joseph interpreted a dream of Pharaoh's שקה (shaqah) (literally "to give to drink"), which is most often translated into English as "chief butler" or "chief
cup-bearer". In ancient Greece and Rome, it was nearly always slaves who were charged with the care and service of wine, while during the
Medieval Era the
pincerna filled the role within the noble court. The English word "butler" itself comes from the
Middle English word
bo(u)teler (and several other forms), from Anglo-Norman
buteler, itself from Old Norman
butelier, corresponding to
Old French botellier ("bottle bearer"), Modern French
bouteiller, and before that from
Medieval Latin butticula. The modern
English "butler" thus relates both to bottles and
casks. Eventually the European butler emerged as a middle-ranking member of the servants of a great house, in charge of the
buttery (originally a storeroom for "butts" of liquor, although the term later came to mean a general storeroom or pantry). While this is so for household butlers, those with the same title but in service to the Crown enjoyed a position of administrative power and were only minimally involved with various stores. The
Chief Butler of England was a hereditary ceremonial role that existed in both England and Ireland from the medieval period. In England, it formed part of a system known as
Grand Sergeanty, whereby landholders provided specific services to the Crown. In Ireland, the office was granted to
Theobald Walter, 1st Chief Butler of Ireland in 1177 by Prince John, then Lord of Ireland. The importance of the role was such that Theobald Walter's descendants adopted "Butler" as their surname. They subsequently became the foundation of the powerful
Butler dynasty, whose members played a central role in Irish political and social life for centuries. , the estate of
Frederick Lothrop Ames, 1914.
Elizabethan through Victorian eras The
steward of the Elizabethan era was more akin to the butler that later emerged. Gradually, throughout the 19th century and particularly the Victorian era, as the number of butlers and other domestic servants greatly increased in various countries, the butler became a senior male servant of a household's staff. By this time he was in charge of the more modern
wine cellar, the "
buttery" or
pantry (from French
pain from Latin
panis, bread) as it came to be called, which supplied bread, butter, cheese, and other basic provisions, and the
ewery, which contained napkins and basins for washing and shaving. In the very grandest households there was sometimes an Estate Steward or other senior steward who oversaw the butler and his duties. ''
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management'', a manual published in Britain in 1861, reported: The number of the male domestics in a family varies according to the wealth and position of the master, from the owner of the ducal mansion, with a retinue of attendants, at the head of which is the chamberlain and house-steward, to the occupier of the humbler house, where a single footman, or even the odd man-of-all-work, is the only male retainer. The majority of gentlemen's establishments probably comprise a servant out of livery, or butler, a footman, and coachman, or coachman and groom, where the horses exceed two or three. The household itself was generally divided into areas of responsibility. The butler was in charge of the dining room, the
wine cellar, pantry, and sometimes the entire main floor. Directly under the butler was the
first footman (or
head footman), although there could also be a
deputy butler or
under-butler who would fill in as butler during the butler's illness or absence. The
footman‒there were frequently numerous young men in the role within a household‒ performed a range of duties including serving meals, attending doors, carrying or moving heavy items, and they often doubled as
valets. Valets themselves performed a variety of personal duties for their employer. Butlers engaged and directed all these junior staff and each reported directly to him. The
housekeeper was in charge of the house as a whole and its appearance. In a household without an official head housekeeper, female servants and kitchen staff were also directly under the butler's management, while in smaller households, the butler usually doubled as valet. Employers and their children and guests addressed the butler (and under-butler, if there was one) by last name alone; fellow servants, retainers, and tradespersons as "Mr. [Surname]". Butlers were typically hired by the master of the house but usually reported to its lady. Beeton in her manual suggested a GBP 25–50 (US$2,675‒5,350) per-year salary for butlers; room and board and livery clothing were additional benefits, and tipping known as
vails, were common. The few butlers who were married had to make separate housing arrangements for their families, as did all other servants within the hierarchy.
In the early United States From the beginning of
slavery in the
United States, in the early 17th century,
African Americans were put to task as domestic servants. Some eventually became butlers. Gary Puckrein, a social historian, argues that those used in particularly affluent homes authentically internalised the sorts of "refined" norms and personal attributes that would reflect highly upon the social stature of their masters or mistresses. One of the first books written and published through a commercial U.S. publisher by an African American was by a butler named
Robert Roberts. The book, ''The House Servant's Directory,'' first published in 1827, is essentially a manual for butlers and waiters, and is called by Puckrein "the most remarkable book by an African American in
antebellum United States". The book generated such interest that a second edition was published in 1828, and a third in 1843. European
indentured servants formed a corps of domestic workers from which butlers were eventually drawn. Although not the victims of institutionalised slavery, many of them had not volunteered for domestic service, but were forced into it by indebtedness or coercion. As with African American slaves, they could rise in domestic service, and their happiness or misery depended greatly on the disposition of their masters.
The modern butler Beginning around the early 1920s (following
World War I), employment in domestic service occupations began a sharp overall decline in western European countries, and even more markedly in the
United States. Even so, there were still around 30,000 butlers employed in
Britain by
World War II. As few as one hundred were estimated to remain by the mid-1980s.
Social historian Barry Higman argues that a high number of domestic workers within a society correlates with a high level of socio-
economic inequality. Conversely, as a society undergoes levelling among its
social classes, the number employed in domestic service declines. Following varied shifts and changes accompanying accelerated
globalisation beginning in the late 1980s, overall global demand for butlers since the turn of the millennium has risen dramatically. According to Charles MacPherson, President of Charles MacPherson Associates and owner of The Charles MacPherson Academy for Butlers and Household Managers, the proximate cause is that the number of millionaires and billionaires has increased in recent years, and such people are finding that they desire assistance in managing their households. MacPherson emphasises that the number of wealthy people in
China has increased particularly, creating in that country a high demand for professional butlers who have been trained in the European butlering tradition. There is also increasing demand for such butlers in
India, the
petroleum-rich
Middle East and other
Asian countries. Higman additionally argues that the inequality/equality levels of societies are a major determinant of the nature of the domestic servant/employer relationship. As the 21st century approached, many butlers began carrying out an increasing number of duties formerly reserved for more junior household servants. Butlers today may be called upon to do whatever household and personal duties their employers deem fitting, in the goal of freeing their employers to carry out their own personal and professional affairs. Professional butler and author Steven M. Ferry states that the image of tray-wielding butlers who specialise in serving tables and decanting wine is now anachronistic, and that employers may well be more interested in a butler who is capable of managing a full array of household affairs‒from providing the traditional dinner service, to acting as valet, to managing high-tech systems and multiple homes with complexes of staff. While in truly grand houses the modern butler may still function exclusively as a top-ranked household affairs manager, in lesser homes, such as those of dual-income middle-class professionals, including mundane
housekeeping. Butlers today may also be situated within corporate settings, embassies, cruise ships, yachts, or within their own small "Rent-a-Butler" business or similar agency. Along with these changes of scope and context, butlering
attire has changed. Whereas butlers have traditionally worn a special uniform that separated them from junior servants, and although this is still often the case, butlers today may wear more casual clothing geared for climate, while exchanging it for formal business attire only upon special service occasions. There are cultural distinctions, as well. In the United States, butlers may frequently don a polo shirt and slacks, while in Bali they typically wear
sarongs. In 2007, the number of butlers in Britain had risen to an estimated 5,000. That number rose to 10,000 by 2014, consistent with increased worldwide demand. ==Training==