At the end of spring 2018, an article published in The Telegraph titled ‘The Making of the Booming Modern Butler Industry’ quoted statements from George Telford, an all-rounded butler, who, when commenting on what it takes to be good at his profession, concluded his answer with “It’s got to be in your blood…you’ve got to be born to serve…”

Great butlers have long owned their own intrinsic and unique shade when it comes to working with people. Think of Alfred Pennyworth or Mr. Carson from Downton Abbey, which are so etched into our conscience through pop culture and other mediums that we may all subconsciously believe these real-life senior fellows pop out of the blue.

There is an enigma about how a butler comes to be.

There is also a mystery about how much of their ability to serve is truly innate or groomed. Once carefully placed together, two books, ‘A Butler’s Guide to Running the Home and Other Graces’ and ‘My 21 Years in the White House,’ may help shed some insight on the ‘why’ of a butler’s nature.

SHORT HISTORY

Before getting into our discussion about butlers, we need first to understand exactly what a butler is.

This starts in the Anglo-Saxon period.

Originally, the word ‘butler’ came into our English language by the passage of an old Anglo-Norman French word ‘boutiller,’ meaning ‘cup bearer’ or ‘bottle bearer.’. One of a butler’s main responsibilities is to care for and serve wine when needed. According to the preserved pages of Stanley Argers ‘A Butler's Guide to Running the Home and Other Graces’, there are numerous ways for us to plainly understand a butler and his duties.

One example would be the grog tray service.

Each day, a tray full of several alcoholic beverages (grog tray) from gin to whisky was generously brought up before the gentleman or lady of the house at delicate times by butlers for their selection.

PARENTS & GENES

Now that we understand a little bit of what a butler is, we can now begin answering our question: are butlers born or groomed?

What is it that makes these people excel so well at serving full households?

To begin, we can speculate that butlers inherit service-orientated genes from their parents. This might be what makes them so good at serving people.

After all, how could ascending to said ‘heights’ be without some squeeze of genetics?

To prove a point, we'll start with our first book, ‘A Butler’s Guide to Running the Home and Other Graces,’ where the butler, 'Mr. Arger,' father, who was a head stableman—nowadays called ‘Head Grooms’ or ‘Barn Managers’—can’be simplified as a compassionate animal lover.

People who love animals are usually quite sociable beings, a trait he most likely passed down to his son, Mr. Arger.

For Mr. Arger, he spent nearly forty years of his life serving and socialising. Can someone do this job without having parents who also deeply love to socialise and care for people?

There is a harsh parallel.

A butler had to work much harder than a groomsman (a lower-ranking servant in the household), especially after several renditions to his profession following the world wars (1918-1945), presenting a second, much more profound quality of butlers: full commitment to service.

At that time in history, materials were lacking, such as cleaning apparatus for the house. Mr. Arger tells us butlers even swapped dress shirts for less expensive soft shirts they wore in the evening. By this standard, butlers were incredibly hard workers.

According to ‘A Butler’s Guide,’ we can be more illustrious with this time frame using financial figures. In the 1930s, lower-ranking servants (footmen) in England earned between a scarce £1.25 and £1.60 a month in comparison to a butler’s £90 a year (still quite a low salary in those times).

Equally, if we cross over to our second book—over to American soil—we can see the same connection between genes and butlerhood in another hard-working butler. The second book, "My 21 Years in the White House, introduces a butler who is similar to Mr. Alonzo Fields. He himself occupied a few posts: Butler, Chief Butler, and Mitre De Hotel.

Centre:Alonzo Fields posing with a service tray for the cover of his book 'My 21 Years in the White House'

In the section ‘How I Got in The White House,’ here’s how he describes his family.

‘…My father kept the general store and ran an agency for the floor mills at Princeton… Then he opened a grocery business, which later became the general store, and finally went to Washington on a political appointment in the post office department, where he was a custodian… Father was the organiser and director of the only military-trained, coloured brass band in the southern part of Indiana. My mother kept a boarding-house for the railroad section hands…’

And here we have another example of service-orientated genes.

But can we attach a butler’s dedication to service entirely to traits passed down from their parents?

There is another factor to consider, which is grooming!

UNORTHODOXY & UTHORDOXY IN GROOMING TO BE A BUTLER

Stanley Arger was trained throughout his twenties and climbed through the ranks steadily. Gleaning from the pages of Mr. Arger’s book, we see this dreamer starts in their teenage years, rising through the ranks. Yet, somehow, our second butler was not groomed in this type of environment.

In fact, Alonzo Fields got into the butler training through unconventional means.

His friend got him connections with a ‘Dr. Stratton, a connoisseur of china.’.

Mr. Fields learnt etiquette and society from the doctor's secretary, Morris Parris.

Before he was allowed to be a butler, Mr. Fields had unknowingly prepared himself in areas of management and care. He shadowed his father by running a grocery store and meat market, trained choirs, and taught all brass instruments in his early twenties.

Such a life evidences a great amount of preparation towards becoming a butler.

IS THE QUESTION ANSWERED?

What we've understood is that whilst butlers are mostly groomed, genetics also play a big part.

Great butlers like Mr. Arger and Mr. Feilds may be a dying breed, but good butlers are still being groomed today in academies, such as the International Butler Academy.

The motives for becoming a butler are different nowadays.

With the rise of a butler's popularity, thanks to Downton Abbey and other shows, a butler could earn good money, great money.

However, after making the argument that genes contribute significantly to a butler's success, you can now ask the question like I did: are butlers born or groomed?

FURTHER READING (EXTRA LIGHTBULBS!)

LIGHTBULB: The butler is not only the manager of the household but also acts as the moral compass and integrity of the whole family. Once a faithful servant is received into a home, you can be certain either said ‘sir’ or ‘madam’ will be able to transform both you and your household in incredible virtue.

They understand, for instance, the polishing of a shoe, a skill passed down from previous generations where they had to use a stick and bones from the foreleg of a deer. This was called ‘boning’ and could also be done using the bones of a lamb. Hunting is first needed, then take the rib of the lamb and boil the flesh. Thankfully, nowadays we don’t have to be so raw when polishing a shoe.

LIGHTBULB: Ever heard of the Maitre De Hotels? The French had such a strong love for the talents of their counterparts (the Maître D'Hôtels) that they named the delicious butter called ‘Bueerre’ after them, calling it 'Beuree Maître D'Hôtel' because of the way these Maître D'Hôtels served it.