Staff

Some of the employees, such as Broadway, O'Conor and Ledbrooke, effectively became part of the Buckingham's family. The dates given are dates of service for the Buckinghams, or dates on which they are mentioned in documents. This is a very partial and problematic list.

Stowe

• Librarians:
  • Charles O'Conor (1798-1827)
  • William James Smith (1829-?); subsequently general factotum
• Clerk of Works:
• John Broadway (?-1836)
• William Jones 
• Valet: Mantelot (1815)
• Servant: Alexander (1827). "My Servant Alexander has been very ill. He was seized with a violent bleeding of the Nose… I understand privately that he had been drinking hard the whole time we were in London, and was not one night sober. He is however getting better." (Richard Temple: 1827/04/30; HEH ST 98 Vol 1).
• Grooms/valets:
  • Verney
  • William Sharpe (also valet to Nugent Buckingham)
• Medical adviser & general factotum: Tobias Ledbrooke
• Woodman: Verney (?-1823): 'Poor Verney the woodman at Stowe dead, aged 90.' (Richard Temple's Diary; HEH ST 95, 11 March 1823)
• Gardeners:
  • Edward Lethbury (1809); labourer in garden who stole lead from garden statues
  • Brown (<1823-?)
  • Mould (1827)
  • Ferguson (<1840-?). Gardener responsible for the Lamport Gardens
• Butler: Pool
• Cook: Vizard (<1827-1827: dismissed in Gibraltar)

Buckinghamshire Estates

• Senior Land Stewards:
  • Joseph Parrott. He suffered a stroke in 1783 (HEH STG Correspondence Box 47 (17)). A very competant and highly regarded steward.
  • George Parrott: Nephew of Joseph. Steward until 1841.
  • Thomas Beards: Succeeded George Parrott as senior land steward in 1841, having previously been a bailiff in Somerset for Dukes. He died in 1870. He is described by John Beckett as an ‘incompetent, if not venal, steward.’
  • Thomas John Beards: Son of Thomas Beards who succeeded him in 1870 but was dismissed for incompetence, possibly fraud in 1873. On dismissal he ‘made away with and destroyed estate papers, and even maps’ (HEH STG Correspondence 346, letters from Chandos to Williams 1873–74)
• Mr Montague. Stowe Steward. Dies between May 1841 and November 1842.
• Other hands:
  • Old Woodward (<1789-1815)

Avington

• Servants and Keepers at Avington 1823

London

• Richard Temple planned the following servants for his house in London after his marriage in 1796: " My Establishment will be Drinkwater[,] [Mr] Charles[,] the Cook, my Wife’s Maid & Mrs Drinkwater who I shall take as nurse to the little Baron, four footmen & two housemaids & one Kitchen Maid. I have only three footmen at present & I mean the fourth to act as a porter. Very possibly however I may take a fifth" (BRO D-FR/46/8/38; 1796/10/16). One of the housemaids was Betty Burgess. Mr Charles was Temple's dresser/valet.

Buckingham Cottage, Ryde

• Edmund Bell. Butler and steward.

Location Unknown

• 2nd Cook: Mrs Hobbs
• Stewards Room Man: William Humphries
• Servant: Giovanni; servant to Richard Chandos

Documents

• List of staff (1827?)

Professional

• Doctor: John Grosvenor
• Auditor: Henry Cory. Appointed as auditor of the 2nd Duke's estates in May 1845 (Boddington)