Employing a manservant was, in many ways, the ultimate luxury.
This paper analyses the towns with thirty or more residential employers of manservants, calling them 'residential leisure towns'.
In some cases, the manservant assumed the place of the absent husband as chaperone.
Clearly the place of manservants along the spectrum of gentility varied by region and by social group.
Second, there was no connection with the rank size of these towns in the 1670s and the number of employers of manservants in 1780.
Of interest here is not only the price of the horse in comparison with the manservant, but also the concern expressed regarding its quality.
A manservant might do little more parade himself on a coach, but this was clearly considered a useful investment.
After all, as far as useful activity was concerned there was little that a manservant could do that a woman could not do and do more cheaply.
