Wyndhams, Parktown, 1901-1923: Domesticity and servitude in an early twentieth-century South African household

Based largely on a study of two collections of private papers housed at Petworth House and Hagley Hall (United Kingdom), this article analyzes the domestic politics within an early twentieth-century South African household. It explores the apparent motives behind the creation by Hugh and Maud Wyndham of an ostentatious, gentrified lifestyle in urban Johannesburg, where their home soon became a cocoon of Britishness in an increasingly uncomfortable part of the empire. It reveals the often difficult relationships between them and their servants and among the servants themselves; from hiring and firing, to the servant hierarchy and their different duties, to the rapid and enduring impact of the First World War Yet, as many servants realized, service in "a good house" held certain compensations and equipped some for transition to their own domestic life.