Trevor May was educated at the universities of London and Exeter and has spent much of his life in teacher training, as principal lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, formerly Hatfield Polytechnic. he is the author of more than a dozen books on economic and social history including for Shire 'The Victorian Railway Worker', 'The Victorian Schoolroom', 'The Victorian Clergyman', 'The Victorian Workhouse' and 'The Victorian Undertaker'

• The recruitment of servants; Pay and conditions; The work of male servants; The work of female servants' Kitchen and laundry' The decline of domestic service; further reading and places to visit.