Years agohiring fairs were the 'job centres' of their time, where servants could find work. (Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'touches on this).

I've been looking at an account book dating from 1807, written by a Pembrokeshire farmer's wife.

Servants were hired from one Michaelmas to the next and, if unmarried,lived with the farmer and his family.

Many farmhouses were built in a style known as 'longhouse' and there was noupstairs passageway.

The bedrooms led into each other, so presumably those living at the far end of the house found it prudent to go to bed first, otherwise they had to pass through bedrooms already occupied, which might be a hazard. (I shall leave that to your imagination.)

A man servant was paid about 9 a year, a lad 5.10 shillingsanda maidabout 5. (No equal rights in those days. Hardly any rights at all, for anyone).

On one particular farm in Trevine (the Trevine made famous by the song: 'Nid yw'r felin heno'n malu, Yn Nhrefin ym min y mor), maids were givena pound of wool and a flannel apron as part of their wageswhen they began work.

5 a year did not stretch far and one entry shows that Jemima, a farm maid, needed a gown and a bonnet. She went to Fishguard, a distance of about ten miles, to buy the articles and they cost 2, whichwas almost halfher yearly earnings.

Jack James, a servant on this particular farm, had to pay eight and sixpence for a pair of shoes and 1/6 for his mother's candles.

Handkerchiefs cost between two shillings and two and sixpence, which approximates to forty hankies for a year's work.

Hard times, indeed.