Ever wonder if your ancestor worked at Buckingham Palace? Or maybe at Windsor Castle?
Windsor Castle
Perhaps one of your forebears held the title of Yeoman of the Mouth; or Laundress of the Body Linen, both of which were real titles of positions in royal households.
There’s a way you can find out. A few years ago the Royal Archives teamed up with genealogy website Find My Past to make the Royal Household Staff Lists available to the public.
Edwardian Era household servants.
The site lists over 50,000 staff records dating from 1660 to 1924.
And the best part is, you can search the records for free! Click on the Find My Past icon to be taken to their United Kingdom site:
There’s no charge for viewing the search results—I found names of my Cornell ancestors on the list—but if you want to see scanned images of the original records, you’ll have to subscribe to the site or use their Pay-as-You-Go feature.
Not all staff worked in the house itself. Some of my Cornell relations worked in the Royal mews.
Still, it’s a fun way to find out if you have a connection through your ancestors to a royal palace or country home.
Happy hunting!
My ancestors were part of the Household of the Hanoverian Kings
John Teede – Second Waiter to the Robe Office
John Thomas Teede – Yeoman of the Mouth for King George III
any further information would be greatly appreciated
What a fascinating find, Graham! As Yeoman of the Mouth, John Thomas Teede would have been a well-educated man, responsible for overseeing and preparing each course of the king’s personal meals, keeping detailed records, and supervising the kitchen staff. If he held the position during the years of the King’s mental illness, he would have been required to prepare meals according to strict medical instructions. He was also ultimately responsible for protecting the king from food contamination or poisoning. Talk about a stressful job!
It was common for lower-ranking royal household positions to be filled by family members of those already in service. Although you didn’t provide dates, it may be possible that if John Teede (who held the position of Second Waiter to the Robe Office) was from an earlier generation than John Thomas Teede, he could have been the family member who leveraged his palace influence to secure a place for John Thomas when he was a child or teenager.
We history lovers are lucky to live in a digital age when so many historical documents are available online or just an email away. I wish you the best of luck in your search for more information about your ancestors! — Nancy