Servants and staff database
Over the last 500 years, thousands of people have worked at Chatsworth or lived on the Cavendish Estates, and over the last five years with help from PhD students from the University of Sheffield we have compiled a database that lists servants and staff going back to 1700.
We will continue to add to the database over the coming years from other sources, especially for pre-1700 servants, or those living on the estates but not working for the dukes of Devonshire.
For data protection purposes we have not included anyone recorded after 1934 if we do not have conclusive proof in the archive that they were over 16 by this date.
If you believe your ancestor worked at Chatsworth, or another house on the Cavendish Estates (Hardwick Hall, Devonshire House, Bolton Abbey and Lismore Castle) but they are not listed in the database, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to find them in the archive. The absence of a name does not necessarily prove that they didn’t work here due to the fact that the archive is incomplete.
If you have additional information or notice an inaccuracy, please get in touch.
