Agricultural History Review, Volume 48 Part 2 (2000), pp. 141–150

The publication of Ann Kussmaul's Serva,ts itt husbandry in 1981 was a landmark for rural history. Much of what she revealed has stood the test of time but two areas need further exploration. First, why did employers continue to favour annual contracts, especially for their younger workers? It is argued here that the value of the arrangement lay in the availability of servants for work 24 hours a day throughout the year. Secondly, doubt is cast on Kussmaul's argument for the existence of long-run swings in the incidence of service in husbandry between the late fifteenth and the nineteenth century. 

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