Spotlight on the Servants

An archive-based exhibition at Traquair House exploring the lives of the servants who worked there from the 1600s onwards.

Held in the High Gallery on the third floor, this exhibition draws on the Traquair archives to tell the story of the household's servants, who lived in an upper-floor wing of the house. It features records dating back to the 1600s, when wages could be partly paid in beer or delayed for months, alongside stories of long-serving individuals. Names of servants from the census returns of 1841 to 1921 are recorded, and a database of servants from the early 18th to mid-19th century is being compiled. The house and grounds are closed on Fridays in September and October.