The number and duties of the domestic servants employed by the Ingram family at Temple Newsam varied widely
over the course of its long history. Determining factors included the extent of the owner's fortune at any
particular date, their chosen lifestyle, the number of their children, and the organisation and management
of the estate. Space permits only one 'snapshot' of the position at Temple Newsam in the middle of the
eighteenth century. This was a time when the family were living in relatively modest conditions compared
with much of the aristocracy, largely owing of their huge financial losses resulting from the South Sea
Bubble and the subsequent mortgage over the estates.
