1: Automation. Availability of white goods is the reason why most people don't have servants. If I had a spare full-time wage hanging around, I don't think I

1: Automation. Availability of white goods is the reason why most people don't have servants. If I had a spare full-time wage hanging around, I don't think I could find enough work for a servant to do in my house. 2: We don't have full-time personal servants, but a lot of people I know have a char who comes once a week; take their cars to a garage for servicing; buy prepared food; pay a window cleaner every so often; get the car cleaned whilst doing something else etc. I'd also dispute the "richer than lords and ladies" statement, I think it selects one definition of "rich" and ignores the rest. Yes, we have cars, electronic entertainment, indoor plumbing, free education, and access to healthcare beyond the wildest dreams of our 18th century forebears. However, I couldn't live off income from the tenants on my estate, no matter how well I manage it, or how frugally I live. At my income, I certainly couldn't afford to employ, feed and house the 15 or so employees in a typical aristocratic household (one could argue that some of those are now white goods, which I can afford). Nor would I be able to maintain both a large house in my seat and a smaller (yet still substantial) one in Mayfair (as well as membership of White's and Brooks's). I doubt if I could afford a small country cottage, a studio flat in London, and membership of a gym.