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Childcarer. Felipe Manterola Collection. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

In the past, some wealthy farmsteads (etxe fuerteak) had farm servants (morroi) to help with the farming and livestock work. Urban bourgeois households often had a woman or servant as domestic help. There could be more than one: a cook, nursemaid… If the family was wealthy, the employee wore a uniform. It was more unusual to have a chauffeur, who was also known as a mecánico (mechanic), gardener, etc.

In the Gernikaldea region, the servants were usually from the same town or village, a neighbouring one or from the local area. In middle-class families, the staff would often be treated as one of the family and the relations between master and farm servant or mistress and maid were good.

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