Description:The letter above was written to Mrs. Ingram, the Housekeeper at Trentham Hall, by Mr. H. Prentice, the clerk of the Duke of Sutherland’s Accountant in June 1872. Prentice’s letter concerns preparations for a ball at Trentham Hall and requests a list of the extra beds required for servants who would be accompanying the guests. Prentice writes ‘the visitors servants would include valets and maids’. He also provides more details about the visit, writing ‘there will be a Ball for 400 for two nights’. He adds ‘there will be plenty of Hands required for washing China’ and asks Mrs. Ingram ‘how many beds’ she would provide ‘for the Band’. The letter demonstrates the instrumental role of domestic staff in the preparation for social events being held at the houses they worked in.