VALETS
The medieval French term valet originally denoted a page or squire: a youth staying in a high-ranking household in order to learn courtly behaviour and gain a noble education. In England from the 1560s a personal manservant might be called a ‘valet’, from valet de chambre (implying the bedchamber), and well before 1800 the word signified the personal attendant to the male head of an affluent household.
The valet had a prestigious position among domestic staff, for he was a trusted servant reporting directly to the master of the house. In the kinds of large establishments that employed a dedicated valet, he
