When I read your post, I had just finished an article in the NYT (link below) called "British Noses, Firmly in the Air". The line about the servants in your post got my attention because the NYT article is about class in the UK. For example:

That type of Briton is on the way towards oblivion ,don't you think? More and more he's likely to have a big black beard and go by the name of Muhammed......or even look similar to a Brit but is called Ivan or something Eastern European. I wonder at what date in the future a small article in some local newspaper might announce the death in some grotty rest home of the last Celt or Anglo-saxon, aged 113. I'm afraid this is all progress and the inevitable demise of a once great nation. But Muhammed or Ivan will be dead chuffed hahaha! I'm not complaining mind, I'm a realist- all down to maths so we know it will come to pass. I am perhaps being optimistic about our 113 year old- he'll never be allowed to drag it out that long.