# Boot boy

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{{Short description|English household servant}}

A '''boot boy''', often simply '''boots''', was an English [household servant](/source/Domestic_worker).  Usually a boy or young teenager, the boots was the lowest-ranking male servant; his main job was to clean, polish and care for the household members' boots and shoes, although he may have done other odd jobs as well, particularly in smaller houses where he may have also performed the duties of the [hallboy](/source/hallboy).<ref>[https://www.throughouthistory.com/?p=50 throughouthistory.com Boot boy, ‘Ring for Jeeves!’ – The Life of Domestic Servants, by Scheong, 2/11/2009]</ref>

One contemporary use of the term appears in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1887 Sherlock Holmes novel ''A Study in Scarlet'': “[Inspector Lestrade] reached Halliday's Private Hotel, in Little George Street... The Boots volunteered to show [him] the room.” (Chapter VII)<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/244/244-h/244-h.htm#link2HCH0007|work=[A Study in Scarlet](/source/A_Study_in_Scarlet)|title=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle}}</ref>

The term is used in [association football](/source/association_football), to refer to apprentices looking after the [football boot](/source/football_boot)s of senior professionals.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/mar/23/birmingham-norwich-championship|last=Shaw|first=Phil|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|date=23 March 2009|accessdate=9 March 2011|title=Gunn peppers Birmingham's automatic promotion hopes}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [Child labour](/source/Child_labour)
* [Ball boy](/source/Ball_boy)
* [Fagging](/source/Fagging)
* [Page (servant)](/source/Page_(servant))

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

Category:Child labour in the United Kingdom
Category:Domestic work
Category:Association football terminology
Category:Gendered occupations

{{job-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Boot boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_boy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_boy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.