The Only Running Footman

On 24th September 2017, James Steventon ran across three counties between The Water Tower, Brigstock and Launde Abbey, Leicestershire, to deliver a message from David Roxburgh to Rosalind Stoddart.

A running-based performance cum wedding gift cum birthday present. James will be dressed as an 18th Century Running Footman, based on an etching from the Old and New London by George Walter Thornbury, 1873.

Something of a status symbol for their employers, traditionally Running Footmen had to be “at least 6ft tall, be nonchalant, look fit and handsome. Footmen were notoriously the source of the best gossip, trusted with clandestine errands and hanging around with women ‘above their station’”. These runners were also useful in a household to fetch things and take messages before a reliable postal service had been introduced.