To The Manor Born

Imagine a world of white gloves and silver service, where your bath is drawn for you, breakfast brought to you in bed and your household is run like a celebrity’s

- Jenny Handley

 With the theme song of Downton Abbey in my ears, I am warmly welcomed into the majestic Butler Mansion in Plattekloof by a smiling trainee butler, immaculately dressed in black with white gloves. She hands me a hot basil-scented towel as Newton Cross, founder and principal of the South African Butler Academy (SABA), invites me to step into the world of a butler.

“One doesn’t become a butler – you are born to be one. We are different, our minds work differently. I was the child who sat in church, counted the organ pipes and looked at the dust. At nine years of age I read Kook en Geniet, saw a beautiful chocolate cake and then baked it. After that I baked cakes to make money,” he tells me.

Born in Cape Town and raised in Swellendam, Newton was schooled at Rondebosch Boys’ High as a boarder to improve his English. “I became a gentleman and learnt the value of manners and discipline,” says Newton. Creative, Newton studied art, matriculated and commenced a butler course at the South African School for Butlers and Household Personnel. Halfway through the course he clinched a position at The Clarendon in Fresnaye by passing the practical test of preparing a family Shabbat dinner at 19 years of age.

Newton left after three months to work for an English writer – here he cleaned, cooked, drove and entertained at his employer’s homes in De Waterkant and Yzerfontein, all while learning valuable lessons from his mistakes. Once, a British couple came to dine and announced that instead of stealing the family silver, they would like to steal Newton!