The mother of Kreacher served as the house-elf of the Black family sometime before her son. When she became too old to carry a tea tray, she was beheaded, and her head was mounted on a plaque and hung on the wall above the front hall stairs at 12 Grimmauld Place just like all of the other house-elves that used to serve the Blacks. It was once Kreacher's sincere wish to suffer the same fate as his mother.