To Marry an English Lord Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age (An Inspiration for Downton Abbey)

by MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD.

• ISBN13: 9780761171959
• ISBN10: 0761171959
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-15
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company

Summary

From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles--just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details--plus photographs, illustrations, quotes, and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette-- To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.

Author Biography

Gail MacColl Jarrett is a writer who lives in England.

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

THE BUCCANEERS

Old New York

The Cut Direct

At Home on Washington Square

The Mrs. Astor

Rule Britannia

At Home on Berkeley Square

Their Noble Lordships

The London Season

Pushy Mamas

Words for Those on the Outside Wanting In

The Age of Revenge

Wall Street Father No. 1: The Sporting Man

The First Marriages

The Wilson Family Scorecard #1: May & Ogden

The Last Word

CHAPTER 2

THE FAIR INVADERS

A Turn in the Tide

Calling-Card Protocol

The Wilson Family Scorecard #2: Orme & Carrie

The Big Showdowns

Audacity & Innocence

The Genius of Clothes

Wall Street Father No. 2: The Silent Partner

The Top Dollars

The Siege of London

The Flip Side: Queen Victoria's Court

Fifth Avenue Meets the Peerage

The Wilson Family Scorecard #3: Belle & Mungo

Miss Daisy Miller

The Competition

Points in Her Campaign

Poor Peers

Estate Drains

Rating a Mate

Darling Daisy

The Self-Made Girl's Wedding

CHAPTER 3

AMERICAN HEIRESSES: WHAT WILL YOU BID?

He Stoops to Conquer

The Other Astors

The Princess Diana Connection

Duke's Progress: The English Lord's American Journey

The Plutocrat's Daughters

The Louis Fixation

Wall Street Father #3: The Collector

The Match of the Century

Like Father, Like Son

The Newport Schedule

Doing the Continental

Annus Mirabilis

Let's Make a Deal

She Is Now a Duchess

The Heiress's Newport

The Wilson Family Scorecard #4: Grace & Neily

The American Aristocrat's Wedding

The Vanderbilt-Whitney Show

CHAPTER 4

MARRIED HEIRESSES

Happily Ever After

Bringing Home the Bride

A Room with a View

American Wives & English Husbands

Jennie Gets Pinned

The Heir & the Spare

"I Baptize thee Albert Edward"

Chatelaine, or Where the Money Went

Upstairs, Downstairs

A Place for Everyone

Costume Changes

Survival of the Fastest

In the Public Domain

The Glitter & the Gold

Portrait of a Lady: Sitting to Sargent

At Long Last, Love

A Wealth of Love

CHAPTER 5

THE NEW HEIRESSES

Vivant Rex

Thoroughly Modern Jennie

Earning a Title

The Great Durbar

Devonshire House Ball

Entertaining Edward

Taking the Measure

The Crowning Touch

Out of the Past

"I thought everyone must know"

The Last Marriages

Court Curtsey

"Are there any more like you at home?"

Till Death or the Judge Do Us Part: The American Heiress Divorce

Epilogue

"A Hanging Offense"

AN AMERICAN HEIRESS DIRECTORY

Register of American Heiresses

Other Distinguished 19-Century Englishmen with American Wives

Brothers Who Married Heiresses

Cousins Who Married Heiresses

Father-Son Duos

Once Is Not Enough!

The Bridesmaid Connection

Walking Tour of the American Heiresses--London

Bibliography/Selected Reading

Index