Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:17:24.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transformation of London “Society” at the End of Victoria's Reign: Evidence from the Court Presentation Records*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Nancy W. Ellenberger
Get access

Extract

To its late-Victorian participants, London “Society” was one of those abstractions, like “the young,” that deteriorated with each passing generation. For decades chroniclers of Britain's clannish ruling circles had lamented the diminishing refinement, morals, and breeding of those highest sections of elite society that migrated to the capital each spring for the parliamentary and social “season.” Thus, when the press, with many contributors from the aristocracy itself, launched a new campaign against London Society in the last years of Victoria's reign, the charges had a familiar ring. Society was expanding alarmingly, abandoning its standards, worshipping notoriety and opulence, and abdicating serious responsibilities in the pursuit of frivolous amusement. If the criticisms contained few surprises, the intensity of the alarm was unprecedented. Beginning in 1874, with The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope's novel of a greedy and credulous beau monde, and continuing through a series of journal articles bearing titles such as “The New Society,” “The Deterioration of English Society,” “The Sins of Society,” and “The Enlargement of London Society,” critics subjected the aristocratic elites and the informal institutions of the London season to fierce scrutiny and nearly universal diagnosis of advanced illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , Winter 1990 , pp. 633 - 653
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I am grateful to the following organizations and individuals for their contributions to this project: the Social Science Research Council and the Naval Academy Research Council; the staff of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; the Naval Academy History Works-in-Progress seminar; Andrew Federer for showing me these materials; Dr. John Kolp for his help with the chart.

References

1 See, for example, The Lounger (1786) in How They Lived, vol. 3: An Anthology of Original Documents Written between 1700 and 1815 (Oxford, 1969), p. 113Google Scholar: “The crest of noble or illustrious ancestry, has sunk before the sudden accumulation of wealth in vulgar hands. Elegance of manner…dignity of deportment…pride of virtue have given way to that tide of fortune, which has lifted the low, the illiterate, and the unfeeling, into stations of which they are unworthy.” Elizabeth Longford notes Lord Melbourne's displeasure at seeing the Rothschilds in high society in the 1830s (Queen Victoria [New York, 1964], p. 77Google ScholarPubMed). In the 1920s Lady Londonderry also complained of the changes in Society since her youth and attributed the problems to the advent of film stars (Retrospect [London, 1938], pp. 40, 252).Google ScholarPubMed

2 “The New Society and its Sets,” Vanity Fair, 2 November 1889Google Scholar; Aide, Hamilton, “The Deterioration of English Society,” New Review 2 (1890): 112–19Google Scholar; Ouida, , “The Sins of Society,” Fortnightly 58 o.s., 52 n.s. (1892): 780–97Google Scholar; “The Enlargement of London Society,” Saturday Review, 5 May 1900Google ScholarPubMed. Edward Hamilton's diary entries for 5 July 1887 and 15 October 1891 confirm that participants in London Society shared, if, indeed, they did not create, the impressions of the journalists (Edward Hamilton papers, British Library, Add. MSS. 48646).

3 Nevill, Lady Dorothy, Under Five Reigns, ed. Nevill, Ralph (London, 1910), p. 151.Google Scholar

4 Thompson, F. M. L., “Britain,” in European Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Spring, David (Baltimore, 1977), p. 24Google Scholar. Thompson has reiterated this point more recently in “English Landed Society in the Nineteenth-Century,” in The Power of the Past, ed. Thane, Pat, et. al. (Cambridge, 1984), p. 195Google Scholar. Harold Perkin describes the same change in The Rise of Professional Society: England since 1880 (London, 1989), pp. 62–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 See the exchange between David Spring and Lawrence Stone over the latter's An Open Elite! in Albion 17, 2 (Summer 1985): 149–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and the summary of the relevant work by Stone, , Thompson, W. D. Rubinstein, and others in David, and Spring, Eileen, “Social Mobility and the English Landed Elite,” Canadian Journal of History 21 (1986): 333–51.Google Scholar

6 These materials can be found in the Public Record Office (PRO), Lord Chamberlain's Department (hereafter cited as LC), 6.

7 Aberdeen, Ishbel, Musings of a Scottish Granny (London, 1936), p. 22.Google Scholar

8 Quoted in Oxford English Dictionary entry under “Season.” On the origins of London Society see Macaulay, Thomas B., The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, ed. Firth, C. H., 6 vols. (London, 1913), 1: 356–60Google Scholar; Marshall, Dorothy, Dr. Johnson's London (New York, 1968), pp. 113–14, 137–42.Google Scholar

9 Mingay, G. E., English Landed Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1963), p. 157Google Scholar. On eighteenth-century Society, see Scott, James Maurice, The Book of Pall Mall (London, 1965), chap. 7Google Scholar; Brett-James, Norman, The Growth of Stuart London (London, 1935), chaps. 12–16Google Scholar; Botsford, Jay Barrett, English Society in the Eighteenth Century: as Influenced from Overseas (New York, 1924).Google Scholar

10 Davidoff, Leonore, The Best Circles: Society, Etiquette, and the Season (London, 1973)Google Scholar. See also Chancellor, E. Beresford, Memorials of St. James's Street (London, 1922), pp. 208–61.Google Scholar

11 Burn, W. L., The Age of Equipoise (New York, 1964), p. 254.Google Scholar

12 Fifty Years of London Society, 1870–1920 (London, 1920), p. 51.Google Scholar

13 Davidoff, , Best Circles, p. 17Google Scholar. Lawrence and Jeanne Fawtier Slone assert that a similar emphasis on privacy and exclusivity characterized country house life as well; see An Open Elite?: England 1540–1880 (abridged ed.; Oxford, 1986), p. 163.Google Scholar

14 See [Lyttelton, George], Contributions towards a Glossary of the Glynnese Language (privately printed, 1851).Google Scholar

15 Jeune, Mary, “Great Political Ladies,” Realm, 5 April 1895Google Scholar. See also Nevill, Lady Dorothy, Reminiscences, ed. Nevill, Ralph (London, 1906), p. 103Google Scholar: “It was extremely difficult for a stranger to obtain a place until credentials had been carefully examined and discussed.”

16 Aberdeen, , Musings of a Scottish Granny, p. 22.Google Scholar

17 As late as 1880 these classes supplied a majority of the House of Commons, a high proportion of the cabinet, and 85% of new appointments to the peerage; see Thompson, F. M. L., English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1963), p. 278Google Scholar; Thomas, J. A., The House of Commons 1832–1901: a Study of its Economic and Functional Character (Cardiff, 1939), pp. 14–16Google Scholar; Guttsman, W. L., The British Political Elite (London, 1963), pp. 78–79Google Scholar; Pumphrey, Ralph, “The Introduction of Industrialists into the British Peerage: a Study in the Adaptation of a Social Institution,” American Historical Review 65 (1959): 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18 For contemporary impressions of Society's deteriorating moral tone, see Jeune, Mary, “London Society,” North American Review 154 (1892): 603–12Google Scholar, and “Plutocrats and Rastaquoueres,” World, 18 May 1892.

19 Aide, , “Deterioration of London Society,” p. 113Google Scholar; Vanity Fair, 2 November 1889. See also Escott's, T. H. S. chapter on cliques in Society in London (London, 1885)Google Scholar. Both Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations trace “upper ten thousand” to the novel Necessity for a Promenade Drive by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867).

20 Outlook, 5 February 1898. Outlook was founded by George Wyndham, junior minister for the Conservatives and a friend of W. E. Henley, to replace the defunct New Review, see Mackail, J. W. and Wyndham, Guy, eds., Life and Letters of George Wyndham, 2 vols. (London, 1925), 1: 62.Google Scholar

21 Rubinstein, W. D., “Wealth, Elites and the Class Structure of Modern Britain,” Past and Present 76 (1977): 103CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thompson, , “Britain,” pp: 31–32Google ScholarPubMed; Perkin, Harold, The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780–1880 (London, 1969), p. 431Google Scholar. For a modem historian who confesses bewilderment over the problem of determining Society's size, see Jalland, Pat, Women, Marriage and Politics, 1860–1914 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 22–23.Google Scholar

22 Badeau, Adam, Aristocracy in England (New York, 1885), p. 21Google Scholar; Bagehot, Walter, The English Constitution (Ithaca. New York, 1963), pp. 90, 94Google Scholar. Presentation to the monarch and yearly appearances at a drawing room or levee thereafter were the sine qua non for securing a place on the invitation list to court balls and concerts. However, the higher one stood in the order of precedence, the more yearly court functions could be skipped without suffering a penalty. In 1888 Evan Charteris, the youngest son of the earl of Wemyss, received no court invitations because he had not attended a royal gathering in two years. Lady Mary Ormsby was likewise excluded because of an absence of six years. The duke of Hamilton, however, continued to receive invitations even though he had not put in an appearance since 1878 (PRO, LC 6/138).

23 Armytage, Percy, By the Clock of St. James's (London, 1927), p. 320.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., p. 116.

25 London Gazette, 14 July 1837.

26 Quotes in Turner, Ernest Sackville, The Court of St. James's (London, 1959), p. 322.Google Scholar

27 [Lamington, Lord], “In the Days of the Dandies,” Blackwood's 147 (1890): 13.Google Scholar

28 For a description of a typical drawing room, see Margetson, Stella, Victorian High Society (New York, 1980), pp. 60–61Google Scholar, or the Graphic, 2 June 1888.

29 In 1859, for example, Mrs. Charles Tennant, wife of a millionaire Glasgow industrialist and mother of the future Margot Asquith, was introduced under the sponsorship of Lady Camperdown, but the Tennant family did not begin to attend the London season until the late 1870s. At that time Mrs. Tennant was presented to the queen again, then introduced her eldest daughter, who was “coming out” (PRO, LC 6/8).

30 For exact figures, see appendix.

31 Figures on population increase in Britain taken from Cook, Chris and Keith, Brendon, British Historical Facts, 1830–1900 (New York, 1975), p. 232Google Scholar. On the aristocracy, see Hollingsworth, T. H., The Demography of the British Peerage, supplement to Population Studies 18 (London, [1965]), p. 33.Google Scholar

32 The sample is based on every tenth name from the alphabetical drawing room lists of 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891. The following reference works were used in identifying the names (place of publication is London unless otherwise noted): Dictionary of National Biography ; Who's Who; Who was Who; Burke's, Peerage, Knightage and Baronetage (1890, 1902, 1952)Google Scholar; Burke's, Landed Gentry (1846, 1855, 1871, 1894, 1937)Google Scholar; Watford's, County Families of the United Kingdom (1888, 1904)Google Scholar; Hayden's, Book of Dignities (1894)Google Scholar; Directory of Directors (1889); The Law List (1865, 1895); Kelly's, London Medical Directory (1892)Google Scholar; Alumni Cantabrigienses, 1752-1900; Stenton, Michael and Lees, Stephen, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament (1979)Google Scholar; Batcman, John, The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland (1883; reprint ed., Leicester, 1971).Google Scholar

33 These figures were obtained from a sample which counted the numbers of “Ladies” and “Honorables” among the sponsors in the years 1859, 1879, and 1899. This procedure excluded the granddaughters of title holders, as well as the daughters of baronets, but included the wives of knights.

34 Escott, T. H. S., Society in the New Reign (London, 1904), p. 115.Google Scholar

35 Beckett, J. V., The Aristocracy in England, 1660–1914 (Oxford, 1986), p. 41Google Scholar. The numbers of aristocrats in the samples were 1841–18; 1851–17; 1861–19; 1871–20; 1881–26; 1891–21.

36 Badeau, , Aristocracy in England, p. 23.Google Scholar

37 World, 13 May 1891; Koss, Stephen, The Rise and Fall of the Political Press in Britain, 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, 1984), 2: 36.Google Scholar

38 Thompson, , English Landed Society, p. 125.Google Scholar

39 As far as possible the families of both husband and wife were checked in determining which social category to assign a woman. A woman born into a landed family — either aristocratic or gentry — was placed in that category, even if she married a professional or a businessman. A woman not from a landed background was placed in the category of her husband's occupation. Only the ranks of colonel and general in the army and captain and admiral in the navy were considered in placing a man in the category of military professional.

40 Morier: Dictionary of National Biography; Bosanquet, : Law List (1865)Google Scholar, Walford's, County Families (1888)Google Scholar. The wives of both men presented their daughters in 1881.

41 Royle: Who was Who, 1916–1928.

42 Watson, : obituary in The Times, 27 January 1919Google Scholar; Dowell, : Walford's, County Families (1888)Google Scholar, Landed Gentry (1937).

43 Coope, Fothergill, Paget: Who's Who of British Members of Parliament; Thwaites, Henry: Dod's Parliamentary Companion; Fowler, : obituary in The Times, 19 September 1905Google Scholar; Dakin, : obituary in The Times, 25 May 1889Google Scholar. The eighth businessman, Benjamin Piercey, was a civil engineer important for his construction of railways in India.

44 Rubinstein, , “Wealth, Elites and Class Structure,” pp. 112–17.Google Scholar

45 Directory of Directors (1889).

46 Reuter, : Dictionary of Business Biography, 4: 887Google Scholar. Reuter is difficult to categorize, since he was a foreigner to whom the court had granted the honors given to foreign nobility.

47 Davies, : obituary in The Times, 19 September 1912Google Scholar. Davies had not even the plutocrats' enormous wealth behind him, for he left “only” £87,000 when he died. Morgans, Vaughan: Dictionary of Business Biography, 3: 3Google Scholar; Who was Who on Sir Walter Vaughan Morgan.

48 Davidoff, , Best Circles p. 61Google Scholar; Middlemas, Keith, Pursuit of Pleasure: High Society in the 1900s (London, 1977), p. 247.Google Scholar

49 Bell: Dictionary of National Biography.

50 Roose, : Medical Directory (1892)Google Scholar; obituary in The Times, 13 February 1905.

51 Haweis, : obituary in The Times, 30 January 1901.Google Scholar

52 Vanity Fair, 2 November 1889; World, 13 May 1891.

53 Lush, : obituary in The Times, 28 December 1881.Google Scholar

54 Straker, : Landed Gentry, 1871, 1894Google Scholar. W. D. Rubinstein identifies the father, Straker, Joseph, as “a major shipowner, and the founder of a notable colliery dynasty” (Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain since the Industrial Revolution [New Brunswick, 1981], p. 76).Google Scholar

55 See Pascoe, Charles Eyre, London of To-day (London, 1888), pp. 27–29Google Scholar: “London has become a pleasure lounge for the idlers of the globe… Americans, French, Germans, Indians, Colonials, and persons of leisure and wealth from all parts of the world flock to the capital city during the season.”

56 See Dean, Phyllis and Cole, W. A., British Economic Growth 1688–1959 (Cambridge, 1962), p. 152Google Scholar. Population of the United Kingdom rose from 26.7 million to 41.4 million between 1841 and 1901. During the same years, incomes for government workers and professionals rose from £34.6 million to £148.3 million.

57 On these changes in late-Victorian London, see Olsen, Donald, The Growth of Victorian London (New York, 1976), chaps. 3, 5, 7Google Scholar. Between 1871 and 1901, the population of greater London grew 69%, while drawing room presentations more than doubled. Rubinstein demonstrates, however, that the wealthy middle class was disproportionately concentrated in London (“Wealth, Elites and Class Structure,” pp. 106–10.)

58 Aide, , “Deterioration of London Society,” p. 115Google Scholar; Escott, , Society in London, p. 165Google Scholar; Fortescue, Seymour, Looking Back (London, 1920), p. 189Google Scholar; Fane, Augusta, Chit Chat (London, 1926), p. 281Google Scholar. For a summary of these changes, see Camplin, Jamie, The Rise of the Plutocrats: Wealth and Power in Edwardian England (London, 1978), chap. 12.Google Scholar

59 For opposing views, see Hanham, H. J., “The Sale of Honours in Late Victorian England,” Victorian Studies 3 (1960): 277–89Google Scholar, Mayer, Arno J., The Persistence of the Old Regime (New York, 1981), pp. 89–93Google Scholar, and Wiener, Martin, English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850–1980 (Cambridge, 1981), chap. 7.Google Scholar

60 Outlook, 5 February 1898.

61 Diary for 7 May 1892, Edward Hamilton papers, B.L., Add. MSS. 48657. Lady Desborough's diaries for the years 1887–1914 in the Hertford County Record Office confirm this change in travelling for one aristocratic family who lived close to London.

62 Davidoff, , Best Circles, pp. 26–28, 63–65Google Scholar; Guttsman, British Political Elite, chap. 6.

63 Thomas, J. A., The House of Commons, 1821–1901, pp. 14–16Google Scholar, indicates that 1880 was the first year that men from non-landed backgrounds made up a majority of the House of Commons.

64 Escott, , Society in the New Reign, p. 72.Google Scholar

65 On this important change in the role of the monarchy, see Cannadine, David, “The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the ‘Invention of Tradition,’ c.1820–1977,” in The Invention of Tradition, ed. Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 101–38.Google Scholar

66 Sackville-West, Vita, The Edwardians (London 1930)Google Scholar; Escott, , Society in London, p. 115.Google Scholar

67 Street, George S., People and Questions (London, 1910), pp. 185–91Google Scholar; also “The Enlargement of London Society,” Saturday Review, 5 May 1900; Stutfield, H. E. M., The Sovranty of Society (London, 1909), p. 223.Google Scholar

68 On this point, see Perkin, Harold, “The Recruitment of Elites in British Society since 1880,” Journal of Social History 12 (1978): 222–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar