Naughtiness Among The Nobles

Large country houses were ready sites for romantic trysts. One story from the 1890s told how Lord Charles Beresford “let himself into what he believed was his mistress’s bedroom and with a lusty cry of ‘Cock-a-doodle-doo!’ leaped into the bed–only to discover that it was occupied by the Bishop of Chester and his wife.” * 

To avoid such confusions, the country house Wentworth Woodhouse took the helpful step of giving its guests silver boxes containing personalized confetti, which they could sprinkle through the corridors to help find their way back to, or between, rooms.”*  Some houses had name slots placed on the doors for ease of location.  Another device was to have a bell “rung at 6 a.m. to warn lovers it was time to find their own rooms before the servants brought their tea.”**

A more risqué episode concerned Jennie Churchill (Winston’s mother) who conceived a passion for horseback riding.  Her favorite riding partner was John Strange Jocelyn, a handsome, dashing man who lived with his wife on a 9,000 acres family estate in Ireland. It was said “He was the kind of man who could climb up the drainpipe to a bedroom window, and did.”***

On February 4, 1880, Jennie gave birth in Dublin to a second son.  The boy was always called Jack, but his proper name was John Strange Spencer-Churchill.

Poorer families could not sustain the taking-on of any extramarital children.  By contrast, the wealthy mainly cared about the legitimacy of the eldest son, the heir.  As the Duchess of Marlborough Consuelo acidly put it, she had done her marital duty when she had produced “an heir and a spare” and so was then free to do as she pleased.

 

Next time, a change of pace: Strolling Around The Lovely Lake District

 

*Bryson, Bill.  At Home:  A Short History of Private Life.  New York:  Anchor Books,

 2010; 106.

***Martin, Ralph G.  Jennie:  The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill, 1854-1895;  134.

Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969. 

**Warwick, Sarah.  Upstairs and Downstairs.  London:  Carlton Publishing Group, 2011;

115.

Photo credit:  internet free use image of Jennie Jerome Churchill

 

 

American Heiresses Invade As Buccaneers

The social meaning of the word buccaneer arose from an unfinished 1938 novel by Edith Wharton titled The Buccaneers (1938).  Though her work was fiction, Wharton recorded an assault that genuinely faced the English upper-class near the end of the nineteenth century:  the invasion of American heiresses. 

America’s Gilded Age capitalists such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Mellon had amassed huge fortunes and built great houses in America that could compare with those in England.  An English title, however, was a tantalizing attraction beyond the reach of most Americans–and so took on the lure of the Holy Grail to these American entrepreneurs.   Under the supervision of ambitious mothers, young American heiresses–the so-called “Dollar Princesses”–streamed to England in attempts to leap that final hurdle into the elite circles of British society. 

The “buccaneers” were genuine temptations to any English lord down on his luck,  because an impoverished noble could use the wedding dowry to replenish his coffers, repair his estate, and maintain his accustomed lifestyle.  The popular PBS series Downton Abbey showed this very situation with the fictional Grantham family. 

Consuelo Vanderbilt told the story–which may be apocryphal–that in 1938 her family locked her in a room until she agreed to marry the 9^th Duke of Marlborough, owner of Blenheim Palace.  There was no doubt, however, about the fact that William Vanderbilt paid the Duke a dowry of $67 million in stock shares with guaranteed minimum dividends and annual allowance of $100,000 (2012 conversion).*  Consuelo could justifiably feel ill-treated.  Her dowry restored a crumbling Blenheim Palace but did little to gain her husband’s affections:  he never even considered breaking his liaison with his lover Gladys Deacon.   Consuelo Vanderbilt’s case was dramatic, but historian Bill Bryson notes that nearly ten per cent of marriages among the titled during this time period were, in fact, to American heiresses.**  This statistic included the Duke’s cousin, Lord Randolph Churchill.

Randolph Churchill’s prospective father-in-law Leonard Jerome dabbled in the railroad business with Vanderbilt, invested in the New York Times, and speculated in the stock market.  He enjoyed yachting, thoroughbred racing, and hunts in the American West guided by Buffalo Bill Cody.  The Jerome Mansion in New York City had a ballroom with fountains that spouted champagne.  He was, as well, entirely unfaithful to his wife, Clarissa, though they never divorced.  Clarissa eventually moved with her three daughters to Paris and allowed Leonard’s wealth to support them in an aristocratic lifestyle.  Her daughters became polished in the social graces and even became friends with the Empress Eugenie.  

The beautiful Jennie Jerome’s English debut occurred in 1872 with her presentation to Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra at Cowes, the small village on the Isle of Wight that swelled to prominence with yacht races during The Season.  Jennie and the Prince of Wales would be close lifelong friends and–at one point–lovers.  It was also at the 1873 Cowes Season, though, that Jennie met the twenty-three-year-old Randolph Churchill.***  He was slender, well-dressed, witty–and an English lord.  

Her face was classically modeled with a patrician nose and slightly pouting lips.  Her hair and brows were dark, as were her eyes, and her gaze–a potent mix of challenge and invitation–created an air of smoky sexuality that would, throughout her life, excite men and draw them to her.  She understood her power and used it effectively.

Three days later Randolph proposed marriage.  Within nine months, they welcomed a son whom they named Winston.

 

Next time:  The Rise of Jennie Churchill’s son, Winston

 

 

Photo Credit for Jennie Jerome Churchill’s image: Pinterest

*Bailey, Catherine.  The Secret Rooms: A True Story of A Haunted Castle, A Plotting

Duchess, & A Family Secret.  New York:  Penguin Books, 2012, p. 184.

**Bryson, Bill.  At Home:  A Short History of Private Life.  New York:  Anchor Books,

 2010, p. 258.

***Martin, Ralph G.  Jennie:  The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill, 1854-1895.

Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969, p. 49. 

Social Landmines of Debutantes

 

If you are prepared to spend about $4,500 per day on clothes, you have cleared one of the many hurdles to become a debutante.

You also need to attend an exclusive school such as Roedean, Cheltenham, or Cherborne. You will spend a “finishing” year in France, Germany, or Switzerland in polishing your command of art, languages, and especially social rules–because the Prince of Wales was known for rebuking a lady if she wore a crescent when she should have been wearing a tiara.*

You will learn how to curtsy properly at the barre in the Vacani School of Dancing in Knightsbridge, putting “the left foot behind the right, leaning the weight on to the right foot, bending the knees, sinking down and rising up in one fluid movement.”**

There is no arguing over the dress you will wear to be presented to the King and Queen:  it will be “a short-sleeved white evening dress with a train…between 2 and 3 ½ yards long held in place by a headdress of three white ostrich plumes carefully arranged in the style of the Prince of Wales feathers.”**

You and your sponsor will ride in an elegant car down Pall Mall towards Buckingham Palace with throngs of onlookers. At precisely nine-thirty, the ceremony will begin and you and your sponsor will be announced by full, formal title. You will each execute a flawless curtsy, and–if you are favored–the Prince, King, or Queen might give a brief compliment or acknowledge your family ties.

This moment–this royal imprimatur–shows you are now deemed acceptable for society and for a privileged marriage.

Now you will spend every night for weeks in ballrooms of exclusive hotels such as Claridges or the Dorchester–or in glittering town homes in Mayfair and Park Lane. If you are a debutante in 1939, you might be among the 1,000 guests attending the debutante ball at Blenheim Palace for young Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill where you enjoy fountains of champagne (Smith 52).  You will carry a dance program numbered 1-20 with a pencil attached by a ribbon, and young men will write their names next to the numbers, “signifying which dance they would like to serve as partner.” ***

Your dance partners will judge you as well.  Even Winston Churchill and his friend Eddie Marsh played the game, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?,” standing by the dance floor and allotting to each face a tally of ships to decide who was worth their interest.

And if you do not measure up in social standing or behavior, you could still be ignored with the “cut direct” where someone looks at you–and then past you without acknowledging you.  These judgments could last your lifetime.

To learn more about English social manners, click this link to Debretts:

Social Landmines of Debutantes

Next time:  American Heiresses Invade as Buccaneers

 

Photo credit of Lady Olive Baillie and daughters Pauline and Susan (portrait painted by Etienne Drian):  Nancy Parrish

*Aslet, Clive.  The Last Country Houses.  New Haven and London:  Yale University Press, 1982; p. 17

**Taggart, Caroline.  Her Ladyship’s guide To the British Season.  London:  National Trust Books, 2013; pp. 35, 26

***Smith, Sally Bedell.  Reflected Glory:  The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman.  New York:  Simon & Schuster, 1996; p. 42

How To Party Like A Noble

How many people did you invite to your most recent party?

On July 2, 1897, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire invited seven hundred people to climb the famous “crystal staircase” of Devonshire House and join a costume ball that was destined to become legendary. The Countess of Westmoreland arrived with a stuffed eagle on her shoulder. Lady Ronalds wore a lit lyre on her head. Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill (the former Jennie Jerome) came as Empress Theodora in a gown designed by the couturier Jean Worth of Paris. The hostess, the Duchess of Devonshire, arrived as Queen Zenobia carried in a sedan chair by costumed footmen. High Society absolutely sparkled.

Despite Queen Victoria’s preference for unassuming behavior, the upper class enjoyed their wealth. What evolved for them was a series of exclusive social events together dubbed “The Season.” One writer would observe that “it seemed as if ‘a race of gods and goddesses descended from Olympus upon England in June and July.’”**

The Season began with intense preparations to present to the King and Queen the young titled women seeking official acceptance into elite society. Then, the golden circle of the wealthy began their social schedule with a glittering fortnight of celebrations bracketed by The Derby and Royal Ascot races. During July they moved to seaside resorts such as Brighton, followed by a foray down to Cowes for a week of yacht-racing. After Cowes, they shifted to Scotland to begin shooting grouse on the “Glorious 12th” of August. In 1911, the Tatler magazine reported that $65 billion was spent on shooting alone.*** The speed with which servants could re-load guns allowed the group with Lord Burnham and George V to bag a record of nearly 4,000 grouse in one day in 1913.* They pushed on to fox hunting in Oxfordshire, the Henley Regatta, and the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Horse races at Goodwood in late August marked the conclusion of The Season, and the elite then dispersed “to their country estates for hunting, Christmas and to await the coming of spring.”^ It was a glorious time.

Hidden among all of this partying, though, was a secret hunt that determined the future happiness and financial security of many a young woman.

Next Time: Social Landmines of Debutantes

 

Photo credit of Windsor Castle: Nancy Parrish

*Aslet, Clive. The Last Country Houses. New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1982; p.71.

^Taggart, Caroline. Her Ladyship’s Guide To the British Season. London: National Trust Books, 2013; pp. 13, 17.

**Tuchman, Barbara. The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War,
1890-1914. The Library of America, 1962; 2012; p. 582.

***Warwick, Sarah. Upstairs and Downstairs. London: Carlton Publishing Group, 2011;
2016 conversion; p. 82.