Life for women in the 19th Century followed a well worn track. The poorest woman in society had little choice in the pattern their lives would take. It was struggle enough to feed and clothe oneself but maintaining a family was an all consuming process and so it continued as the Century turned the corner. By the turn of the 19th Century though, there were many changes in the lives of middle class women.
The statistics tell us that one in ten married women, at this time, were in paid employment. Most of these women were from the poorest backgrounds. It was not considered suitable for a woman from the middle or upper classes to be in paid employment.
Women were seen as a family's possession, to be groomed for marriage, the richer the better, have and raise children, run a household, not much changed from the Medieval perception of women. All of these assumptions of what a woman could or would do were based on the principle that a woman would marry.
What if a woman did not marry ? In 1901, 14% of women under the age of 45 years, did not marry. The 'suitability' of husbands was a key issue, not able to marry beneath them left some women on the margins, either living within the confines of their immediate family or possibly becoming companion to an older woman.
When the First World War broke out, marks of the lavish Edwardian period began to fade. With shocking speed, the old traditions --- and traditional manners with them --- became things of the past.
Although interactions in England had been governed by these rules for centuries, the total social upheavals caused by war and industrialization wiped them away.
As country houses in England fell into financial straits and were demolished or abandoned, the old, formal ways of life they represented were replaced by modern norms determined by a new and daring generation.
(Info from the Driehaus Museum)
For the wealthy Edwardians, marriage was a practical arrangement. Rather than love, the reason for marriage often had to do with the acquisition or preservation of land. Land was the life blood of aristocratic wealth and secured one's high station in society. For the same reasons, marriage may also be a pairing of two important families. Whether for practicalities or love, marriage was eagerly awaited by young women, it represented their only chance for independence and a home of their own.
However, courtship was not permitted among the servants. Even the architecture made sure of it, as there were no rooms for a couple to live in and work in the same house together. To marry, a woman had to leave domestic service, a kind of forced independence that set her to work on her own household.
Young women in high society were introduced to "Society" in their mid-to-late-teens, after completing their education and being deemed ready for marriage. The aristocratic debutantes would apply to appear in a Royal Court presentation as her official entrance into society. Wearing a white dress with a three-yard train and adorned with the required three feathers, the young woman carried a bouquet and curtsied before Queen Alexandria, Edward VII's Queen.
After her debutante event, the young lady would attend "The Season," a round of London mansion parties beginning after Christmas and ending in mid-summer. These affairs, with their abundance of married chaperons, provided appropriate places for men and women to meet one another without causing scandal. After the Edwardian period, the significance of the debutante season waned, and austerity forced many wealthy families to relinquish their "Town" houses in the big city.
In Downton Abbey, Lady Edith commits a bold indiscretion when she dines unchaperoned with (married!) magazine editor Michael Gregson. She defied some of the most stringent rules of all, those which governed the interactions between men and women.
Young single women could also not receive male guests in her own home, dine out, go to the theatre, go motoring for a significant distance, or go to a party without a chaperone present.
