COURTSHIP AND CHAPERONS

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.