Subject: aristocratic gentleman

Culture: English

Setting: Edwardian era, England late 19th-early 20thc

Event Photos

* Baudot 1999 p59

"The nineteenth and twentieth centuries continued to reaffirm the essential masculine principle of discretion. Restraint, fitting behaviour, giving women precedence and knowing when to keep quiet remained the best ways for gentlemen to distinguish themselves. Brummell said that true elegance passes unnoticed. Or rather claimed that it should do so."

* Hyams 2011 p185

"Yet again, the moral code of Edwardian high society dictates that the superficial is what counts. In fact, there is a long-held mantra that a respectable society woman's name only ever appears in a newspaper at birth, on marriage and on her demise. Newspapers, of course, will report the official engagements of high society. But if it all explodes into scandal and a widely reported court case -- which it infrequently does -- then it's open season on those who are 'caught'. And social death.

"Essentially, the code permits married wealthy people to cover up their love affairs with a finely woven web of discretion and manners. If they are caught out by their spouse, the aggrieved party cannot make a scene or a noisy fuss. That just isn't permitted. Etiquette matters so much more than a discreet affair between marrieds, though at times, of course, very human emotional responses break through the web of discretion."

* Priestly 1970 p58-61

"Following King Edward himself, who off-duty was a member of it, this society did insist upon social discipline, upon a certain level of behaviour, upon appearances being kept up, no matter what went on behind locked doors. Thus one of its men, discovering that his wife had a lover, might refuse for years to speak to her in private, while still playing the devoted husband in public. Old titled families insisted upon a noblesse oblige attitude at least as far as outward appearances were concerned. These people were expected to be 'loyal to their class', which meant that they had not to be sufficiently foolish to be found out so that all manner of dreadful envious people might jeer at them. Hypocrisy wore the cloak of social, even political, responsibility, political because so many of these men sat, when they felt like it, in the House of Lords. ('The House of Lords,' said Augustine Birrell, a Liberal wit, 'represent nobody but themselves, and they enjoy the full confidence of their consituents.')"

* Watson 1978 p8

"Perhaps the accolade most cherished by Victorian and Edwardian countrymen and women was that of 'good sportsman' or 'good sportswoman'. That was to say -- strictly within the written and unwritten rules and codes of conduct -- a courageous follower of hounds, an energetic and accomplished game-shot or stalking rifle, fisher, harecourser or falconer. The prosperity coming with the Industrial Revolution opened up the whole spectrum of country sports to an infinitely wider field of society. And, since being a 'sportsman' brought with it a certain social distinction, the new rich stood to win esteem of another kind."

Primary Sources

* Priestly 1970 p61

"Though a great deal 'went on in town' or in Homburg or Marienbad, Cannes or Biarritz, the Golden Age memorialists and the novelists of Edwardian high life, frequently satirical make it plain that what shone brightest, there in the centre of it all, were the famous weekend house-parties. The houses themselves were not only very large, for they might have to accommodate thirty guests, but were often very old, renowned in history, quite beautiful, with lawns and rose-gardens out of a dream, with melting vistas of pastures and woods. ... Most of the guests belonged to the same rich smart set. However, some senior politicians like Balfour or Asquith would be welcomed, even a writer or two if they were sufficiently amusing and knew what cutlery to use at the dining table; and there might be, if only to make other hostesses envious, one of those 'catch-of-the-season' types, the young man who had been very brave on the North-West Frontier or had just returned from remote reaches of the Amazon. Even apart from these odd visitants, this society was not without cultivated men and women. But they were the exceptions. Taken as a whole, it was not a society that accepted social and cultural responsibilities, unlike earlier aristocratic societies that had set admirable standards and produced notable patrons of the arts."

Secondary Sources

Field Notes