Titled Americans, 1890

Book excerpt: Perfect for all Downton Abbey fans, this is the 1890 book behind the marriage of Lord and Lady Grantham. In an age when securing a prudent match was all-important for both sexes, Titled Americans offered a glance guide to recent high society marriages and a list of eligible bachelors who were still on the lookout for love. It explores and explains the trend for well-heeled European gents selecting American wives, discusses the relative merits of attaching oneself to an American or an English girl (”the American girl comes along, prettier than her English sister, dazzling and audacious, and she is a revelation to the Englishman”), and examines in detail the various titled families of Europe. Included to “arouse the ambition of the American girl”, there is a list of unmarried English Peers, making this a fantastic glimpse of the stately homes, relative fortunes and social lives of the glamorous English and American upper-classes at the turn of the century.