To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace; illustrated by David Cain 974.71 M129
Immediately after the Civil War, many industrialists and their families flocked to the American social capital, New York. There, the wealthy men found themselves welcomed; however, the women were blocked entrée into the ballrooms of Old New York society by the formidable barrier of Caroline Astor, who considered them interlopers. Rather than see their daughters snubbed by New York knickerbockers, the stockbrokers’ and industrialists’ wives decided to go husband-hunting abroad.
Over the next fifty years, American heiresses became a sought-after commodity. Impoverished noblemen with no marketable skills were thick on the ground in Great Britain; many of them found the answers to their troubles in marrying wealthy Americans. Denied their part in the New York social experience, American girls were fêted and fussed over in London; upon marriage, their families gained social and political connections their Old Money neighbors could not match.
Without a key figure in Victorian history this whole phenomenon could not have taken place. Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Edward Albert (Bertie), later King Edward VII, was fond of novelty and excitement. Never trusted with any responsibility, he was a dissolute party boy who positively welcomed the fresh innocence American girls brought to the London Season. If his wandering eye caught a glimpse of an heiress, her social success was assured. The Prince of Wales gave his blessing to many American/English couples, and stood godfather to even more of their children.
Although MacColl and Wallace give plenty pages to various American heiresses and their husbands, there are two women that are given more coverage than the rest: Consuelo Vanderbilt, who married the 9th Duke of Marlborough; and Jennie Jerome, who married Marlborough’s uncle, Randolph Churchill, and gave birth to Winston. Along with biographical information, the authors share contemporary gossip and the arcane English customs such as rules of precedence, running households, and engaging in adulterous affairs—all of which the unwitting American heiress would be forced to navigate after marriage, with varying degrees of success.
Originally published in 1989, To Marry an English Lord was reprinted in 2012—clearly to take advantage of the Downton Abbey phenomenon. Stuffed with facts that might overwhelm even the most dedicated reader of Debrett’s Peerage, MacColl and Wallace’s history will nevertheless delight Anglophiles by shedding light on a colorful portion of British and American history.
