Our Collection

A Visit to the World of Downton Abbey

by Andrew Corbin, Acquisitions and Reference Librarian

This article originally appeared in the "Off the Shelf: A Reader's Review" column in the Library's Spring 2012 Features Newsletter.

From 1971 to 1975 American television viewers were in thrall to Upstairs, Downstairs, a British drama about the Bellamys, a wealthy family in Edwardian London, and the many servants who kept their Belgravia mansion running smoothly. In much the same fashion, audiences worldwide have fallen under the spell of a new series about the life of a grand English home, this time the North Yorkshire estate of the Earl of Grantham. Now in its second season, Downton Abbey is a tremendous success for PBS; the premier of the second season drew an estimated 4.2 million viewers. It would seem that Americans just can't get enough of the doings of the Earl of Grantham and his family and servants. To that end, a great many articles have appeared outlining reading programs for people who want to deepen their enjoyment of this richly entertaining saga. The Library would like to add to this growing body of Downton Abbey-related literature by suggesting some books from our collection.

Life "Below Stairs"

What the Butler Winked At A major part of Downton Abbey's appeal must surely reside in the glimpse it offers viewers of two very different yet interdependent worlds, that of the aristocracy and the one "below stairs." Anyone wishing to flesh out their understanding of characters like Carson the butler, Hughes the housekeeper, Bates the valet, Thomas the footman, and Anna the housemaid should consider reading either of the following firsthand accounts of what it was like to be a servant in an aristocratic household: Rose, Rosina Harrison's wonderfully entertaining memoir of her time as personal maid to Nancy Lady Astor, or Eric Horne's idiosyncratic but winning What the Butler Winked At. The most popular of these memoirs, cited by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as a major source of inspiration for the series, is undoubtedly Below Stairs, written by former kitchen maid Margaret Powell.

Readers interested in digging a little deeper into the particulars of life in service should seek out the following more scholarly titles: Frank Dawes's Not in Front of the Servants, Adeline Hartcup's Below Stairs in the Great Country Houses, Pamela Horn's The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant, and Frank E. Hugget's Life Below Stairs. Finally, Jeremy Musson's Up and Down Stairs is a comprehensive and eminently readable history of the English country house servant from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century.

World War I (The Great War)

The First World War While the focus of Downton Abbey's first season was on the affairs of the great estate itself, the shadow of the First World War hangs heavily over season two. There is no shortage of books in the Library's collection on this cataclysmic event. If we were to recommend just one general history, it would likely be John Keegan's monumental and definitive The First World War. Another notable book on the subject is Paul Fussell's National Book Award-winning The Great War and Modern Memory. Originally published in 1974, this magisterial and immensely moving work explores the different ways in which a generation of writers tried to make sense of and express the unprecedented brutality and horror they were experiencing as soldiers. Notable among this generation were Wilfred Owen, whose Collected Poems contains what is perhaps his most famous war poem, "Dulce et Decorum est," and Robert Graves, whose memoir Good-bye to All That is a vivid and terrifying account of trench warfare and the psychological damage it inflicted on the survivors. Pat Barker's monumental Regeneration Trilogy is one of the most harrowing and highly regarded fictional treatments of the War: Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and Booker Award-winning The Ghost Road. The characters are based on real-life figures like Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and W.H.R. Rivers, the army doctor who pioneered the study of shell-shocked soldiers, and focus largely on the War's legacy of psychological trauma.

Love and Marriage

The Buccaneers As is revealed early in the first season of Downton Abbey, the estate came perilously close to financial ruin until the current Earl of Grantham married a very wealthy American heiress. Luckily for both Cora and her impecunious but aristocratic new husband, what may have begun as a marriage based on financial need quickly turned into a genuinely happy romantic union. There is an excellent book on this very subject - American heiresses marrying into the English aristocracy during the Victorian and Edwardian eras - that series creator Julian Fellowes has often cited as a major influence on his work: To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace. One of the real-life inspirations for Cora Grantham was Lady Almina, the daughter of American industrialist Alfred de Rothschild and the fifth Countess of Carnarvon. A biography of Lady Almina written by the current Countess of Carnarvon has recently been published, detailing all of this extraordinary woman's life, including her decision to turn Highclere Castle (where most of Downton Abbey is actually filmed) into a hospital for wounded soldiers during World War I: Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon. One work of fiction that speaks directly to Downton Abbey is Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers, a novel she left unfinished at the time of her death in 1937 but which was completed by Marion Mainwaring in 1993. The story of five American girls from newly wealthy families who travel to England in search of husbands, The Buccaneers is a sharp and often romantic story about women much like Cora Grantham, women whose money makes them very attractive indeed to needy aristocrats.

Finally, we would be remiss if we did not mention the two frothy and witty novels penned by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes: Snobs and Past Imperfect, as well as Jessica Fellowes's The World of Downton Abbey. Written by Julian's niece, this companion volume is a lavish treat for enthusiasts and an excellent general introduction to life in the Edwardian world, generously illustrated with both period photos and pictures taken on the film set.