Top 10 Facts Downton Abbey Got Right
These are the facts that Downtown Abbey got right! For this list, we'll be looking at the historical moments, attitudes, or elements that the show accurately portrays or mentions. A few minor spoilers ahead, so you've been warned. Some of things that they got right include their views on Technology, the Titanic, downstairs romances and more!
#10: The Titanic
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The first episode of the series begins in 1912, and sees the household waking up and getting ready as usual, only to receive news of perhaps the most famous nautical accident in history: the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Over 1,500 people of varying classes perished, but “Downtown Abbey” made the tragedy personal for the Crawley family when they discover that Lord Grantham’s cousin, and heir presumptive to the earldom, James Crawley, and James’ son, Patrick, Lady Mary’s fiancé, both died in the accident. It’s this galvanizing event that sets the whole drama in motion. While fictional here, for some aristocratic families, loss of heirs would have been a real problem in the aftermath.
#9: World War I
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The Great War was like nothing the world had ever seen. Sparked over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, all of Europe became locked in a war of attrition. Soldiers who managed to survive the grueling trench warfare and come back from the front were irreparably changed, both physically and psychologically. Though “Downton Abbey” skips years in the war, it does accurately show the harrowing effects on soldiers in battle. Luckily for productions looking to portray the First World War, people like Taff Gillingham exist. A fan and stickler for history, he actually has trenches in Ipswich that he rents for accurate portrayal on-screen, and also taught the actors how to load ammunition properly. And “Downton” was even accurate off the battlefield; Highclere Castle, the real-life location, was in fact involved in the war effort, though as an actual hospital, rather than a convalescent home. …
#8: Views on Technology
While there was a great deal of optimism regarding new inventions throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, many household technological advancements were treated with a great deal of skepticism – at least by the upper classes. Electric lights were seen as gaudy; telephones were impersonal and confusing; and mechanical equipment excessive noise. Even cars when they first showed up on the scene were thought to be ridiculous. However, lower classes tended to like new technology as it made their lives easier … and for that reason upper classes considered the advances crass. Old habits die hard, especially when it’s attached to the lifestyles of Old Money.
#7: Fashion
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The fastest way to immerse an audience in a historical drama is with accurate costume and set pieces, and the costume designers did a great job; spanning from 1912 to 1925, the women’s clothing especially had to be spot-on. Be it subtle, as with changing hem and bust lines, or dramatic (like when Sybil wore harem pants, gasp!) female fashion tends to change rapidly based on social attitudes and desires. However, while the threads were for the most part top-notch, it has been noted by some that everyone (servants especially) would have been dirtier – even in a manor house. Guess realistic depictions of how badly everyone smelled back then is sort of fantasy buzz-kill.
#6: Royal Scandals
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Be honest, everyone loves a good scandal. Royal scandals were the celebrity gossip of the time, and seeing as some of the upper classes might know some of the royals involved, it was even more salacious. In season four, a letter from the Prince of Wales (the future, very temporary, King of England) to his lover and mistress Mrs. Freda Ward is stolen, and fears of a scandal are ignited. King Edward VIII would abdicate the throne in 1936 for a different socialite, Wallis Simpson, but the earlier scandal – that he’d been having an affair with the married Mrs. Ward – was well known by the higher class, and there were in fact letters between the two.
#5: Downstairs Romances
“Downton Abbey” focused not just on the aristocrats, but of the lives of the servants as well, which naturally included their romantic lives. It’s not impossible to fathom that servants – both on the show and in real life – would potentially spend a lot of time together and maybe sleep together. And yes, it did happen, but not everyone was as liberal as the Crawleys. A liaison between staff members of a great house was grounds for firing most of the time.
#4: Class Struggles
The truth is that the early 20th century was a bad time to be anything but rich. XREF The divide between upper and lower class was stark, and for lower classes there was virtually no way up. Before unions, people toiled for long hours, and were frequently exploited. All around the world, resentment was stirring in the working class for the upper classes, who had it better simply by being born. We see this in several episodes, especially post WWI. The rise of socialism at this time grew out a desire for a more balanced and just society, and it’s no surprise some of the servants began to have real ambitions.
#3: Women's Rights
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Women's rights are still debated today, but in the era of “Downton” women couldn't vote, or have any true life outside of marriage. In the Commonwealth (example, Canada) women weren’t even recognized as persons under the law until 1929! The birth control movement only began in the 19th and 20th centuries, and several women on “Downton Abbey” depict the stigma associated with it, whether it’s Lady Edith having an illegitimate daughter and figuring out how to hide it, or Lady Mary sending her maid Anna to get contraceptives after reading a book by Marie Stopes on the subject. “Downton” was careful with its depiction of female characters, giving them relatable problems, but grounding them in history.
#2: British Marrying Rich Americans
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In the Gilded Age, marrying for money had become a regular practice in Aristocratic households. Lord Grantham married his American wife, Cora Levinson, because she was a rich heiress. This became very common, as many of the titled Lords really had no money from years of frivolous family spending, selling off land, and just generally the diminishing power of Europe. In America, manufacturers and industrialists were making fortunes. Of course, not everyone was happy about unions between the British and Americans. Those who came from old money, like the Dowager Countess, found it low-class, and the women who married in were surprised to find their new homes lacking the modern conveniences they enjoyed, like heat.
#1: The Entail
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Ah, The Entail, the discriminative law that served as the catalyst for the entire show. Good thing that such sad, unfair legislations are a thing of the – What? It still exists? Oh. On “Downton,” Robert, the Earl of Grantham, has only daughters, and therefore because of their gender, they are excluded from inheriting the earldom, as well as Downton itself. This particularly affects his eldest daughter, Lady Mary. While the entail, or fee tail, was technically abolished in 1925, it still continues in a certain capacity. In 2013, however, the British Parliament tried to pass the Equality (Titles) Bill, aka “Downton Abbey Law” (really!) to end the gender discrimination and allow equal succession. The Bill did not pass.