It’s hard to imagine sitting at a dinner table as fancy or organised as the ones in Downton Abbey. For most families today just getting everyone together for dinner is hard enough. It seems even more unbelievable that the dinners shown in Downton Abbey are based on the ones hosted by real people in the 1920s. One place that was the site of many such parties is Herstmonceux Castle, now owned by Queen’s University. Today, the castle functions as a university campus, but in the 1920s it was home to Colonel Claude Lowther who was known for his extravagant social gatherings and eccentric behaviour. Many accounts from the surrounding area during this time tell of the colonel’s dinner parties which mirror the ones depicted in Downton Abbey. They required a specific wardrobe, involved multiple food courses and had footmen serving you! These aspects define the 1920s dinner party and are staples that any Roaring 20s themed party simply cannot live without.
Many of Downton Abbey’s most well-known scenes are centred around the costumes. From Lady Sybil shocking her family with her modern new outfit in season one to an episode in season four when the Dowager Countess mistakes her own son for a waiter all because he wears a black tie to dinner. The character’s reactions in these scenes may seem extreme, but dinner party attire rules really were this strict!
The 1920s maintained many attire expectations from the Edwardian period. Men wore hats upon arrival, while married women wore tiaras all evening to distinguish themselves from single ladies. At the bare minimum, men would wear tuxedos to dinner and if it was a formal occasion, a full tailcoat was a must. Meanwhile, the hostess would always wear something new. She would even go as far as to record her outfit every time she hosted to prevent any wardrobe repetitions. Sometimes, the host and hostess might even set wardrobe expectations for their guests. On one occasion, Colonel Claude Lowther, hosted a party where no one was ‘to wear black or navy, as they would not blend with the [his] cushions and curtains’.[1]
While these rules lasted through the turn of the century, there were also many that did not, especially those related to women’s fashion. Before the First World War, women were expected to wear floor-length dresses and fix their hair into elaborate updos every evening. Many married women still followed this style post-war, but those who were younger were more likely to rock the boat with all the new 1920s fashion trends. Evening dresses were no longer expected to touch the floor and many revealed one’s ankles, if not part of their calves. It also became popular for women to cut their hair – think of Lady Mary’s new bob cut in season 5! The culmination of these trends is the iconic image that we associate with the ‘flapper’ today. It’s clear that by the 1920s, change was in full swing.
Change did not follow as quickly into the dining room. Etiquette was still held in extremely high regard and there were many dinner party rules that had to be followed from beginning to end. Despite this, some of the Colonel’s wildest behaviour took place in the dining room. It’s also the setting of many of Downton Abbey’s most shocking scenes.
The hostess created a seating chart prior to the party. Instead of sitting at the heads of the table like we are so accustomed to, the host and hostess were placed across from each other at the table’s centre. The most important female guest would sit to the right of the male host. After this, rank did not matter, and the guests would be assigned seats in an alternating pattern of male guest/female guest around the rest of the table. Married couples would sit separately, since they converse with one another all the time, with the only exception being made to engaged couples to allow them to become better acquainted – while still being chaperoned, of course.
Invitations would be sent out prior to special dinner events and the host would spare no expense on the stationary and its presentation. However, by the ‘20s it was increasingly common for households to have telephones, and hosts like Colonel Claude Lowther began to forego traditional invitations. Verily Anderson recalls when her parents were first invited to one of Lowther’s dinner parties, ‘The first […] invitation to dine at the castle was not on embossed stationery delivered by hand, but in the modern way, by telephone by Bishop the butler’.[2] Imagine if the Crawleys of Downton had asked their traditionalist butler, Carson, to invite people by telephone. He would have never recovered!
Seating cards would be distributed upon arrival and inform you of who you were to sit beside. When greeting one another, it was improper to have any sort of physical contact, so hugs were certainly out of the question. In addition, complimenting one another was seen as lower-class behaviour, meaning that any sort of compliments that we greet each other with today would not have been acceptable either. If you were not familiar with someone on your seating card, the man was expected to initiate an introduction, as well as offer the lady an escort through to the dining room.
Once seated at the table, conversation partners would be determined by the hostess. Pairs were usually formed between a lady and the gentleman on her left. Then, about halfway through dinner at what was called ‘the turning of the table,’ the direction of conversation would switch. The Dowager Countess remarks upon this in the 2019 Downton Abbey film when she scolds Edith and Tom for talking in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, any servants in the dining room were ‘treated as though they were household furnishings, expected to remain unobtrusive and keep their opinions to themselves’.[3] This certainly was not always easy. At Herstmonceux Castle dinner parties, it is said that ‘[Lowther] might hurl [plates] playfully at his butler, and then go down on his knees to beg forgiveness’![4] Again, this behaviour might seem extreme, but it is ‘perhaps the most obliging nod to American audiences who do not always understand separation based on class and service’ from this time.[5]
While eating, you were not to slouch – a good measurement of this was to not let your back come in contact with the back of your chair – and always bring your food and drink to you. It was also considered terribly impolite to excuse yourself during dinner. At Herstmonceux Castle, the Colonel prevented his guests from facing this awkward situation by ‘hand[ing] round a single-chamber-pot for the gentlemen’s convenience under the table to avoid leaving the room’.[6]
After dinner was finished, women would retire to the parlour or drawing room and the men would stay in the dining room to drink liquor or wine and smoke. However, as the 1920s progressed, lines became increasingly blurred as women began smoking and drinking as well.
Over the course of the evening, one would drink mainly wine – and not just one, but various, expensive types of wine. So many that when the Downton Abbey character, Molesley, taste-tests every wine in “S2E6,” in order to determine which he should serve first, he accidentally gets drunk!
When considering how many different types of wine were served, one can only imagine what preparing the food was like. Fortunately for 1920s cooks, this was the decade where cookbooks and radio cooking broadcasts were becomming popular. In previous centuries, most people were restricted to using recipes from their family, friends and neighbours, but by the turn of the century ‘popular printed cookery books became increasingly available and cheap to buy. It is also widely regarded as one of the major literary accomplishments of early modern England’.[7] The authors of cookbooks during this time turned up quite a profit.
In addition to this, radio broadcasts featuring cooking began to air alongside other specialised topics like politics and economics. The cooking broadcasts were part of the ‘Women’s Hour’ and included ‘women presenters typically providing short recipe-focused content and men speaking and writing of food in the wider context’.[8] These broadcasts ranged from recipes featuring the foods that were in season to meals that were price efficient. A radio recipe from this time can be heard here:
Dinners like the ones served at Downton or Herstmonceux would have been made up of six courses. The most common format included: soup, a fish course, an entrée, sorbet, a roast course and dessert. At this time garnishes were popular, especially sprigs of greenery or glazes. These would have been the finishing touches on an already magnificent spread of food.At Herstmonceux, the food was described as ‘always delicious, eaten off priceless silver of pewter plates’.[9] (These are the very same plates that Lowther often hurled at his butler.)
The 1920s were wild. Women began to drive motor cars and try out daring new fashions. Innovations were made in cooking through the sharing of information with others. Of course, the turn of the century brought unimaginable ups and downs as we can see from watching Downton Abbey and the lives of the Crawleys. Queen’s University’s very own Herstmonceaux Castle underwent enormous change during this period as it became the new home to Colonel Claude Lowther and his extravagant parties. The Roaring ‘20s was the decade of change when traditions were filtered through and thrown away leaving the opportunity for new rules to be made. And the 1920s dinner party was there for it all.
Emily Gilbert, 3rd Year Arts Student, Queen’s University (Canada).
[1] Verily Anderson, Castellans of Herstmonceux 1911-2010 (Bader International Study Centre, 2011), p. 10.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Carolyn Harris, ‘The Upstairs/Downstairs World of Downton Abbey: How True to Life is it?’ HistoryExtra, 28 April 2022, www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/downton-abbey-how-real-inspiration-true-upstairs-downstairs-life/
[4] Anderson, pp. 10-11.
[5] Harris, ‘The Upstairs/Downstairs’.
[6] Anderson, p. 11.
[7] ‘Culinary Manuscripts: 19th – 20th Century’, British Library, www.bl.uk/collection-guides/culinary-manuscripts-19-20th-century.
[8] Phil Lyon and Liz Ross, ‘Broadcasting Cookery: BBC Radio Programmes in the 1920s and 1930s’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 40: 3, (2016), 327-335, https://doi-org.proxy.queensu.ca/10.1111/ijcs.12265.
[9] Anderson, pp. 10-11.