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Marble and Marzipan: The Edwardian Aristocracy

© Viola Ashford

MARBLE AND MARZIPAN: THE EDWARDIAN ARISTOCRACY In the 1880's the English upper class consisted of around 10,000 people, drawn mainly from a core of 1500 families. They all knew or 'knew of' each other. They possessed either an acient name and lineage or a title, but ownership of land was the basis of their social, political and economic predominance. They owned well over 90% of the acreage of Britain, and governed the British Empire, which comprised one quarter of the globe from the House of Lords, the centre of their political power. They accepted the very wealthy, such as the Baron de Rothschild into their ranks, but they were essentially, an exclusive class, determined to retain their power for as long as possible. They lived in a world of power, wealth and privilege, to which they believed they were entitled, and in which they felt extremely secure.

Their power and influence was founded upon the ownership of land. The stately homes or manors of the landed classes provided visible evidence of their power and authority. The fact that the stately home and the land would be inherited by the eldest son provided the landed classes with 'stability, permanence and continuity'.1 The land and manor were regarded as a sacred trust to be preserved by each generation for the next, and in which the aristocratic traditions and values would be retained. This represented Burke's 'partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are dead, and those likely to be born'.2

The education enjoyed by the sons of the landed classes reinforced their belief in their innate superiority. Education at a public school - Eton and Harrow were especially favoured - provided the sons of the landed and middle classes with a ticket of general social acceptability. Here they were trained in leadership and formed England's political, military and administrative elite, in which they were supported by the 'old boy's network. Boys were taught that to be an 'English gentleman' was the highest ideal to which they could aspire.

The great ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge further endorsed the sons of the landed classes' status as gentlemen. They remained extremely exclusive because of their expensiveness. Oxford and Cambridge, like the public schools, also placed priority on classical education, stressed aristocratic values such as honour and patriotism, and were contemptuous of commerce and industry.

The sons of the landed classes therefore possessed the leisure, money and education to enable them to pursue political careers, the traditional profession of the landed class. Most members of the landed classes were Conservatives, especially the gentry which formed the 'solid bedrock of the Conservative party'.3

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