Etiquette for
young ladies
Calling cards – an important piece of Edwardian etiquette!
Mary
smiled ironically. She quoted:
‘A
young maiden’s
appetite should be gracefully restrained at all times. There is no more
unladylike quality in a debutante than that of intemperate gluttony.’
‘How
fearful!’ exclaimed
Lil.
‘I
take it you haven’t read
Lady Diana DeVere, then?’ asked
Mary with a quirk of her eyebrows.
Lil
decided there was no sense in pretending ‘I’m afraid I haven’t, but she sounds perfectly dreadful.’
- The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth
Knowing
the rules of etiquette was of paramount importance to anyone taking part in the
London Season. Edwardian high society was governed by a strict code of conduct
- and woe betide anyone, especially a debutante (a young lady embarking on
their first Season in society), who put so much as a toe out of line.
Debutantes
were at all times accompanied by a chaperone, who would watch them with an
eagle eye to make sure they were behaving properly. They were expected to dress
beautifully and appropriately, to display perfect manners, and to be able to
dance - but not to do a great deal else!
Sometimes
it would be a young lady’s
governess who would be responsible for instructing her so that she was ready to
navigate the complex social rituals of the London Season - or perhaps she might
be sent to a Finishing School to learn dancing, deportment and the proper way
to behave. But etiquette guides were also popular, like Lady Gertrude Elizabeth
Campbell’s Etiquette
of Good Society, published in 1893, which contained chapters on ‘Letter-Writing’, ‘Private Theatricals’ and ‘Field Sports’ amongst many others. Tips and advice
on important matters including fashion, manners and what a girl should expect
from her first Season were also published in magazines such as The
Lady.
For The
Mystery of the Jewelled Moth, I had a lot of fun inventing my own etiquette
guide inspired by some of these real-life writings. Snippets from my fictional
Lady Diana DeVere’s Etiquette
for Debutantes: a Guide to the Manners, Mores and Morals of Good Society appear
throughout the book- though Sophie and Lil don’t often follow them!
It’s debutante Veronica Whiteley and her
friends who are the most affected by these constraining rules and restrictions
- whilst lower down the social scale, Sophie and Lil are leading very
different, much more independent lives, working to support themselves and
roaming about London having adventures. But in The Mystery of the
Jewelled Moth, these two groups of girls come together, and soon discover
that they have more in common than they might ever have expected. In the
adventure that follows, Veronica and her friends discover that some rules are
made to be broken - even if they are the strict principles of Edwardian
etiquette!
Calling Cards Illustration © Júlia Sardà
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