Women, rank, and marriage in the British aristocracy, 1485-2000: an open elite?

In: Studies in modern history

Abstract

For British aristocratic women from the beginning of the Tudor era to the end of the First World War, there was nothing more important than making a suitable marriage to a groom of high rank. Failure could well have catastrophic consequences. It was the marriages of these noble daughters, far more than the unions of their brothers, which ensured a family's continued place within the titled ranks. Through an analysis of the marriage patterns of thousands of aristocratic women as well as an examination of diaries, letters, and memoirs, Schutte demonstrates that the sense of rank identity as manifested in these women's marriages remained remarkably stable for centuries, until it was finally shattered by the First World War.