The Fast Set in Edwardian times

Victorian History, one of my favourite blogs, was writing about the social life of the upper classes in Victorian times which revolved around The Season. While the upper classes often had an activity-packed social life in the country, it was in the three months that they generally spent in London that the most impressive entertainments were on offer. The dinners, parties, balls, weekend visits to other peoples' homes, presentation of daughters to the royal court and fabulous clothes must have been amazing to watch. And fearfully expensive.

Gentlemen drove an elegant tandem, a type of dog cart which was developed in the Victorian era as a more refined version of a gentleman’s cart. The height of the driver’s seat was elevated to give better control of the lead horse. Tandem carts were much favoured by young bloods, being agile equipages ideal for fast and reckless driving, the sports cars of their day. A Tandem Club met regularly in Hyde Park where smart turnouts and the skills of the whips could be admired by society families.

But were Edwardian times any different, at least for the very well heeled? You will remember a book I loved called The Fast Set: the World of Edwardian Racing. George Plumptre wrote about society families meeting in Hyde Park London, a subject I had been very interested in just a few months ago. On a topic that had been quite difficult to research, I found the following:

"Before the emergence of the Prince of Wales and his circle, Society's activities had been largely confined to London. Here the pace was stepped up rapidly; the occasional balls and tedious levees and garden parties being replaced by a far more demanding round of entertainment for which opulence, rather than taste, was the watchword.

During the day, teatime was the occasion for private calls, normally because wives could entertain their lovers without fearing that their husbands might barge in at any moment, and the men could visit their mistresses without anyone wondering where they had been. Equally important was the daily parade in Hyde Park's Rotten Row, which by the 1880s had become a formal ritual. Here one walked, drove or rode, and appearance was all important.

West Carriage Drive, Hyde Park, Looking onto the Coalbrookdale Gate,

painted by Sir Robert Ponsonby Stapes, 

date?

Daisy Warwick, one of the prominent figures in the parade, described the scene in her memoirs. 'Late afternoon in Hyde Park meant state carriages, with beautifully dressed occupants, pulled up under the trees. It was not etiquette to handle the reins oneself in the afternoon, so we sat on rows of chairs chatting and behaving as if the world we knew, bounded by the Smart Set, was a fixed orbit. As if London, our London, was a place of select social enjoyment for the Circle. As if nothing could change in this best of delightful worlds. Then there would be the clatter of faster horses, and down this mile of drive came the well-known royal carriage with the beautiful Alexandra, Princess of Wales, bowing right and left as only she could bow, and hats were raised and knees curtsied before seats were resumed and interrupted chatter continued'".

But nowhere did Plumptre mention church parades or sabbath day respectability! Instead he talked about the fortune that aristocratic owners spent on breeding, training and racing thoroughbred horses. Led by the fun-loving Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII, high society linked their lavish house parties with the main meetings at Ascot, Epsom, Goodwood and Newmarket. It became as important to dress beautifully for Derby Day, and to entertain dozens of one's friends at a lavish luncheon at the race course, as the Victorians had done for a weekend of shooting and partying at Chatsworth.

The blog Edwardian Promenade added another key element of the activities that amused the fast set. a passion for gambling that overtook them during the 1880s. Baccarat was the initial game of choice and no hostess threw a country house party without a baccarat game. The Prince of Wales was a particular fan of this illegal card game, and he set the standard! But baccarat was eventually discontinued in society, and just as quickly as that went out, bridge came in. The craze swept women in particular, and in the pre-WW1 years, the conversation of the most obsessed centered around bridge.

This leads me to my favourite Plumptre photo, a group of society women at the races. While they certainly  seemed to be posing in positions that would best show off their gorgeous dresses and the men were of course in very attractive morning suits, perhaps they really loved to bet. They seemed to be showing an intelligent interest in the form guides.