Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a group of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them wealth, glamour, and sophistication from the Gilded Age. Anne de Courcy's book explores their lives and the reactions of their new English society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 03 May 2018
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a peculiar invasion occurred in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding, which the titled, land-owning governing class had long fortified, was breached. The newcomers were a group of young women, who fifty years earlier, would have been regarded as alien inhabitants of another world—the New World, to be precise. From 1874, the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess," married Randolph Churchill, to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour, and sophistication of the Gilded Age. Anne de Courcy contextualizes the stories of these young women and their families within the context of their times. Drawing on extensive firsthand research, encompassing diaries, memoirs, and letters, this captivating group biography unveils their perspectives on their new lives in England and the perceptions held by England towards them.

Weight: 328g
Dimension: 132 x 199 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474601450