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The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne de Courcy

 

Summary (from the publisher): Towards the end of the nineteenth century and for the first few years of the twentieth, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, fifty years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens 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 sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this richly entertaining group biography reveals what they thought of their new lives in England - and what England thought of them.

Summary: This fascinating history details the practice during the Gilded Age where American heiresses married into the British aristocracy. Between 1870 and 1914, "454 American girls married titled Europeans" (1). The author estimates that nearly a billion dollars in American fortunes were transferred to Britain, much of it spent to refurbish and maintain vast British estates (239). Covering families including the Astors, Vanderbilts, Churchills, and many more, this book gives an excellent overview and inside look at the practice, along with the most prominent women who participated in this type of marriage. 

I have read dozens of histories and biographies focusing on the Gilded Age, so many of the individuals who appear in this book were familiar to me. Yet de Courcy did an excellent job at giving me context that was new even to me. I loved hearing a more in-depth analysis for why so many American women married British men during this period - and not just because of the money. The author details the glittering wardrobes of the women, the way they were more likely to be more able to hold interesting conversations due to their educations and travel experience and be more comfortable talking to men, unlike their British counterparts who grew up at home while boys were separated away at boarding schools. "Spending so much of their time with their contemporaries with more freedom and far fewer restrictions than in Europe gave these future American debutantes a social confidence and ease of manner missing in their English contemporaries - and helped them develop the quickness and repartee so fascinating to Englishman" (33-34). Additionally, it describes the mad dash for social acceptance into the most exclusive upper circles that had American mothers looking to British aristocracy for entree into society. 

Oftentimes, I find books that focus on a broad time period and many individuals lacking in depth. This was not the case with this book. Each chapter gave thorough attention to each woman. Although certainly not comprehensive biographies of each, the author gives plenty of context and detail to provide a thorough understanding. I really learned a lot from this book and highly enjoyed it. While I knew that Jennie Churchill (father of Winston) was one of the most famous American heiresses to marry abroad, I loved learning that Diana Princess of Wales' great-grandmother Fanny Ellen Work was also an American abroad. Thus, even the very royal family of today was shaped and formed by this practice. 

Stars: 5


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