The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era (26 page)

Isobel
Well, I don’t know this
young man aside from‘good morning’
and ‘good night’, but he strikes me as a
very interesting addition to the family.

Violet
Here we go.

I
sobel Crawley is a woman with a cause. The cause may change, but she likes to make sure she’s always got one on the go. An educated, forward-thinking woman who lived amongst the professional middle classes of Manchester, she suddenly found herself the mother of an earl-in-waiting. Thrust into this position, she determined that she and Matthew should not be cowed by their new situation. Confident in her own values, she also seized the opportunity to set herself up as the local arbiter of social justice. She was quick to get involved with the teaching hospital, then to work as a nurse during the war (helping Sybil to do the same). She has been searching for a new mission ever since the war ended.

Penelope Wilton, the actress portraying Isobel, explains the subtleties of her character’s motives: ‘She is not the least resentful – or disapproving – of the Downton world. Though she is critical of the wider society and wants to improve it. But she is not a radical socialist. Her desire to help is conceived within the existing structures of her world.’ At the start of the third series, it looks as if Isobel is going to ally herself with Sybil again; she likes the idea of Tom Branson in the family and even suggests going against Robert’s orders and sending him the money so that he and Sybil can attend Mary’s wedding. Frankly, what Isobel calls do-gooding anybody else would call interfering; even Matthew gets a bit embarrassed, telling his mother to stop starting arguments. When Branson does come to Downton Abbey, but arrives dressed for dinner in an ordinary suit instead of white or black tie, Isobel is deliberately inflammatory.

Isobel sees this situation as another opportunity to challenge Violet’s assumptions – the two mothers could hardly be more opposite in upbringing, attitude and style. Violet does her best to keep herself at a distance, but Isobel never misses an opportunity to tease. As Wilton says, ‘There is a mutual respect – as well as a certain amount of amusement.’ The truth is that Isobel, for all her confidence that she is in the right, never feels completely at ease at Downton Abbey.

She’s not even sure that she likes Mary terribly much, although she will admit that her son is at his happiest with her. Wilton says: ‘Isobel may sometimes be sceptical, but she greatly admires Mary’s strengths and her strong beliefs. They may not be her beliefs, but she is realistic – she realises that some things can’t be changed.’ In fact, it’s really down to Isobel that the two of them are getting married at last.

The reality is that, as preoccupied by her causes as she can be, Isobel loves her son very much and his happiness is paramount. They are close, and since his father, a doctor, died many years ago, they have only had each other to turn to. When Matthew discovered that his whole life was about to be turned upside down, it was Isobel who helped him cope with the change. It must have been a challenge for her – having brought her son up as a liberal, educated young man with a bright future as a lawyer, she now had to school him in the ways of his aristocratic cousins and advise him to behave as an earl-to-be should. Yet all the while she was determined that neither of them should forget their principles.

Strallan
I wish you’d let me sit
in the front.

Isobel
No, I prefer it. I’ve ridden
in the front seat many times.

Violet
Aren’t you a wild thing.

The series’ costume designer was keen to show Isobel’s fresh approach to life through her dress. ‘I love dressing her – she is something a bit different,’ says Caroline McCall. ‘She is the most practical of the older women. She has been to France in the war and she is always looking for something to do. But her son will be the Earl and she doesn’t want to let the side down, she wants to look as good as the others. Her clothes are quite modern, with suits that can go from one place to another. She always has a jacket and skirt. Part of her new look is that she now wears peg-top skirts. They still have a waist but fold in towards the bottom, and the hemline is slightly above the ankle.’ There’s a new textile for this era, too, a surprise to us perhaps, as it seems so commonplace as to have been around always – knitwear. ‘Isobel has a lovely cardigan that she wears at home,’ says McCall. ‘Knitwear will become more popular as we move forward.’

Isobel
As a matter of fact, I’ve found
myself a new occupation. But I’m
afraid Cousin Violet doesn’t think
it quite appropriate.

Violet
Can we talk about it
afterwards?

Keen to keep her busy-bodying out of Downton Abbey, Violet and Cora have successfully steered Isobel in another direction, albeit perhaps not one they might have chosen themselves. Her current zeal is taken up with the plight of ‘fallen women’ – a euphemism then for prostitutes. There was certainly a genuine problem with large numbers of destitute women in 1920. The sexual freedom that was prevalent during the war – all those boys home from the Front for only a few nights – had left great numbers of women pregnant, and many of the resulting children fatherless when the men were killed on their return to the trenches. If they were lucky, some mothers had married their men during their visits, which meant they were entitled to a war widow’s pension, but many were not (the illegitimacy rate rose by about 3 per cent). Faced with the double calamity of illegitimacy and the need to raise their children, the options available to these women for earning money were extremely limited.

Contraceptive methods were available and did improve during the war, but they were still unappealing and often too difficult or expensive for the majority to buy. Condoms existed but they were made of a thick, desensitising material and their frequent reuse (after a thorough washing with soap and water) meant holes developed. Dutch caps, or diaphragms, were also obtainable but, according to one disillusioned user, were ‘thick rubber things made from something like car tyres’. Nevertheless, these methods may have been a contributing factor to the
75,000
‘street walkers’ said to be working in Britain in 1919. Abortion, too, started to be more widely practised, although these operations were highly illegal and dangerous: the richer young women would go to ‘nursing homes in France’ on the pretext of nervous exhaustion.

Ethel represents the
kind of woman Isobel feels
she might be able to assist by
supporting her in an all-too
-common post-war situation.

Isobel
Have you come for our help?
You’re very welcome if you have …
Wait a minute, I know you, you were
the maid who brought your child into
the dining room at Downton that
time?

Illegitimacy at that time was enough to make someone a total social outcast. Madge Gow, a Leicestershire housemaid in the 1920s, was frequently set back by her background: ‘I always remember going for a job at Stoneygate and they wanted my mother’s name, my father’s name and my name. And unfortunately I was illegitimate and she wouldn’t entertain me. “Who’s your father?”, “I don’t know.” Well, that was out immediately. They always wanted to know all your history, what father did, what mother did before she got married, where you came from.’