Mistress of the House: Great Ladies and Grand Houses

by Rosemary Baird

In the 18th and 19th centuries, to become Mistress of the House was the natural prospect of women born into Britain’s wealthy aristocratic families. An advantageous marriage would bring with it an important ancestral home—a visible expression of power, prestige, and good taste. Rosemary Baird introduces us to ten of these remarkable women, detailing their accomplishments in the creation and running of Britain’s great houses. We also learn about their education and training, the marriage market, and their obligations as leaders of fashion, interior design, and society. Based on diaries, letters, and family archives, Mistress of the House is a fascinating work of social history. Rosemary Baird was educated at Cambridge and Oxford; a former consultant at Sotheby’s, she is now Curator of the Goodwood Collection.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 18th Century, British Literature, Womens

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baird’s Mistress of the House, was a very interesting read that I really enjoyed. She focused on explaining the roles of several English noble women who helped turn their ancestral homes into grand examples of architecture and style during the seventeen to nineteenth centuries. I have read several books about lives of servants of the great homes in Great Britain, so this one was a fascinating view of the ladies of these homes and their roles in helping shape their grand estates. She not only provided a historical overview of the noble ladies’ roles at this time, but she included short biographical sketches of several of them as well. I was really quite surprised to learn of the great latitude several women had in designing or redesigning their homes. Some even completely ran their husband’s entire estate. This book also provided a fascinating view of politics of the time, and how marriage fit into that. I was interested to learn that noble marriages of that time were often between noble women and men who weren’t always societal equals, something I previously thought was generally much more common. I was also surprised about how many of these noble couples rose in rank as they were elevated in titles. I didn’t realize it was such a common experience, even reaching the high title of “Duke”. Baird’s book was well written and researched. Each biographical vignette was brief yet informative. Perhaps one failing is that she sometimes got too wrapped up in describing the look of certain rooms, something which I generally don’t much enjoy in any book. Sometimes also she could have presented a little more thorough overview of the lives of a few of the women she highlighted. For example, with one she never explained the end of her life at all, which I found odd for a biographical sketch. There were several pictures that helped illustrate the architectural design of the times and also portraits of many of the woman highlighted in the book. Baird presented a very competent history of the topic, which anyone who enjoys this historical topic, especially those fans of Jane Austen or Downton Abbey, should enjoy.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting women, some interesting houses - which left me wanting to read more about the women, and with too much information on the colours of wallpapers and exactly who designed which table. It could have been more entertaining had there been more illustrations, as a book on a historical subject there were quite a lot of pictures, but as a book on architecture and interior design it was a rather small selection. I know quite a lot of what is described is now lost to us, but still it made it a times a rather dull read - while some parts were very interesting indeed (for example the chapters on Mrs. Montague and Jane Maxwell).

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd been looking forward to reading this book for ages and ages, but was really disappointed. It's really dry, and not at all what I was expecting. It's more a list of items and improvements - I thought it would be more personal, about the women's experiences of being mistress of a big house.

I did enjoy the chapter about Saltram House, mainly because I've been there.

[Desirae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was far more compelling when the author focused on these women's lives (especially when she was able to use their actual letters) rather than lists of decorative items purchased. I was particularly interested in the Belvoir Castle chapter as 'The Duchess' podcast is one of my favorites, hosted by the Duchess of Rutland, the current chatelaine of Belvoir.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covered an earlier period than I wanted to study. Some of the chapters were uneven in length. Tried to balance between discussing the houses and the private lives, didn’t always work. Are we just gossiping or is the building the star? Balance needed.

[Sunhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This incredible dry book starts off in a fairly interesting manner, detailing how women in years past in England helped build giant homes, decorate them, and create incredible legacies which they'd leave to the family members in their names. The book describes how the legacy of these women would be kept fairly quiet due to their gender and history's general desire to attribute their work and effort to their husbands. It also lists what a rich wife of that time would be expected to do, and what she could do given leeway.

Unfortunately, it quickly moves to individual ladies of the time, and this is where the work suffers. While some ladies have stories interesting enough to hold the attention (Catherine Lennox, Elizabeth Montagu and the Duchess of Portsmouth) while others bored me silly. Combined with the fact that most chapters read like a laundry list of accomplishments, it tended towards the tedious in chapters for people such as Theresa Parker. "Yes, yes, they worked on their house. Yes, yes, they put up Indian Paper in the great hall."

Sadly, due to the method in which this book describes the ladies (lady by lady), it also becomes greatly repetitive in the chapters of women with no great claim to fame other than their houses. I powered through it, but it would be lists of items purchased by ladies interspersed with a sentence like "Husband managed to make her a duchess."

I am going to give it a positive verdict, but I'm writing the review the way I am because I want you to know that if you do not have a great patience or if you have little interest in manor homes of England or strong females of bygone eras, this is probably not going to be a book you enjoy. My love of the running of manor homes and of strong female personalities is great, and I'm still only giving it a six out of ten!

Blogged at: http://sunhibooks.blogspot.com/2011/0...

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book with an intriguing premise, but one that's quite difficult to 'get into'. The author selects ten characters from the Georgian era, influential women who were of the best breeding in the land. She then describes, in depth, their loves and lives, using a wealth of primary sources to illustrate her points. That's all there is to it. So this is history on an individual basis that doesn't really have that much to say about the period itself, just the women whom the author is writing about. Intriguing, yes, but not exactly what I was looking for when I was researching the period, this is probably more of use to fans of biographies.

[Magid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfectly charming look at the lives and homes of various great English ladies of the 18th century. Although Rosemary Baird doesn't really follow through on her objective, stated in the introduction, to examine how these women managed to become great builders and decorators in spite of the patriarchal, opressive society in which they operated, there are lots of very pretty pictures.