The Power and the Glory: The Country House Before the Great War

by Adrian Tinniswood

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

432 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2024

About the author

Adrian John Tinniswood OBE FSA (born 11 October 1954) is an English writer and historian. He is currently Professor of English Social History at the University of Buckingham.

Tinniswood studied English and Philosophy at Southampton University and was awarded an MPhil at Leicester University.

Tinniswood has often acted as a consultant to the National Trust, and has lectured at several universities including the University of Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following his entertaining books on life in the English country house between the wars (The Long Weekend) and their mixed fortunes in the years after the Second World War (Noble Ambitions), Adrian Tinniswood here takes the story back to the late Victorian and Edwardian period. These were indeed the years of the power and the glory of the great houses, which seemed to their owners to be the very embodiment of wealth, success and stability. Only the most far-sighted among them could sense the first gentle breezes that were to presage the winds of change that the twentieth century would bring. Tinniswood is particularly fascinating on the changing nature of the owners of big houses in this period; no longer were they solely the preserve of the landed aristocracy but were attracting a much more diverse range of owners and tenants, from self-made industrialists with fortunes made in everything from paint to armaments and guano to textiles to Jewish financiers, Indian maharajahs, Irish brewers, American millionaires and others.
Tinniswood is the master of the telling anecdote, and his narrative is enlivened throughout by the personal stories of a rich cast of characters, funny, shocking, tragic and extraordinary by turns. He’s also particularly fascinating on the practicalities of country house life: the experiences of the vast crew of servants and staff who kept the household and garden going, the technical innovations in power, sanitation and communications that some houses were quicker to adopt than others, the ever present risk of fire and burglary and the role the big house played in the local community.

[Mary Fagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Diana Cheal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts I loved and were so fascinating, other parts felt like they were filling space. The parts that were filling space felt less about the country house itself. Would have loved to have gone into more detail on certain houses.
It’s clearly researched and draws on a lot of information but I just didn’t love it.