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Mayfair Madames
The story of Mayfair is the story of its Madams - heiresses, actresses, royal mistresses, arbiters of fashion and rabid consumers. They brought trade and quality to a district that thrives on both.
Bursting with anecdotal forays, Mayfair Madams meanders through Mayfair's thoroughfares leaving little to the imagination. From the dizzy dawn of James IPs riotous May Fair in a buttercup meadow near Hyde Park, to the Hard Rock Café frivolities of today, the irrepressible festivities have always been cause for both concern and celebration.
'Mayfair Madams' is a book about two great Great Britain and the United States - countries divided, according to Oscar Wilde, only by their language. As the story of the Madams unfolds, we learn how England lost the War of Independence whilst the Americans colonised Grosvenor Square.
Maria Perry's witty narrative combines historical accuracy and depth of observation with inimitable flirtations that only a true gossip - who lives and breathes at the very heart of fashionable London - could render plausible.
Bursting with anecdotal forays, Mayfair Madams meanders through Mayfair's thoroughfares leaving little to the imagination. From the dizzy dawn of James IPs riotous May Fair in a buttercup meadow near Hyde Park, to the Hard Rock Café frivolities of today, the irrepressible festivities have always been cause for both concern and celebration.
'Mayfair Madams' is a book about two great Great Britain and the United States - countries divided, according to Oscar Wilde, only by their language. As the story of the Madams unfolds, we learn how England lost the War of Independence whilst the Americans colonised Grosvenor Square.
Maria Perry's witty narrative combines historical accuracy and depth of observation with inimitable flirtations that only a true gossip - who lives and breathes at the very heart of fashionable London - could render plausible.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1999
About the author
Maria Perry
33 books13 followersActress and writer Maria Perry was brought up in Cheshire by a grandmother who liked good diamonds and believed women's education harmed the complexion. Sent to Manchaster High School and a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, she has had some narrow escapes.
After abandoning a career in journalism for the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar, she wrote a biography of Elizabeth I and was invited to do PhD at Yale. Instead she wrote the shopaholic's classic Knightsbridge Woman. Captivated by Mayfair at the age of three, she is a discerning patron of Fenwick's, Fortnum's and Berry Bros & Rudd.
After abandoning a career in journalism for the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar, she wrote a biography of Elizabeth I and was invited to do PhD at Yale. Instead she wrote the shopaholic's classic Knightsbridge Woman. Captivated by Mayfair at the age of three, she is a discerning patron of Fenwick's, Fortnum's and Berry Bros & Rudd.
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March 30, 2026
Often when the word Madam is used it can mean a lady who looks after other ladies in a particular profession but in this case it is very definitely not that as it refers simply to the differing types of ladies who have lived in Mayfair. And it is a superb representation of them, their personal habits and their way of living in London's most expensive district.
Mayfair gained its name from a 'May fair of great size and notoriety' that was held annually in a buttercup meadow near Hyde Park. And Maria Perry suggests that 'the story of Mayfair revolves around its womenfolk' and she proceeds to prove her point with some superb anecdotes about the hundreds of upper class women who inhabited this exclusive area. There are, of course, involvement by the gentlemen of the times but it mainly the ladies who take centre stage. And over the years it seems that Mayfair has been the scene of more glittering parties and society scandals than any other square mile on the Earth's crust.
Queen Anne, when a Princess, rented accommodation in Mayfair and was an early petitioner against the noise that emanated from the activities of the May Fair. And she continued to complain even when she ascended to the throne and was further away from the riotous behaviour that the Fair spawned. Eventually, in 1709 the Fair declined somewhat but somehow limped on until towards the end of the 18th-century it ceased to be. But the area retained the name Mayfair and the partying that had been going on for years continued.
The many large houses in the area all had huge ballrooms and regular balls were held and 'a most shocking new dance, the waltz, arrived about which Lord Byron wrote, 'Muse of the many-twinkling feet! whose charms/Are now extended up from legs to arms' before being more specific with 'Waltz - waltz alone - both legs and arms demands/Liberal of feet and lavish of her hands;/Hands which may freely range in public sight,/Where ne'er before - but - pray put out the light.' And it was in the Devonshire House (the Duke of Devonshire's Mayfair home) circle that Caroline Lamb became infatuated with Byron in a romance which would make her mother and aunt 'look lie a brace of respectable dowagers'!
Maria Perry covers the centuries with different stories, most of them involving members of the well-to-do community, as well as describing the various tradesmen who flourished in Mayfair and the seemingly extortionate prices that were being charged for goods (particularly jewellery) purchased from them ... but none of the wealthy residents even batted an eyelid. Also the churches in Mayfair were busy with their fair share of marriages - at one ceremony there were four former Prime Ministers acting as witnesses - while also writing of the various parks and grassy areas that abounded in the area and how they were maintained and how dog walking was carefully handled.
It is a most fascinating and very readable history of arguably the poshest part of London that attracted most of the important people of the day.
Mayfair gained its name from a 'May fair of great size and notoriety' that was held annually in a buttercup meadow near Hyde Park. And Maria Perry suggests that 'the story of Mayfair revolves around its womenfolk' and she proceeds to prove her point with some superb anecdotes about the hundreds of upper class women who inhabited this exclusive area. There are, of course, involvement by the gentlemen of the times but it mainly the ladies who take centre stage. And over the years it seems that Mayfair has been the scene of more glittering parties and society scandals than any other square mile on the Earth's crust.
Queen Anne, when a Princess, rented accommodation in Mayfair and was an early petitioner against the noise that emanated from the activities of the May Fair. And she continued to complain even when she ascended to the throne and was further away from the riotous behaviour that the Fair spawned. Eventually, in 1709 the Fair declined somewhat but somehow limped on until towards the end of the 18th-century it ceased to be. But the area retained the name Mayfair and the partying that had been going on for years continued.
The many large houses in the area all had huge ballrooms and regular balls were held and 'a most shocking new dance, the waltz, arrived about which Lord Byron wrote, 'Muse of the many-twinkling feet! whose charms/Are now extended up from legs to arms' before being more specific with 'Waltz - waltz alone - both legs and arms demands/Liberal of feet and lavish of her hands;/Hands which may freely range in public sight,/Where ne'er before - but - pray put out the light.' And it was in the Devonshire House (the Duke of Devonshire's Mayfair home) circle that Caroline Lamb became infatuated with Byron in a romance which would make her mother and aunt 'look lie a brace of respectable dowagers'!
Maria Perry covers the centuries with different stories, most of them involving members of the well-to-do community, as well as describing the various tradesmen who flourished in Mayfair and the seemingly extortionate prices that were being charged for goods (particularly jewellery) purchased from them ... but none of the wealthy residents even batted an eyelid. Also the churches in Mayfair were busy with their fair share of marriages - at one ceremony there were four former Prime Ministers acting as witnesses - while also writing of the various parks and grassy areas that abounded in the area and how they were maintained and how dog walking was carefully handled.
It is a most fascinating and very readable history of arguably the poshest part of London that attracted most of the important people of the day.
Displaying 1 of 1 review