Contents 
Acknowledgements page ix 
Introduction: Aspects of Aristocracy 1
PART ONE: PROCESSES AND PROBLEMS 7
The Making of the British Upper Classes 9
Aristocratic Indebtedness in the Nineteenth Century 37 
Mobility and Mobility in Modern Britain 55 
PART TWO: INDIVIDUALS IN CONTEXT 75 
Lord Curzon as Ceremonial Impressario 77 
Lord Strickland: Imperial Aristocrat and Aristocratic Imperialist 109 
Winston Churchill as an Aristocratic Adventurer 130 
PART THREE: THE DYNASTIC PERSPECTIVE 163 
The Landowner as Millionaire: The Finances of the Dukes of Devonshire 165 
Landowners, Lawyers and Litterateurs: The Cozens-Hardys of Letheringsett 184 
Portrait of More Than a Marriage: Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West Revisited 210
Conclusion: Beyond the Country House 242 
Appendixes: 
A Aristocratic Indebtedness in the Nineteenth Century 249 
B The Churchills 252 
C The Devonshires 255 
D The Cozens-Hardys 267 
E The Nicolsons and the Sackville-Wests 271 
A Note on Sources 274 
Notes 275 
Index 310 
Photographic Acknowledgements 321