Victorian Etiquette
Proper Victorian manners for twenty-first century folk.
If you were suddenly thrown back to the 1850s, do you think you could manage to get along without offending someone? I couldn’t. I barely make it through a day in present time without some social blunder. But it never hurts to be prepared, so here’s a primer on Victorian decorum.
For a carriage ride, a gentleman must sit with his back to the horses, allowing the lady to sit across from him.
Why? To protect the lady from being exposed to a horse’s offensive smells—namely flatulence. A gentleman would catch the stench in his top hat and wave the offending vapor toward the carriage driver.
A lady may dance with a man twice in a row, but not three times.
Once was polite. Twice a little eyebrow raising. But if you danced with the same man three times in a row, you were viewed as a loose woman.
Women had a duty to be beautiful. Always.
Not only could you not appear in public looking like you just came from the gym, you also had to ensure that your beauty made it look as if you’d not just spent hours trying to create a smashing appearance.
It’s vulgar to use two hands to lift your skirt when crossing a muddy street.
There were strict rules on how to move in public. One is that when crossing a road dirtied by horse droppings or mud a lady must hold her dress with her right hand only, and then lift it only so far as her ankle. Anything else was seen as promiscuous.
Men must remove their hats when entering a room…even if it’s an empty room.
The only exception to this rule is if there was absolutely no where in the room to set his hat down.
Careful with the body odor, fellas.
“A gentleman should be seen and not smelled” was the most common rule of thumb for gentleman. But that didn’t mean you could douse yourself with cologne, either.
There you have it. You’re as educated in the art of fine behavior as if you’d attended a finishing school. Okay, not really, because there were a bajillion other strange etiquette rules. But there is one more thing decorum allows for…you should enter the drawing for 1 of 12 signed copies of 12 Days at Bleakly Manor.
