The Great War

Yes, this is yet another article on one of my most favourite programmes “Downton Abbey”. For those of you who have never seen an episode, I thought I’d write about one of the seasons --- Season Two. There are actually six seasons plus one movie (so far!), so I’ve got plenty more articles to write about (sorry folks). The beauty of Downton Abbey is that there are so many little stories all tied up to the main story and there is plenty to keep us interested.

The scene is set with Lord and Lady Grantham and their three daughters who live in Downton Abbey with their ‘army’ of domestic servants. The Upper Class lived alongside the Lower class, which did really happen in so many of the big houses of that time. The time frame is between 1912 and 1926 and it was a time when life changed very quickly, especially during and after The Great War.

Season Two is very interesting. Going through the First World War, the Crawley family, the servants, the house and even the whole village were affected, which was so true throughout England. Lady Sybil, the youngest daughter who was ‘nurtured so very gently’, wants to do something useful with her life and is encouraged to become a nurse in order to help the War Effort. Her mother, Cora, is worried about her youngest and wishes that Dr.Clarkson didn’t pinch from ‘the Nursery’. However, Violet (the Dowager Countess) reminds Cora that Sybil is no longer in the Nursery and would be following in the footsteps of the Queen and Princess, who gave their time so freely in the hospitals. Cora reluctantly agrees and Lady Sybil enrolls on a local nursing college.

Dropping her off on her first day, the chauffeur, Tom Brabson, decals his love for Lady Sybil, hoping that she may feel the same way about him. Knowing that Lady Sybil did not believe in “Class” and treated even the servants as her equal, Branson thought he was in with a real chance. Realizing how important her work is as an Auxiliary Nurse, Lady Sybil wants to put her feelings to one side and concentrate on helping to save lives. Branson must wait for his answer.

As happened in real life, Downton Abbey becomes a “hospital” for officers who returned from the War wounded, after all the House was bigger than most hospitals of the time. Unfortunately, there starts an endless struggle between Lady Grantham and Cousin Isobel. Isobel has medical training whereas Downton Abbey is Cora’s home. The two eventually clash and Isobel leaves to work in the Red Cross in France, leaving Lady Grantham and ‘Major’ Barrow in charge.

Having finished her training, Lady Sybil works as a qualified nurse at Downton Abbey. Lady Edith (the second daughter) joins in and ‘does her bit’ by looking after the soldiers 'psychosocial’ needs by finding them books to read from Lord Grantham’s large library, buying chocolate and cigarettes from the village shop and handing out the mail to the recovering Officers. It seems that everyone is getting behind the War Effort, as even Lady Mary (the eldest daughter) begrudgingly agrees to join Lady Edith in an Act during a concert to cheer up the wounded Officers.

Lord Grantham now goes around his daily ‘work’ dressed in uniform: “I may not be a real soldier, but I think I should look like one.” The nurse’s uniform Lady Sybil wears is spot on for that Era, and even the other “Ladies” of the house are now wearing more ‘practical’ dresses. Lady Grantham enjoys supervising the meals, the servants duties and the nurses rotas which keeps her very bust: “Can it wait, I have a mountain to get through!” The Cook, Mrs.Patmore, is now cooking the Family’s meals, the servants meals, the nurses meals and the meals for the wounded Officers. Although she is given extra help, Mrs.Patmore says: “Don’t think they lighten the load!” We can imagine the ‘chaos’ all of this must have looked like and how Lord and Lady Grantham must have felt, giving up their ‘home’ for the War Effort.

Matthew Crawley, who is Lord Grantham’s heir, comes back from the Front Line in a seriously wounded condition. A bomb exploded on him and William (his ‘bat’ man and a former footman), and Matthew is left paralyzed while William is so badly wounded that the doctor can do no more for him. The battlefield scenes, especially in the trenches, were so true to life with a great deal of research going into the scenes. “I wanted us to do justice to how horrific World War One was.” Robert James-Collier, who played Thomas Barrow, explains: “We were in the trenches for just a couple of hours at a time (during filming). What these men went through is unbelievable.” Also, certain episodes bring out just how much fighting at the Front really changed a person.

So much happens during Season Two, within Downton Abbey but also in real life. The Battle of the Somme, 1916, the Armistice, 1918, the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Flu epidemic all happened during this time period. What is rarely mentioned is how everyone tried to get back to normal after World War One. Downton Abbey goes back to being a ‘normal’ home for the Family and their servants attempt to get back to some kind of life, but, of course, the War had changed the very way in which people lived for good. Remembering the storyline with Lady Sybil and Branson, after learning so much as a nurse, Lady Sybil makes the choice to change her life completely and says “Yes” to Branson’s proposal of marriage. Her father hits the roof: “I will not allow my youngest daughter to throw away her life!” but has to back down when he realizes that Lady Sybil is serious. This breaks down the great “Class” divide but makes Lady Sybil and Branson happy. Again, this kind of story really did happen in real life.

A couple of episodes bring out how the Spanish Flu affected whole families. Lady Grantham almost dies from it but with such good nursing (especially from her maid, Sara O'Brien), Cora slowly recovers. However, Lavinia, who is Matthew's fiance, dies from it which leaves Matthew heartbroken, especially now that he can almost walk again after his terrible injuries from the Front. The Spanish Flu was a deadly global influenza pandemic and it killed 50 million people worldwide. It lasted from February 1918 to April 1920 and is said to be the worst pandemic in human history. Children as young as five years old died from it. “The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic.”

Finally, the whole village gets behind a “War Memorial” which stood as a reminder of all the brave soldiers who died during World War One. During this episode it is interesting how ‘shell-shock’ or what we know call “Post-traumatic stress” is brought to the fore.

So Season Two deals mainly with the Great War and how it affected every single person, no matter what “Class” they came from. What we have to remember when watching this, is that the Great War was real and what we are watching really did happen!

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