I assumed the same. Condoms were around (although very expensive) for decades before 1924. It was even alluded to in the recent remake of Anna Karenina, set before the Russian Revolution.
Yeah. Remember Mary said she only needed one. Hah!
Well, that lasted for about 50 minutes.
Cervical cap. They were around in the 1800s and fairly available in the 1900s. I don’t think they did fittings for them, which means they weren’t as good as a modern diaphragm (which does require a fitting, and if you’ve had a kid can be the size of a saucer).
For English aristocracy, I guess that constitutes a week of hedonism and debauchery. 
No. It was a diaphragm.
Gillingham:Only sailors use condoms, baby.
Mary: Not in the twenties, Tony.
Gillingham:Well they should, those filthy beggars, they go from port to port.
How do you know? Was it made clear in a bit of dialog I missed?
Because she only bought one of them, and Mary and Lord Whosit were going away for a week. Either it was a diaphragm, or Mary has very low expectations.
Regards,
Shodan
Maries Stopes’ book is the clue. Her clinic advocated use of the cervical cap (not diaphragm).
I haven’t found a reference to cervical caps in the book, but I’m looking!
In *Wise Parenthood**, Marie Stopes says:
[QUOTE=Marie Stopes, Wise Parenthood, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1921]
The average woman is fitted by a small or medium size, but the woman who has had several children generally wants them larger.
[/QUOTE]
Stopes doesn’t mention having it fitted by a doctor or midwife, so presumably it’s up to the woman to figure out if a cap fits.
According to the storyline, Lady Mary has only given birth once, and that delivery seems not to have been particularly difficult. Since she’s only buying one and probably didn’t allow time to try it on (in?), she would probably have split the difference and gotten a medium.
*Her book Married Love is better known (and alluded to as a source of birth control knowledge in an earlier episode), but it doesn’t actually go into the specifics of contraceptive practices.
She is doing this as a try-out for Gillingham as a husband. Perhaps she feels that once will be enough to tell her what she wants to know. :rolleyes:
Well, he does have something of a reputation for doing just that–and apparently it’s not just his own plots that he recycles. Accusations have been lodged about lifts from the plots of Little Women and the movie Mrs. Miniver:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/magazine/julian-fellowes-the-creator-of-downton-abbey.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8100220/Julian-Fellowes-denies-Downton-Abbey-plagiarism-claims.html
Wow - talk about pressure!
Mary: “You’re a terrible lover, and I have decided not to marry you!”
Gillingham: “How can you make an important decision like that in less than twenty seconds?”
Regards,
Shodan
Hey, that works as ‘conflict’…send it to Sir J. and see if he likes it! (Though it’s admittedly kind of mean with that ‘twenty seconds’ bit…)
(And to be fair: so far as I know there haven’t been any recent accusations of ‘borrowings’ in the *Downton Abbey *teleplays.)
Better than “close your eyes and think of England.”
Regards,
Shodan
Me too, though the cervical cap explanation makes sense (I didn’t release those could be bought off the shelf). Then again Anna thought Lord Gillingham might take care of it; which suggests it was a condom.
I noticed the flower show scene lifted from Mrs. Miniver. The Edith/Michael/insane wife plotline I took as a hat tip to Jane Eyre.
Had Lord Gillingham been the one doing the buying then it presumably would have been a condom, but Mary specifically told Anna that she didn’t think this should be left up to the gentleman. I took that to mean not that she didn’t consider him capable of obtaining condoms on his own, but that she wanted to have her own form of birth control.
Agree – and it makes sense. Lord G. might be perfectly happy for her to get pregnant.
cwthree – dang it! I didn’t get to Wise Parenthood today. I did skim Married Love, but as you said, no reference to specifics.
With Anna have declined the pharmacy clerk’s tutorial, and Lady Mary never even having had the option, a misused cervical cap could quite easily lead to a plot complication, er, unexpected pregnancy.