First published in 1972, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy's The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny became an instant classic of social history - a groundbreaking study of the golden era of an extraordinary and exclusive British institution.

Drawing upon extensive paper research and interviews with former nannies and their charges, Gathorne-Hardy offers 'a study of a unique and curious way of bringing up children, which evolved among the upper and upper-middle-classes during the nineteenth century, flourished for approximately eighty years and then, with the Second World War, vanished for ever.' The nanny hereby earns her place in the story of the British Empire; also in the histories of psychology, child-rearing and British ruling class mores.

'Marvellously researched and beautifully written.' W. H. Auden, Observer

'Enough to delight the sternest critic.' Auberon Waugh, Harpers & Queen