Walford's County Families is the short title of a work, partly social register, partly "Who's Who", which was produced in Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, initially under the editorship of Edward Walford. It served as a guide or handbook to the British upper classes and landed gentry (in this case referred to in the title under the term, county families, for which see county family). Its coverage encompassed many of the most important rich, aristocratic or politically powerful of the people of the period, thereby serving to document to an extent the "cream of society", sometimes referred to loosely as Britain's upper ten thousand.
From edition to edition, the title of the annual volumes making up the series varied: the 1899 edition, was, for example, called Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom, or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Volumes in this series are also sometimes referred to simply as Walford or Walford's. According to the British Library catalogue, the works bearing this title were published from 1860 to 1920.
Famous quotes containing the words county and/or families:
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)
“Families need families. Parents need to be parented. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles are back in fashion because they are necessary. Stresses on many families are out of proportion to anything two parents can handle.”
—T. Berry Brazelton (20th century)