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Originally Posted by Bookpossum
I wonder if that document I found (there was no indication of where it was from, by the way) indicates that it had been the norm for foreign titles to continue to be used even when the individual was resident in England. I see this decision that it should stop as part of the changing times after the Great War.
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I can see additional issues after the Great War, too. It would have been harder to justify using a title from a former empire-turned-republic where titles had become defunct, as with Orczy. And surely the English wouldn't have cared to observe titles from countries they'd been at war with. Just the same, I have the sneaking suspicion that Orczy went by Baroness until the end of her life.
On the topic of Orczy and the Great War, I remember years ago coming across a reference to her own brand of patriotism. She founded an organization called the "Women of England's Active Service League," wherein the members formally vowed, "At this hour of England's grave peril and desperate need I do hereby pledge myself most solemnly in the name of my King and Country to persuade every man I know to offer his services to the country, and I also pledge myself never to be seen in public with any man who, being in every way fit and free for service, has refused to respond to his country's call."
Totally absurd, but it attests to the slow end of the attitudes she promulgated in her books. As I recall, her "League" (and that's just embarrassing, under the circs) was undersubscribed.