ABSTRACT
At no time in her life could Dorothy Elmhirst be mistaken for anything other than an American. She was born in Washington some six years before Leonard, on 2.3 January 1887 in a house on H Street, a short stroll from the White House. The ‘Four Hundred’, which included the Whitneys among the elite of American society, were the number supposed to be able to fit into another ballroom, Mrs Astor’s. Few Americans envied the very rich for anything the most of them got out of money. The men were given American Indian head-dresses and fur hats to wear, the women tomahawks and Red Riding Hood hats and capes as well as the more usual favours of silver picture frames, matchboxes, face-powder cases, brocaded bags for opera glasses and boutonnieres. American emulation of Europe was at its height and it accounted for more than the suffragettes.
