The Four Hundred (1892)


The Four Hundred was a list of New York society during the Gilded Age, a group that was led by Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the Mrs. Astor, for many years. After her death, her role in society was filled by three women: Mamie Fish, Theresa Fair Oelrichs, and Alva Belmont, known as the "triumvirate" of American society.
On February 16, 1892, The New York Times published the "official" list of those included in the Four Hundred as dictated by social arbiter Ward McAllister, Mrs. Astor's friend and confidante, in response to lists proffered by others, and after years of clamoring by the Press to know who, exactly, was on the list.

History

In the decades following the Civil War, the population of New York City grew almost exponentially, and immigrants and wealthy arrivistes from the Midwest began challenging the dominance of the old New York Establishment. Aided by McAllister, Mrs. Astor attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, as well as determine who was acceptable among the arrivistes, as champions of old money and tradition.
Reportedly, Ward McAllister coined the phrase "The Four Hundred" by declaring that there were "only 400 people in fashionable New York Society." According to him, this was the number of people in New York who really mattered; the people who felt at ease in the ballrooms of high society. In 1888, McAllister told the New-York Tribune that "If you go outside that number," he warned, "you strike people who are either not at ease in a ballroom or else make other people not at ease."
While the number four hundred has popularly been linked to the capacity of Mrs. Astor's ballroom at her large brownstone home at 350 Fifth Avenue and East 34th Street, the exact origins remain unknown. There were, however, other lists in New York around the same time which necessitated a maximum capacity of four hundred, including Delmonico's restaurant and local cotillion dances, that may have contributed to the particular sum of four hundred.

February 1892 list

In response to competing lists naming the purported members of New York society published in the New York World that insisted New York society was, in fact, made up of only 150 people, McAllister spoke with The Times, refuting the World article and giving the paper the "official list", which was published on February 16, 1892 and quoted McAllister stating:
“The so-called Four Hundred has not been cut down or dwindled to 150 names. The nonsense, don't you know, printed to that effect in the World and some other papers, has made a very bad impression that will reflect badly against them, you understand. That list of names, you understand, printed on Sunday, did not come from me, don't you see. It is unauthorized, don't you see. But it is accurate as far as it goes, you understand.
It is incomplete and does injustice, you understand, to many eligible millionaires. Think of leaving out such names, don't you know, as Chauncey M. Depew, Gen. Alexander S. Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Luther Kountze, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet, Mr. and Miss Wilson, Miss Greene, and many others! Don't you understand, it is absurd, senseless.
Let me explain, don't you know. There are three dinner dances, don't you know, during the season, and the invitations, don't you see, are issued to different ladies and gentlemen each time, do you understand? So at each dinner dance, you know, are only 150 people of the highest set, don't you know. So, during the season, you see, 400 different invitations are issued.
Wait a moment and I will give you a correct list, don't you know, of the people who form what is known as the Four Hundred. Do you understand it will be authorized, reliable, and, don’t you know, the only correct list.”

The list, purported to include the of New York society, consisted largely of "bankers, lawyers, brokers, real estate men, and railroaders, with one editor, one publisher, one artist, and two architects." It also included a mix of both "Nobs" and "Swells". "Nobs" came from old money, and "Swells" were representatives of the nouveau riche, who Mrs. Astor felt, begrudgingly, were able to partake in polite society.

Criticism and backlash

After McAllister released the names of The Four Hundred in The New York Times, there was significant backlash, both against the idea of a definitive list of "acceptable society" and McAllister himself. The papers dubbed him "Mr. Make-a-Lister" and, in combination with his memoirs published in 1890, entitled Society as I Have Found It, further ostracized him from the "old guard", who valued their privacy in an era when the leaders of society were the equivalent of modern movie stars. William d'Alton Mann, who owned the Town Topics, a gossip magazine, considered it his duty to expose the sins of society and regularly criticized the Four Hundred.
Several years later, author O. Henry released a collection of short stories, entitled The Four Million, a reaction to this phrase, expressing O. Henry's opinion that every human being in New York was worthy of notice.
In 2009, the Museum of the City of New York compiled its own list, entitled “The New York City 400,” of the 400 "movers and shakers" who made a difference in the 400 years of New York City history since Henry Hudson arrived in 1609. McAllister was "the only person on the original Four Hundred to also make the museum’s list."

Named members of "The Four Hundred"

Besides containing far fewer than 400 people, McAllister's list "abounded in inaccuracies: names were misspelled or incomplete and many spouses omitted or, worse, included although they were dead." The rules of the time dictated that "only the eldest unmarried daughter of a family carried the title "Miss," with no given name," but he regularly ignored the rule.
No.Name at it appears in articleFull name
1, 2Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Appleton
3Fred H. Allen
4, 5Mr. and Mrs. Astor
6, 7Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Astor
8, 9Mr. and Mrs. George H. Bend
10Miss Amy Bend
11Miss Beatrice Bend
12, 13Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Bryce
14Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck
15, 16Mr. and Mrs. F. Bronson
17Heber Bishop
18Miss Bishop
19William Harold Brown
20, 21Mr. and Mrs. Edmund N. Baylies
22Mr. Temple Bowdoin
23, 24Mr. and Mrs. J. Townsend Burden
25Miss Burden
26Mrs. Barbey
27Miss Barbey
28Harold Brown
29Edward Bulkley
30, 31Mr. and Mrs. James L. Barclay
32C. C. Baldwin
33Miss Baldwin
34C. C. Baldwin Jr.
35, 36Gen. and Mrs. Henry L. Burnett
37Mr. Thomas Cushing
38Miss Edith Cushing
39Mr. F. Bayard Cutting
40Miss Coster
41Mr. Harry Coster
42, 43Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carroll
44, 45Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Cary
46, 47Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop Chandler
48Mrs. Brockholst Cutting
49, 50Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cannon
51Robert L. Cutting, Jr.
52Col. J. Schuyler Crosby
53Miss Crosby
54, 55Mr. and Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting
56, 57Mr. and Mrs. S. V. R. Cruger
58Rawlings Cottenet
59F. Brockholst Cutting
60W. Cutting, Jr.
61Sir Roderick Cameron
62Duncan Cameron
63, 64The Misses Cameron
65, 66Mr. and Mrs. James Cross
67, 68Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cooper
69, 70, 71The Misses Chanler
72William R. Coster
73, 74Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Dyer, Jr.
75, 76Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Elliot
77, 78Mr. and Mrs. George B. De Forest
79, 80Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey M. Depew
81, 82Mr. and Mrs. Frederic d Peyster
83, 84Dr. and Mrs. Francis Delafield
85Miss Delafield
86, 87Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dana
88H. De Courcy Forbes
89, 90Mr. and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish
91, 92Mr. and Mrs. C. G. Francklyn
93J. C. Furman
94, 95Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Fish, Jr.
96Theodore Frelinghuysen
97Augustus C. Gurnee
98, 99Mr. and Mrs. Ogden Goelet
100Mr. Frank G. Griswold
101Miss Greene
102Mr. Allister Greene
103Miss Grant
104Robert F. Hawkes
105, 106Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Howard
107, 108Mr. and Mrs. Carly Havemeyer
109Meredith Howland
110, 111Mr. and Mrs. Valentine G. Hall
112Miss Hall
113John A. Hadden, Jr.
114, 115Mr. and Mrs. Columbus Iselin
116Isaac Iselin
117Mrs. William Jaffray
118Miss Jaffray
119Mrs. F. R. Jones
120Miss Beatrix Jones
121Shipley Jones
122, 123Mr. and Mrs. DeLancey Kane
124Nicholas Kane
125Miss Knowlton
126Miss Sybel Kane
127, 128Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Kernochan
129, 130Col. and Mrs. Kip
131Miss Kipp
132, 133Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Kernochan
134Miss Lusk
135Arthur Leary
136Mrs. Maturin Livingston
137, 138Mr. and Mrs. James Lanier
139, 140Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Livingston
141Edward Livingston
142Miss Clarissa Livingston
143Edward De Peyster Livingston
144, 145Mr. and Mrs. Clement C. Moore
146Ward McAllister
147, 148Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Marshall
149Clement March
150, 151Mr. and Mrs. O. Mills
152, 153Mr. and Mrs. B. Martin
154F. T. Martin
155Peter Marié
156, 157Mr. and Mrs. H. W. McVickar
158, 159Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Morris
160Miss Morris
161, 162Mr. and Mrs. R. Mortimer
163Miss Morgan
164, 165Mr. and Mrs. T. Newbold
166Mrs. Frederick Nelson
167S. H. Olin
168, 169Mr. and Mrs. C. Oelrichs
170James Otis
171Miss Otis
172Edward Post
173Richard Peters
174, 175Mr. and Mrs. B. C. Porter
176, 177Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pendelton
178Julian Potter
179I. V. Packer
180, 181Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Potter
182, 183Gen. and Mrs. Pierson
184Miss Pierson
185, 186Mr. and Mrs. George B. Post
187Mrs. William H. Perry
188Miss Perry
189Goold H. Redmond
190Mrs. Rogers
191Miss Rogers
192J. Ritchie
193T. J. Oakley Rhinelander
194Miss Cora Randolph
195Mrs. Burke Roche
196, 197Mr. and Mrs. S. O. Ripley
198D. T. L. Robinson
199R. K. Richards
200, 201Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Robinson, Jr.
202, 203Mr. and Mrs. H. Robins
204Miss Sands
205, 206Mr. and Mrs. William D. Sloane
207, 208Mr. and Mrs. Philip Schuyler
209, 210Mr. and Mrs. Byam K. Stevens
211Lispenard Stewart
212, 213Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sherman
214Miss Adele Sloane
215, 216Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes
217Miss Stokes
218, 219Mr. and Mrs. Walter L. Suydam
220, 221Mr. and Mrs. F. K. Sturgis
222Miss Elizabeth Stevens
223G. Mead Tooker
224Miss Tooker
225E. N. Tailer
226, 227Mr. and Mrs. H. McKay Twombly
228Miss Tailer
229Marquise de Talleyrand
230Miss Mabel Van Rensselaer
231Miss Alice Van Rensselaer
232, 233Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
234George W. Vanderbilt
235Mrs. A. Van Rensselaer
236James Varnum
237Mr. Worthington Whitehouse
238, 239Mr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
240Barton Willing
241Miss Willing
242, 243Gov. and Mrs. Wetmore
244Miss Wetmore
245Egerton Winthrop
246Thomas C. Winthrop
247F. B. Winthrop
248, 249Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan Winthrop
250Miss Winthrop
251, 252Mr. and Mrs. Ben. Wells
253, 254Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Whitney
255Miss Georgiana L. Wilmerding
256Mrs. C. A. Whittier
257, 258Mr. and Mrs. Wysong
259M. A. Wilkes
260, 261Mr. and Mrs. W. Storrs Wells
262, 263Gen. and Mrs. Alexander S. Webb
264Miss Carrie Webb
265Alexander S. Webb