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November 1916. Matthew is fighting in the horrific battle of the Somme but at Downton Robert,given a courtesy title as head of the local yeomanry but deemed too old to fight,and William,forbidden by his father to enlist,feel frustrated as white feathers are given to non-combatants. Sybil also feels useless and goes to York for nursing training whilst Mary hides her disappointment when Matthew,home on leave,brings his betrothed,Lavinia Swire,to meet her. She nonetheless sees him off,giving him her lucky mascot,as he returns to the fighting, Back in the trenches he …
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April 1917. With John still absent, Isobel's butler Mosley makes a play for Anna but is rejected. Robert gets a new valet, shell-shocked ex-soldier Henry Lang, whilst William goes off to war. Edith learns to drive a tractor, extremely well, and nearly succumbs to a kiss from the married farmer Mr. Drake. Sybil and Thomas work in the cottage hospital, where the latter begins to learn some humanity. At Isobel's suggestion - and to Violet's dismay - Downton Abbey is turned into a convalescent ward to ease the hospital's bed shortage. Mary invites middle-aged newspaper …
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July 1917. As Isobel's plan to turn Downton into a hospital unites upstairs and downstairs in protest, O'Brien persuades Cora to make Thomas the hospital manager. Ethel enjoys the patients' attention whilst Edith earns respect as an auxiliary nurse. Chauffeur Branson, extolling the Russian Revolution, intends to be a conscientious objector but is rejected on medical grounds as former footman William, on his way to the trenches, proposes to Daisy. As Lang finds his trauma interferes with his work Anna discovers Bates working in a local pub. He tells her that Vera has …
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1918. Angry that Cora has reorganized hospital rotas to make life easier for the staff, Isobel leaves for nursing work in France just before news arrives that Matthew and William are missing. In Isobel's absence, her cook, Mrs. Bird, and butler, Molesley, run a soup kitchen for veterans, in which they are joined by Mrs. Patmore and Daisy, who bring left-overs from the abbey. O'Brien informs on them to Cora - who thinks it is a wonderful gesture and insists she and O'Brien also help out! Robert tracks John Bates down and returns him to Downton Abbey whilst Mrs. Hughes …
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August 1918: Deserted by the baby's father Ethel has been installed with her child in a cottage on the estate by a sympathetic Mrs. Hughes,who brings her food. Jane, a war widow,has taken Ethel's place as a maid. Vera Bates returns,having spent John's money but with no intention of sticking to their arrangement and planning to make money by selling the story of Lady Mary's indiscretion to Carlisle's newspaper. Tipped off by Anna,Mary goes to see him and explains all,thus scotching Vera's plan as the newspaper owner threatens her with libel action. Having returned to …
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November 1918. Believing her marriage to have been a sham Daisy is reluctant to accept a widow's pension whilst Robert writes to the father of Ethel's child,only to learn that he was killed in the war. As the Armistice is announced a Canadian soldier,suffering terrible burns,comes to recuperate and declares that he is Patrick,the heir presumed dead on the ‘Titanic’ and until recently an amnesiac. Only Edith believes him and he departs,leaving Edith a letter,his identity still unconfirmed. Carlisle plans to buy a house near Downton and poaches Carson as his butler. He …
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With the house no longer a hospital Thomas hopes to make money on the black market but is ruined after being cheated by his supplier. Mrs Hughes helps Ethel to confront Mr and Mrs Bryant,the parents of her baby's late father but,whilst his wife seems moved,Bryant dismisses Ethel as a liar and fraud with no proof of paternity. Carlisle tries to bribe Anna to spy on Mary but she refuses and tells Mrs Hughes and Carson,the latter consequently withdrawing his offer to work for Carlisle whom he sees as underhand. Robert,disillusioned by the war's failure to accomplish …
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April 1919. As Downton Abbey prepares for Lavinia and Matthew's wedding, Sybil and Tom shock the family by announcing their intention to move to Dublin, where he has work, and marry. However, events are overtaken and the marriage put on hold when Carson, Cora, Lavinia and others fall sick with the Spanish flu. Thomas uses the situation as an excuse to get his job back but Lavinia, aware of Matthew's feelings for Mary, suggests that the marriage be called off. After admitting their mutual feelings, Jane gives Robert her resignation her young son's future assured, …
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At Christmas 1919 the Crawleys welcome Edith's former suitor Sir Anthony,now a war invalid, who tells her that he is too old for her,and Robert's sister Rosamund with her beau,the raffish Lord Hepworth. Sybil writes to announce her pregnancy. After Carlisle's selfish attitude towards the servants and his jealousy when Mary accompanies Matthew to visit Lavinia's grave, Robert prises from his wife the fact that the newspaper baron is effectively blackmailing his daughter into marriage to keep her secret and,on her father's advice, Mary breaks off the engagement,knowing …