Downton Abbey Timeline Explained: Every Season & Movie

Downton Abbey: A Journey Through Time

Downton Abbey's timeline follows the lives of the Crawley family from 1912 to 1928. The series itself spans from 1912 to 1925, and the two movies from 1927 to 1928, which is when Downton Abbey: A New Era is set. In England, these decades were a time of rapid changes in social structures, with the rise of the working class, decline of the aristocracy, and WWI. Over the course of six seasons and two films, Downton Abbey entwines the fictional characters' stories with the true historical events going on around them both in the UK and the wider world.

Downton Abbey Aristocrats

Downton Abbey is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Downton Abbey Season 1: 1912-1914

The Downton Abbey timeline begins with season 1 in 1912, just after the sinking of the Titanic. Both of the male heirs to the Downton Abbey estate are believed to have perished in the disaster and a distant cousin, Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), becomes the next in line. Throughout Downton Abbey season 1's timeline, war is looming and the fabric of social life is quickly changing.

Downton Abbey Season 1 Mary and Edith

During these years, the UK saw the Liberal Government (1905-1915) in charge and a rise in movements for equality, such as the Suffragettes, in which Jessica Brown Findlay's Downton Abbey character, Lady Sybil, takes part. Downton Abbey season 1 ends with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the official start of World War I in August of 1914.

Mary and Matthew show affection in Downton Abbey Season 3.

Downton Abbey Season 2: 1916-1919

Season 2 picks up with the Battle of the Somme, which took place between July 1 and November 18, 1916. The second episode of Downton Abbey season 2 is set in April of 1917 when the war is in full swing, and the Crawleys decide to convert their estate into a war-time hospital, while several of the men from Downton join the army (including Matthew and footmen William and Thomas). Just as The Great War is ending in November of 1918, the Spanish Influenza pandemic takes hold, which lasted past the events of season 2 until 1920. The Downton Abbey season 2 Christmas episode takes place in the winter of 1919.

William stands in front of a manor in Downton Abbey.

In 1919, the world was recovering from the devastation of World War I, and the Spanish Influenza pandemic added to the challenges faced by the characters in Downton Abbey.

Downton Abbey Season 5

Downton Abbey Season 3: 1920-1921

Downton Abbey season 3 narrows the timeline to just two years, and is set between 1920 and 1921. Having come out of the war and the pandemic, the Crawley family contend with the loss of their fortune due to the Earl's failed investments in the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada and the Eastern United States, which went bankrupt between 1919-1920.

Downton Abbey Season 6

In the post-war period, many great estates struggled financially and were sold, a fate which Downton is determined to avoid. David Lloyd George was the Prime Minister during this time, up until 1922, and two brewing revolutions, that of Women's Suffrage and Irish Independence, reach Downton. In the season 3 special episode, the family spend time at Duneagle Castle, before Downton Abbey's tragic Dan Stevens exit/Matthew Crawley death.

Downton Abbey Season 4: 1922-1923

Downton Abbey season 4 also takes place over two years, 1922 and 1923, during which the Conservative Party took over the government and King George V was still on the throne. This season opens six months after the last episode with Mary and the whole family still grieving Matthew's death. As the 1920s get underway, Lady Rose (Lily James) experiences the socially progressive and more racially integrated jazz scene, and Socialist and anti-aristocratic views become more mainstream.

Downton Abbey Cora and Rose Buckingham Palace

In a special additional episode, Lady Rose is presented at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 1923, which is actually the first time Downton Abbey's Crawleys meet King George and Queen Mary.

Downton Abbey Season 5: 1924

Downton Abbey season 5's timeline covers just one year, 1924. Politically, this was a time in which the Conservatives and Labour party were jostling for political ground - an ongoing struggle that still represents the UK's political landscape today.

The Downton estate continues to modernize, as the younger generation (Mary and Tom Branson) clashes with the older generation (Robert Crawley) about the best way forward. The special episode at the end of Downton Abbey season 5 is set during a shooting party in Northumberland in the fall of 1924.

Downton Abbey Season 6: 1925

The final season of Downton Abbey, season 6, is set in 1925. Downton is becoming increasingly difficult to run as a private estate, and the threat of bankruptcy looms over the family. The rise of the middle class and growing fluid distinctions between social strata make for a lot of shifts in society.

The two-hour Christmas special series finale closes out the main Downton Abbey timeline on New Years Eve of 1925.

The Downton Abbey Movie: 1927

The Downton Abbey movie, released in cinemas in 2019, picks up where the series left off. This film version of Downton Abbey is set in 1927, during a fictional yet historically-plausible visit by King George V and Queen Mary to Downton.

Myrna getting out of the car in Downton Abbey a New Era

As the film ends, Mr. Carson is convinced that the Crawley family will still be at Downton a hundred years in the future, though with all the social and political changes the 15 years of the series witnessed, they have no idea what is to come.

Bertie looking serious in Downton Abbey_ A New Era

Downton Abbey: A New Era: 1928

2022's Downton Abbey: A New Era is set in 1928, and sees the Crawley family's story continue, with massive changes to the fates of several main characters. The Crawleys visit France at the invitation of a Marquis after the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley inherits a French Riviera villa. Meanwhile, back home in England, Lady Mary agrees to oversee productions for the silent film The Gambler at the Grantham estate, which covers the costs of much-needed house repairs.

Maud talking in Downton Abbey_ A New Era

This gives Mary a chance to dip her toes in showbusiness and ultimately results in the butler Thomas Barrow moving to Hollywood for a promising new life. The Downton residents and staff also become integral to ensuring that The Gambler gets finished. Notably, Downton Abbey: A New Era culminates in a happy ending for Tom Branson, who marries Lucy Smith, Lady Bagshaw's secret real daughter and sole heir to the Bagshaw estate, in a lavish ceremony. With their newborn infant, Tom and Lucy settle in Downton as a new portrait of Violet hangs in the main hall.

Lady Edith dressed up in Downton Abbey A New Era