Downton Abbey Season 2’s mystery had huge implications for who would inherit the estate and win the hand of Lady Mary. But who was Patrick?

Most who have seen, or even heard of, Downton Abbey probably think of it as a mild-mannered period drama and not a mystery. The series captured an era of rapid change at the beginning of the 20th century — down to the place settings and livery — but it also thrived on intrigue. Many of those plots not only added to the drama, but propelled entire seasons of the plot forward. One of the series’ most tantalizing mysteries, however, was never fully resolved, and it’s related to the incident that began the entire show.

Like most aristocratic stories, the central question hovering over Downton Abbey was one of succession: Who would succeed Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, and inherit the estate? Lord Grantham had three daughters, so control of the family’s wealth was slated to pass down to his closest male kin: Patrick Crawley, the only son of Robert’s late first cousin, James. But the series kicked off with the 1912 sinking of Titanic, on which Patrick was supposedly a passenger. When he was presumed dead, succession fell to the next living male heir: a distant cousin named Matthew Crawley, who was too middle-class for the Downton Crawleys’ liking. Before long, one character’s claim threatened to undo what everyone thought they believed about Patrick Crawley’s demise.

Who Was Patrick Crawley on Downton Abbey?

Patrick Crawley Was Robert Crawley’s Heir Before Matthew

Lord Grantham was bad with money and largely lived off of his American wife’s considerable dowry, so he’d hoped Patrick would wed his eldest daughter, Lady Mary. Lord Grantham’s middle daughter, Lady Edith, actually loved Patrick. For the better part of Downton Abbey‘s first two seasons, the main plotline followed Mary and new suitor Matthew Crawley on their contentious but passionate “will they, won’t they” journey to marriage. Yet, while the dial was still firmly on “won’t they,” everything changed for the Crawley heir.

The second season of Downtown Abbey took place as World War I raged on. Several of the men of the household, including Matthew, had enlisted in the British Army. To add to the romantic drama, Matthew Crawley got injured, seemingly paralyzed from the waist down. While his injury was tragic, it wasn’t fatal. Still, because of the preoccupation with bloodlines and heirs, it meant Matthew would likely never have children. Lady Mary loved him, but this put even more obstacles in their way. At the urging of youngest daughter Lady Sybil, Downton was temporarily converted into a convalescent home for recovering soldiers.

One of those wounded soldiers, identified as Major Patrick Gordon, arrived with his face and hands badly burned. He struck up a friendship with Edith. Eventually, he claimed he wasn’t Patrick Gordon, but Patrick Crawley, the rightful heir and her former love interest. Both Lady Mary and Lord Grantham were skeptical of the claim, since it meant the original heir lived. Mary didn’t want to marry him, after having promised herself to a right cad by the name of Sir Richard Carlise. Yet, because she loved Patrick, Lady Edith, on the other hand, wanted to believe.

How Patrick Crawley Allegedly Survived the Titanic Disaster

It’s Possible Patrick Crawley’s Survival Was Actually a Case of Misidentification

The would-be ​​​​Patrick claimed he survived the legendary Titanic shipwreck, being one of the last men pulled out of the icy waters. The trauma he suffered gave him amnesia afterward. He was misidentified and ended up in Canada, where he assumed the name Gordon, taken from a bottle of gin. When the Great War broke out, Patrick Gordon signed up for Princess Pat’s Infantry and shipped off to fight. He got seriously wounded in battle, sustaining the burns on his face. Improbably, the head trauma allowed him to recover memories of his previous life.

Gordon discovered Downton was being used as a convalescent home for officers, and he asked to be sent there. His burns made it impossible to verify his claims based on appearance or handwriting samples. He said he hoped to be recognized, but of course he wasn’t. What swayed Edith was the information only the real Patrick Crawley should have known. He could recall moments from his childhood at Downton and even shared a few of Patrick’s mannerisms, which nearly convinced Lord Grantham that he was telling the truth.

Most convincingly, Gordon professed his love for Edith and not Mary. He told her he knew of her feelings and even shared them. Yet, their familial duty meant they could never be together. Meanwhile, a dejected Matthew Crawley took the news poorly. He bitterly said it was good that Patrick had returned, as he’d be able to produce “a line of heirs” and keep the family line going. Matthew would be sent back to his middle class life, only now he was paralyzed from a war injury. However, Lord Grantham assured Matthew that he was and would always be a member of the family.

Was Downton Abbey’s Patrick Gordon Really Patrick Crawley?

Though the Mystery Is Never Truly Solved, It’s Possible Gordon was an Opportunist

There was no way to prove Gordon’s story, even after Lord Grantham sent a handwritten account of his story to a lawyer in London. With Edith’s encouragement, Gordon believed he was going to stay, and instead of accepting Lady Mary as his bride, he only had eyes for Edith now. Still, Lady Mary remained skeptical. When Edith talks about the things “Patrick” knew from their childhood, Mary guessed precisely the “memories” he shared. She said any kids who grew up in a place like Downton Abbey would have such stories.

Edith and her mystery man were foiled when the solicitor discovered that Patrick Crawley may have crossed paths with a man named Peter Gordon prior to 1913. The two worked together, meaning the real Patrick could have shared details of his life with Peter. The circumstantial evidence was enough to dissuade whoever the burn victim truly was. He wrote a farewell letter to Edith and signed it P. Gordon. He claimed he was doing it because there was “no going back,” and he wanted to spare Edith and the family pain. Gordon also appeared to be offended and angry the family didn’t immediately accept him. Yet, it is equally plausible he was just trying to earn himself a better life on the strength of a story he concocted from what Patrick told him.

The man behind the bandages never admitted he was a fraud. His letter implied his abrupt departure was an act of kindness, or at least fueled by a desire not to cause further trouble. Edith struggled to make sense of her feelings, because his affection for her seemed genuine. Neither Downton Abbey nor either of its films provided a definitive answer, but the show tipped its hat in the direction of Lady Mary’s opinion: that Patrick Gordon was almost certainly an opportunist who learned about Patrick Crawley’s death on the Titanic, and knew enough about him to briefly pass himself off as the heir. Had things gone his way — regardless of whether Patrick Gordon really was Patrick Crawley — it would have affected both the inheritance and several seasons’ worth of doomed romances, making Downton Abbey a drastically different show.

Why Downton Abbey Included the Patrick Crawley Storyline

While Downton Abbey does present an idealized version of the British royal aristocracy, at least via the central family, the series was about how the traditions worked as a caste system, especially under primogeniture. Since women weren’t able to inherit titles or property, Lord Grantham’s family was set to lose their home. Edith loved Patrick Crawley, but because of the rules of succession, he would have likely had to marry her sister instead. On one level, this story highlighted how Edith’s trouble “finding a husband” had little to do with her and more to do with the system under which she lived. Yet, there was another reason the show introduced this mystery and didn’t provide a definitive answer.

Downton Abbey also explores family and the relationships within them, which are difficult enough without royal titles and grand estates in the mix. Yet, because of the rules of primogeniture, it meant that family members were sometimes enemies. If it was really Patrick Crawley, the family greeted his miraculous return with suspicion and mistrust rather than open arms. Even worse, if the man was indeed Patrick Gordon, he was trying to insert himself into a family, manipulating their emotions, just to get a swanky home. Perhaps he truly did care for Edith, but she could easily just have part of his ploy. It’s perhaps the best storyline in the series to show how the aristocratic system even hurts those who are lucky enough to have been born a part of it.