Mr Matthew Crawley

Matthew Crawley (played by Dan Stevens) is the son of the late Dr. Reginald Crawley and Mrs. Isobel Crawley. He is Lord Grantham's third cousin, once removed. A qualified solicitor working in Manchester, he finds himself the heir presumptive to an earldom and a large estate and he is invited to move there and to become part of the local community. He eventually agrees but only if he can continue to work, at first finding it difficult to adjust to his change in lifestyle. After initially acting in a lukewarm fashion to each other he and Mary begin to fall in love. It is thought the two will marry, though when Cora becomes pregnant and there is a chance that Matthew, the heir presumptive, will not inherit the earldom after all, Mary is advised by Rosamund to refuse his proposal. Unfortunately, Cora miscarries when she slips in the bathroom, and so there is no longer any doubt about Matthew being the heir to the earldom, Matthew withdraws his proposal from Mary after she hesitates to accept him. He remains unsure if she loved him or just wanted him because he was once again the heir. He later becomes engaged to Miss Lavinia Swire, daughter of a London businessman. Following the outbreak of the First World War he volunteers to join the British Army where he is injured whilst serving alongside William Mason, who saves his life by shielding him from an explosion and who later dies from his wounds. Matthew is paralysed from the waist down, and despite being told that he can no longer have children, Lavinia continues to care for him and does not call off the engagement. Following a miraculous and happy recovery, he and Mary realise that they are still in love, but he informs her that Lavinia's efforts to recuperate him even when it was thought that he could not have children mean that he cannot break up their relationship, for he is indebted to her. When Lavinia dies of Spanish influenza at Downton, he is plunged into grief and vows that neither he nor Mary deserve the happiness they want by being together, because it would be an insult to Lavinia's memory. He is later persuaded to think differently, and proposes to Mary in January 1920, and she accepts.