I'm gonna go ahead and say I read Victorian romances lol.
However fairly recently I was wondering about how accurate exactly some parts were.
For example "the ton" as I understand involved nobility or those with ties to a title. The ton had a "season" where young ladies would basically debut as eligible for marriage and try to snag a husband. This included many house parties, horse rides, etc. They often talk about "snubbing" or "cutting" someone out of the ton. What did this entail? They seemed to have a lot of respect for etiquette and polite society's opinions. What was their etiquette and specifically what were things that ladies and lords could do to insult or use as an attacks against someone, without verbalizing said insult. So for example passive aggressive shows of superiority and competition. I'm Particularly interested on wardrobe decisions and of certain styles of dress were seen as statements of allegiances, snubs, or taunts. I apologize for my poor wording but for some reason I can't find a more eloquent way to explain it.
Big subject. I can answer part of it. To cut someone was simply to not acknowledge their greeting: you're walking on the street, you meet someone you know, extend your hand , doff your hat and bow, etc. and they pretend to not notice you. To rub it in, a " cut direct", they might wait until you have come up and then turn aside to speak to someone. It was a very serious insult: befitting someone who's publicly beating his wife or, worse, not paid a gambling debt.
A powerful person would therefore face a problem: if someone simply walked up and wanted to ask for anything- railroad stock futures, getting a place in their great house as a servant, etc- they couldn't easily escape without insulting the petitioner, and the petitioner did not want to be publicly shamed. This is why there was much made of introductions: friends , letters from friends or relatives: mechanisms to arrange, allow either a greeting and meeting, or to politely refuse one.
Beneath it all is the question of reputation, honor and trust. It was not simply manners. Corporations were not common- if you joined a company, to create a business, you not only agreed to put up your money for the venture but you were liable for the other members' debts- if one had put 1,000 pounds into the cotton mill and then went bankrupt, his creditors could arrive at the mill and start hauling away machinery. Honoring your promises and being seen as reliable was seen as crucial to being able to actually succeed.
This is only regarding etiquette among men. For a woman- especially single woman- to be greeted by a man , or a married woman to be greeted by debutante, there were even more complexities. For all the Jane Austen-recounted problems of the rituals of being brought out into society at adolescence...someone else would have to address those.