1856: 'Etiquette for evening parties':

Punctuality is the soul of evening parties. Be careful, therefore, always to arrive to a moment at the time you are invited for. If the hour be not specified, as is occasionally the case, it is considered good breeding to call the day before and make enquiry of the servant. Your conduct in the supper-room must depend on circumstances. If it is to be a half-stand-up affair, ladies' business first and gentleman's pleasure afterwards, you will be expected during the first part to do duty of course as an amateur waiter; when, unless you practice well beforehand, you will no doubt contrive to cover yourself with jelly and confusion. But if the repast is to be a sit-down-all-together one, you may eat and drink in comfort, if only you take care not to have a lady next to you; otherwise, of course you'll have to minister to her wants instead of satisfying your own. In taking your departure, don't forget to make an offer of your thanks for the pleasant evening you have spent; and if you then proceed to shake hands all round with such of the guests as still remain, you will do much to confirm the favourable impression which your previous behaviour will doubtless have produced.

(Peterborough Advertiser)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.