Ralph Selfridge was the grandson of Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges department stores. A character based off of him was used for the TV show Mr Selfridge. In real life, Ralph grew up to work on the sidewinder missile project and was considered the grandfather of digital simulation. Ralph Selfridge was my grandfather, he passed away in 2008; but I'm glad the show put him in the story. To my knowledge, he was raised by the servants more than his parents; and thus had more of a servants accent.