AllMovie

From Shop Girl to Duchess was one of several harmonious professional collaborations between star Elizabeth Risdon and director Maurice Elvey. Orphaned at age 19, well-brought-up heroine Risdon is forced to go to work at a London department store. Almost immediately, she is propositioned by her lecherous boss, and when she refuses his advances, he frames her on a robbery charge. Meanwhile, a dying Duke, who had secretly married Risdon's predecessor at the department store, sends his representatives to find his wife and bestow upon her his title and wealth. Inasmuch as the Duke's wife has just been killed in a car accident, the representatives assume that Risdon is the woman they're looking for -- and that, gentle reader, is how our heroine is elevated from shop girl to duchess (not that this is the end of the story by any means).