• Titles Four: The Gentlemen are Coming

After a long break I feel motivated to continue this so I hope it continues to be useful. (Go to the main page to see what else I’ve covered.)

This section is about the gentry, the class below the aristocracy. We’re still talking about the upper classes here, but these are men without aristocratic titles. We’re talking about gentlemen: baronets, knights and landowners without titles.

Baronets

A baronet (abbreviated to Bart. or Bt.) is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy, awarded by the crown in the same way as an aristocratic title. A baronet stands below a baron in precedence and the baronetcy is handed down from father to eldest son (or nearest male relative) in the same way as a title.

A baronet is known as “Sir Firstname Surname”. He is never known as “Sir Lastname” and he does not possess a title.

Examples of baronets are Sir Anthony Strallan, Sir Walter Elliot, Sir Lewis de Bourgh, Sir Thomas Bertram.

Knights

In terms of how a knight is titled, they are identical to baronets, but their knighthood is not hereditary. The “sir” belongs only to the person who possesses the knighthood and his eldest son will not be more than a mister. A man is generally knighted for some particular service to the realm or monarch, particularly for military services, though success at trade or business produced many knighthoods as well. It was a way for the contributions and power of wealthy individuals, often from middle or lower class backgrounds, to be acknowledged and for them to be propelled into the upper classes.

Examples of knights are Sir Richard Carlisle and Sir William Lucas.

Forms of address

As mentioned above, knights and baronets are identical in terms of how they are addressed. I shall take the family of Sir Thomas Bertram, his wife Maria, his sons Tom and Edmund and his daughters Maria and Julia.

Knight/baronet: Sir Thomas Bertram, Sir Thomas

Lady: only Lady Bertram*

Eldest son: Mr. Bertram (Master Bertram if a child)

Younger son: Mr. Edmund Bertram, Mr. Edmund (Master Edmund if a child)

Eldest daughter: Miss Bertram

Younger daughter: Miss Julia Bertram, Miss Julia

* If Maria had possessed an aristocratic title by virtue of being the daughter of a duke, marquess or earl then then her aristocratic title would have trumped her husband’s knighthood/baronetcy and she would have retained it, being known as Lady Maria Bertram. More on that in the next section.

When Sir Thomas dies, his eldest son will become Sir Thomas. If he had been a knight then he would have remained Mr. Bertram even on his father’s death.

Untitled Gentry

The untitled gentry consist of “gentlemen”. In other words, men and their families who do not work because they possess a private income and lead a leisured life, despite not having a title. What this really means is that they own a country estate and make money out of it by collecting rent and investing in land.

There can be massive discrepancies in wealth and influence within this sub-class as can be seen in Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Bennet owns one small estate which he will lose on his death due to the entail. His daughters have never been to London for the season and didn’t even have a governess. He has an income of about £2000 a year. Mr. Darcy on the other hand owns one of the largest and most prosperous estates in Derbyshire, has an income of £10,000 a year, is the grandson of an earl and well known in fashionable circles in London, where he also owns a townhouse. And yet they belong to exactly the same social class. This is what Elizabeth means when she responds to Lady Catherine’s objections to her marriage with Darcy by saying, “He is a gentleman. I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.” This is more than rhetorical - she is stating a fixed truth about the social classes to which they belong.

Mr. Bingley can also be brought in here. He is nouveau riche from the north of England. His father made a fortune (presumably in trade) which he left to Charles. It is up to Mr. Bingley to purchase his country estate and establish himself as a member of the gentry, which he does after the end of the novel. This is the same principle of social movement seen in Sir Richard Carlisle’s purchase of Haxby. Both men are keen to get the estate which will say that they’ve “made it” and make an advantageous alliance into the historic upper classes.

The way to address a gentleman and his family is identical to anyone else without a title. We will use the family of Mr. Morland.

Mr. Morland is married to Mrs. Morland. His eldest son is Mr. James Morland. His younger son is Mr. Harry Morland. His eldest daughter is Miss Morland. His younger daughter is Miss Sally Morland.

The way children are addressed is the same for any children who don’t have titles, from the children of viscounts down to the children of servants.

Coming next: Women and marriage and titles

posted 1 year ago with 10 notes

• Titles Three: Peer Pressure

It’s time to get to the bit you’ve been waiting for! Actual titles. Yippee! And now you might understand what they mean a bit more. This section you basically need to just learn off by heart, like times tables.

All of this can be found in much more detail here.

DUKES

The first thing you need to learn about dukes is that they are special. Among the dukes are the Royal dukes – Duke of Kent, Duke of York – who stand a rank above ‘ordinary’ dukes. The second thing you need to know is that dukes and duchesses are never called “Lord Title” or “Lady Title” like other peers, only ever “Duke of Title” or “Duchess of Title”.

We will be dealing with the family of George Dunford, Duke of Claitonborough and Marquess of Pangbourne and his wife Jane, Duchess of Claitonborough.

Duke: His Grace, the Duke of Claitonborough

Addressed as: Duke (by social equals) or Your Grace (by social inferiors) on first address; subsequently Sir

Letters addressed to: My Lord Duke (formal) / Dear Duke (informal)

Signs his name: Claitonborough

Duchess: Her Grace, the Duchess of Claitonborough

Addressed as: Duchess (by social equals) or Your Grace (by social inferiors) on first address; subsequently Madam or Ma’am

Letters addressed to: Madam (formal) / Dear Duchess (informal)

Signs her name: Jane Claitonborough

Eldest son: George Dunford, Marquess of Pangbourne

See “Marquess” below

Younger son: Lord Anthony Dunford

Addressed as: Lord Anthony; Dunford or Anthony among intimates

Letters addressed to: My Lord (formal) / Dear Lord Anthony (informal)

Signs his name: Dunford or Anthony Dunford

Daughter: Lady Elizabeth Dunford

Addressed as: Lady Elizabeth; Elizabeth among intimates

Letters addressed to: My Lady or Madam (formal) / Dear Lady Elizabeth (informal)

Signs her name: Elizabeth Dunford

MARQUESSES

We will be looking at the family of Blake Pritchard, Marquess of Emerson and Viscount Morley and his wife Viola, Marchioness of Emerson.

Marquess: The Marquess of Emerson / Lord Emerson

Addressed as: Lord Emerson on first address, subsequently My Lord; Emerson

Letters addressed to: My Lord Marquess or My Lord (formal) / Dear Lord Emerson (informal)

Signs his name: Emerson

Marchioness: The Marchioness of Emerson / Lady Emerson

Addressed as: Lady Emerson on first address, subsequently My Lady

Letters addressed to: Madam (formal) / Dear Lady Emerson (informal)

Signs her name: Viola Emerson

Eldest son: Benedict Pritchard, Viscount Morley

See “Viscount” below

Younger son: Lord Frederick Pritchard

See “Younger son of dukes” above

Daughter: Lady Miranda Pritchard

See “Daughter of dukes” above

EARLS

We will be looking at the family of Matthew Crawley, Earl of Grantham and Viscount Downton and his wife Mary, Countess of Grantham.

Earl: Earl of Grantham / Lord Grantham

Addressed as: Lord Grantham on first address, subsequently My Lord; Grantham

Letters addressed to: My Lord (formal) / Dear Lord Grantham (informal)

Signs his name: Grantham

Countess: Countess of Grantham / Lady Grantham

See “Marchioness” above

Eldest son: James Crawley, Viscount Downton

See “Viscount” below

Younger son: The Honourable Reginald Crawley

Addressed as: Mr. Crawley; Crawley

Letters addressed to: Dear Sir or Sir (formal) / Dear Mr. Crawley (informal)

Signs his name: Reginald Crawley; Crawley

Daughter: Lady Penelope Crawley

See “Daughter of dukes” above

VISCOUNTS

We will be looking at the family of Adam Staunton, Viscount Louisburgh and Baron Bunowen and his wife Narcissa, Viscountess Louisburgh.

Viscount: Viscount Louisburgh / Lord Louisburgh

See “Earl” above

Viscountess: Viscountess Louisburgh / Lady Louisburgh

See “Marchioness” above

Eldest son: Linus Staunton, Baron Bunowen

See “Baron” below

Younger son: The Honourable Thomas Staunton

See “Younger son of earls” above

Daughter: The Honourable Felicity Staunton

Addressed as: Miss Staunton

Letters addressed to: Madam (formal) / Dear Miss Staunton (informal)

Signs her name: Felicity Staunton

BARONS

We will be looking at the family of Henry Layton, Baron Loseley and his wife Louisa, Baroness Layton.

Baron: Lord Loseley

See “Earl” above

Baroness: Lady Loseley

See “Marchioness” above

Son: The Honourable Henry Layton

See “Younger son of earls” above

Daughter: The Honourable Catherine Layton

See “Daughter of viscounts” above

A few notes.

The Honourable

This ‘title’ isn’t really a title at all and is given to the younger sons of earls and all the children of viscounts and barons. A person is never referred to in conversation as “The Honourable”, it is only used on the front of envelopes. It is therefore impossible to know if someone is “The Honourable” if you are introduced to them. They would just be introduced as Mr. Crawley or Miss Staunton as if they were not an aristocrat at all. Don’t overuse it!

The Honourable is also never used with Mr. or Miss. only the name itself. So, you would never write “The Honourable Miss Staunton” only ever “The Honourable Felicity Staunton”.

Lack of Courtesy Title

I’ve already covered this but I’ll just go over it again. If there is no secondary title in the family then the eldest son is addressed in the same way as the younger sons of that rank. So, Evelyn Napier is Mr. Napier because he has no courtesy title. If the Duke of Claitonborough had no secondary title, then his eldest son would simply be Lord George Dunford.

Since a barony is the lowest rank of the aristocracy, there can be no secondary title from which the eldest son could derive a courtesy title. Barons are the most common type of peer. If someone is just introduced as “Lord Title” the chances are they are a baron, and notice that you wouldn’t refer to one as “Baron Title”, only as “Lord Title”.

Still to come: The Gentry (baronets, knights and untitled gentry), what happens to aristocratic women when they marry, inheritance

posted 1 year ago with 13 notes

• Titles Two: Women and Children First

The centre of the aristocratic family is the peer himself. The titles of his wife and children (if they have any) are generated from his rank. They possess no aristocratic rank on their own merit but only out of courtesy because of their relationship to the head of the family. Only the wife of a peer has a real title, that of duchess/marchioness/countess etc. of Title but don’t be fooled into thinking that gives her any legal rights. She’s still her husband’s property just as much as his daughters are until they marry and become their husband’s property. More on what happens when the daughter of a peer marries in a later section because it gets very complicated, but if you understand properly that she is an aristocrat only by virtue of being her father’s daughter and that when she marries she will be her husband’s wife and take her rank from him, that’s good enough for now.

What about the peer’s mother and sisters? Well, they were originally the wife and daughters of another man who was head of his household and from whom they will have got their rank and any title that might be appropriate.

I should just digress for a moment to point out that peeresses in their own right did exist before someone reminds me of the fact. Yes, they did indeed. In certain very ancient families (mostly Scottish ones) inheritance of a title could pass equally between male and female children and you could end up with a daughter inheriting a peerage. Please note that this was very, very, very rare and depended entirely on the particular way the peerage was originally created by the monarch. It could not be added in as a change to an aristocrat’s will and it’s not going to be a legal loophole that someone is going to discover just like that. To all intents and purposes, unless you’re writing about a Scottish peerage dating from Medieval times knowing that such women existed is going to be utterly useless to you, but I felt I ought to point out their existence anyway. And bear in mind that peeresses still could not sit in the House of Lords until the mid-twentieth century or hold any of the positions open to peers – their husbands could in their stead. (Also note that inheriting a title is a different thing to inheriting property or money. There were plenty of heiresses at all periods of history.)

Yes, it really did suck to be a woman, even a rich and powerful aristocratic one, and the character of your father and subsequently your husband was everything.

I’m going to go into inheritance properly later on – that was just a digression from my main point which was that women had no power and were totally dependent on the head of the family. I’ve also established that in an aristocratic family the only person actually holding a title is the peer and his wife. And you will have realised by now that when it comes to talking about these people:

Earl of Title = Lord Title
Countess of Title = Lady Title

You can equally say “Robert, Earl of Grantham” and “Robert, Lord Grantham”.

But what about the other aristocrats who are called Lord or Lady but are not peers or their wives? What’s up with them? These titles belong to the children of higher ranking peers and are called courtesy titles, because they represent their dependent status in relation to the holder of the peerage. Literally, the duke/marquess/earl allows them to be called Lord/Lady Whatever out of courtesy.

What the exact titles are depends on what aristocratic rank you belong to and will be set out clearly in the next part. The purpose of this section is to explain the principle of them.

Courtesy Titles

There are two types of courtesy title for the children of a higher ranking peer. (The children of viscounts and barons do not have courtesy titles.) The first is expressed as Lord Firstname Surname and Lady Firstname Surname and applies to all the children of dukes and marquesses and to the daughters of earls. This is straightforward. So, Lord Gabriel Pritchard is the younger brother of the Marquess of Emerson, and Lady Viola Fitzgerald is the elder daughter of the Earl of Rotherham.

The second type refers to the title by which the eldest son of the peer may be styled. For example, the eldest son of the Earl of Grantham is styled Viscount Downton. In order to understand what is going on here, it is necessary to go very briefly into the creation of peerages. This is also a good moment to remember the order of ranks of aristocratic titles which you memorized in Part One!

The crown would award a peerage to a person for some kind of service. Now, sometimes (often) an existing peer might happen to acquire a second title, either because they rendered another service and were rewarded for it or because they inherited one from a distant branch of the family. Then the peer would have two aristocratic titles. One would be higher than the other and the peer would instantly adopt that as what he is known as. (If the newer title was awarded by the monarch then it would obviously be higher than the previous one but that might not be the case through inheritance. There are cases of a peer holding two earldoms, for example.)

What would become of the lesser title? It would still belong to the peer but he would have no immediate use for it. You can’t go around calling yourself “Robert, Lord Grantham, Lord Downton” even if that is technically the case. In this case, the eldest son and heir apparent (inheritance coming later!) would be called by this title as a way of showcasing the fact that the family has more than one title and to mark him as the eldest son and heir. He would also gain the precedence that comes from belonging to that rank and so would his family, so Lord Downton would have the rank of a viscount and his wife would be styled Lady Downton and have the rank of a viscountess. However, it is vital to understand that Lord Downton himself is not a viscount and that the benefits of the rank are entirely superficial, i.e. precedence at a dinner party. It is his father who actually holds the title. Lord Downton cannot sit in the House of Peers and he cannot hold any of the political positions open to members of the peerage. He is not a peer, only styled as one because one day he will inherit one.

If a peer has more than one secondary title then he will use the next highest as a courtesy title for his eldest son. If a peer does not have a secondary title then his eldest son will have the same title as any other sons. So, for example, Viscount Brankson clearly does not have a secondary title because his eldest son is called Mr. Napier rather Baron Something.

As an example of the above, I’m going to chart the development of the fictional Layton family. (Thank you, London Life!)

The Laytons were Barons of Loseley since the Norman period. Then in 1791 the current title holder, Henry, did something secretive and very important for his country during the French revolution and was awarded the Earldom Parry. Lord Loseley immediately became Lord Parry and his son also Henry, previously Mr. Layton, became known as Lord Loseley. His daughters, previously Miss Layton and Miss Phoebe, became Lady Catherine and Lady Phoebe. A few years later he died and Lord Loseley inherited the title and became Earl Parry. Several years later, by which time the second Lord Parry had married and had a son styled Lord Loseley himself, a childless great-uncle from another branch of the family died and left his title of Marquess of Crantock to Lord Parry. Immediately Henry became Lord Crantock and Earl Parry became his son’s courtesy title. His current full title is “Henry Layton, 7th Marquess of Crantock, 2cd Earl Parry and 18th Baron of Loseley.”

Now that you know about titles and courtesy titles and the difference between surnames and titles, I think you’re ready to find out what the titles actually were and how to address the holders of them!

Next part: dukes, marquesses and earls.

posted 1 year ago with 12 notes

• Titles Part One: A Class Act

Before delving into the nitty gritty of titles, it’s necessary to break down the British class system and understand what is meant by words such as “aristocracy”, “peerage”, “upper class”, “title” and so on. So without further do, here’s a brief overview of the class system.

There are three classes: upper, middle and lower. The upper class is split into the aristocracy and the landed gentry. The first thing you need to know that hierarchy is everything. Not just whether you are upper class or middle class, but whether you are a Marquess or an Earl. There is a strict and rigid system of precedence which cannot be broken. It affects the order you enter a room, who you sit next to at dinner and the way your name is written at the top of a letter. If you want to know whether the wife of a Marquess’ younger brother would trump the younger daughter of a Duke in precedence then there is an answer to that question (no she wouldn’t) and it matters. Getting this wrong could get you punished and mocked in society as much as if you use the wrong fork at dinner.

Having said that, there was class mobility, especially among the landed gentry and middle classes. Money could buy estates and provided it was combined with sufficiently good address and morality a rich middle class man could buy himself into the upper classes, though he probably wouldn’t be ever truly accepted – it takes several generations to settle. But if said rich tradesman with his purchased country estate (bought off an impoverished peer whose heir had bankrupted his fortune on horse racing and prostitutes) addressed someone by the wrong title, heaven forbid if he ever got a repeat dinner invitation! More on class mobility later.

Upper Class: Aristocracy

The aristocracy is at the top of the tree, only below royalty. The aristocracy is made up of men who possess titles and their direct families, in other words the following ranks, from highest to lowest:

Duke & Duchess

Marquess & Marchioness

Earl & Countess

Viscount & Viscountess

Baron & Baroness

Learn that order off by heart: it’s vitally important. These are the only people who would ever be addressed as “Lord X”. Lords are also known as being members of the peerage and they sit in the House of Lords. The title holder is the only person who can do so. His wife can’t, his eldest son can’t. It is from the title holder alone, the duke or marquess and so on, that the rank of his dependents stem.

The following are members of the aristocracy: The Earl of Grantham, The Duke of Crowborough, The Honourable Evelyn Napier, Ladies Catherine and Anne Fitzwilliam before their marriages (de Bourgh and Darcy)

Upper Class: Gentry

Below the aristocracy are the landed gentry. This is made up of men who have a private income deriving from land. The criterion to be a member of the upper class is to have a country estate and be a “gentleman” - in other words, morality and being the right sort of person comes into it. The gentry includes both the titled gentry (baronets and knights – those called Sir Firstname Surname) and untitled gentry.

The following are members of the landed gentry: Sir Anthony Strallan, Sir Walter Elliot, Sir Thomas Bertram, Sir William Lucas, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Mr. Bennet, General Tilney

Middle Class

The middle class is probably the hardest class to get a grip on. It wasn’t middle in the sense of wealth, for often members of the aristocracy could be impoverished and members of the middle class very wealthy. Broadly speaking it could be said that what defines the middle class is that they work for their living but are not in the working class. Um… Yes.

People in the middle class might belong to one of the traditional professions: church, army & navy, law, medicine, academia, politics. These were good, solid, respectable professions and good choices for the younger sons of the upper classes who needed to earn their own living. An elder son could rely on his inheritance but not all families could support younger sons as well. Colonel Fitzwilliam in Pride and Prejudice who is the younger son of an earl goes into the army. Edmund Bertram, Sir Thomas’ younger son, becomes a clergyman much to Mary Crawford’s displeasure – she would rather he would have picked the law or the army.

Other members of the middle classes are businessmen and tradesmen, who are more likely to make money. The nineteenth century was a period of great change and upheaval in this respect. The Empire, and the industrial revolution made it possible to amass large fortunes in India or in trade or in manufacture and the middle classes were bursting with men from less than highly born backgrounds shooting up in wealth and consequence and buying and marrying their way into the upper classes.

Sir William Lucas in Pride and Prejudice made his fortune in trade and was knighted for it, subsequently buying his country estate and being very proud of his entry to the gentry. Miss Bingley mocks his efforts to patronise her, forgetting that her own family comes from a similar background and her brother hasn’t even bought his country estate yet!

The middle class was probably the most fluid class there was. A bright spark from a lower class household who made good could become middle class… and it worked the other way too.

Lower Class

Those who are dependent on wages and low paid jobs for subsistence – factory workers, shop workers, servants, other disreputable types such as actors and prostitutes…

What is a title?

There are three ways people talk about titles. The first one is the most obvious: those words before our name that define our status in some way. I am a Miss, you may be a Mrs or a Mr or a Dr or a Rev or a Colonel or a Sir etc.

We also use “title” to refer to something that is somehow above the usual Miss/Mrs/Mr dichotomy. We say someone is titled if they are Sir, Lord, Lady or Dame. In this way it is possible to talk about the difference between titled gentry (Sir Anthony Strallan) and untitled gentry (Mr. Darcy).

However, there’s an important distinction to be made. And that is that these people do not actually have titles, at least not aristocratic ones. An aristocratic title is of somewhere. If you are the Earl of Grantham or the Duke of Crowborough then you have a title. This is in addition to your surname.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: title (Firstname Surname, Lord of Title)

Sir Anthony Strallan: no title (Sir Firstname Surname)

See the difference? Pay attention to this; understanding this will be important.

If you have a title then that is what your “Lord” is attached to, not your name. The following are all very, very wrong:

Lord Robert, Lord Crawley, Lord Robert Crawley, Lord Robert Grantham, Lord Robert Crawley Grantham

Any combination which is not Lord Grantham is incorrect.

The wife of an aristocrat has a matching title. She is the only woman in his family who possesses a title, but even that is not in her own right – it is because she is his wife. Still, she gets a title in the same way as her husband.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (Firstname Surname, Lady of Title)

All of the following permutations are also very, very wrong:

Lady Cora, Lady Crawley, Lady Cora Crawley, Lady Cora Grantham etc. etc.

I’ll be going into all of this in much more detail later and how it differs depending on what aristocratic title it has, but the point of this section is to show the difference between surnames and titles and how they are very different things and it mattes not to get confused between them!

You will have also picked up that “Earl of Grantham” = “Lord Grantham” and “Countess of Grantham” = “Lady Grantham”.

Good work! Until next time. :)

posted 1 year ago with 30 notes

• Rose Explains Titles: Masterpost

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response I got to the prospect of a thorough guide to titles, I thought I’d better get cracking on with it. I should say right now that this is going to be detailed and spread out over quite a few posts in hopefully manageable chunks. Why? Because I don’t see the point in explaining a couple of cases of why so & so should be addressed in one way and another person in a different way without explaining why.

It would be like someone studying Latin learning that “Caecilius est in horto” means “Caecilius is in the garden”. That’s all very well but without any knowledge of grammar they wouldn’t then be able to say “The garden belongs to Caecilius” even though it requires no extra vocabulary (hortus Caecilii est). The same applies to titles. I can say that “Mary will be addressed as Lady Mary Crawley once she has married Matthew” but without a thorough understanding of why that is, you’re not going to be able to go away from that and understand that “Edith will be addressed as Lady Edith Strallan once she has married Sir Anthony” for exactly the same reasons. This is going to be a grammar of titles.

My basis for this guide will be the 19th century, which would still apply in the early decades of the 20th century. I’m not really familiar with modern titles. My main resource is this page and a book I’ve got called “Titles and Forms of Address” by A & C Black. For examples, I will be using characters from Downton Abbey and Jane Austen wherever possible as obvious frames of reference. If examples aren’t given there, then I will be using characters from The London Life Regency RPG, so ones I know very well even if they are just names to you!

I’m not going to continue tagging these posts as “Downton Abbey” because they’re not really directly relevant, but if you want to follow them, please track the tag “Rose explains titles” or just follow me! (If you do that then you get the added bonus of fic updates – without a single title mistake in them, graphics made by other people and random other things that have no connection to anything- irresistible I know!) I will update this entry to contain links to all the entries I make here, so maybe bookmark this entry. Please do not copy any of its contents without contacting me and crediting. Thanks!

Part One: A Class Act

Part Two: Women and Children First

Part Three: Peer Pressure

Part Four: The Gentlemen are Coming

Part Five: There Ain’t Nothing Like a Dame

posted 1 year ago with 18 notes