![]() Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur/Lady DoyleĢThe title earl derives from Anglo-Saxon and is equivalent to the European title count.ģDepending on whether the title included a geographic location or simply a name.ĤA baron was almost never spoken of or addressed as Baron a famous example is the poet Lord Tennyson, who was created a baron.ĥThe female peerage found the use of the title lady by the lower ranks annoying some apparently wished the wives of knights would resume their old title of dame. Sir Eustace Brackenstall, Sir Eustace/Lady Brackenstall The Earl/Countess of Blackwater OR Earl/Countess d’Albert 3 While distinguished doctors or lawyers might be made baronets, knighthoods might be bestowed even on people who were-horrors!-“in trade.” Titles and Forms of Address Rankĭuke/Duchess, if you’re in the nobility or gentry Your Grace, otherwise Knighthoods were not hereditary, and thus much less prestigious. Like a peerage, a baronetcy was hereditary, but baronets didn’t sit in the House of Lords they were considered the upper reaches of the gentry (whom, along with lesser folk, we’ll discuss another time). (Then came gentlemen and lesser folk, whom we’ll discuss another time.) Holders of these titles were not peers and had much less influence in society, though they might be prominent in their local area, as was Sir Charles Baskerville, a baronet. Significantly below the peerage were baronets and knights. A character in “The Priory School,” for example, was the Duke of Holdernesse, Earl of Carston, Baron Beverley. Peers could receive promotions, with previous titles trailing after the current one. Brand-new peerages were considered tacky in the 1880s, a lord chancellor requested that the title be granted to his father so that he himself would be the second Lord whatever. (While titles were and are officially bestowed by the monarch, he or she often did so at the behest of the Prime Minister.) In addition, very wealthy lawyers, lord chancellors, and-oddly-brewers became peers, as did military heroes like the Duke of Wellington. They were frequently awarded for service to the political party in power. While some titles were very old, a great many peerages were not. The well-known phenomenon of a lord marrying an heiress with no title-perhaps even an American-arose because most estates were “entailed,” meaning that the peer was unable to sell any of the land to raise funds, whether to pay the not insignificant costs attached to maintaining the estate or the expenses of keeping up social appearances. These relatives of peers ranked below the titled nobility, though they had higher status than other commoners.Ī lady marrying a peer acquired his noble status. Note that in each generation, only one child, the heir, was ennobled the others were legally commoners, though generally given the courtesy title Lord or Lady (a famous recent example was Lady Diana Spencer). The complete lack of any qualified male heir would usually mean the end of that peerage. In most cases, whoever inherited the title also inherited the manor. (Today, no new hereditary peerages are created those honored with titles, such as Baroness Thatcher, receive only life peerages.) The title generally passed to the peer’s eldest son, or, if he was no longer living, to his heir, then to a brother, then to another male direct descendant of the original title-holder, no matter how distant. Titles were always hereditary, except for a very few “life peerages” created in the late 1800s, which died with those receiving the honor. Each rank of the peerage had a distinctive coronet. Since the Canon never follows cases beyond the arrest of the perpetrator, Watson had no opportunity to report on such a trial.įor extremely formal ceremonial occasions, such as a coronation, peers would wear coronets (whether or not they were ornamented with beryls). Apart from social precedence, huge wealth, and giant estates, their only significant legal privilege was the right, if charged with a felony, to be tried by the House of Lords rather than by a court. ![]() When someone referred to a “lord,” they always meant a peer or one of his children. In the case of two peers with the same title, the one whose title was older took precedence. ![]() They were dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons, in descending order of rank. Immediately below the royal family came the peerage (aka the nobility), who, with the bishops and archbishops of the Church of England, composed the House of Lords. ![]() So let’s take a quick look at British titles, precedence, and correct forms of address. Americans in particular can find the British status system and titles of nobility confusing, and they were much more important in the days of Sherlock Holmes. ![]()
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