Georgette Heyer's Regency World (2 page)

Duke or duchess was the highest rank in the British peerage outside the royal family. The title was conferred by the sovereign in gratitude for great service to the Crown and always included the words ‘of’ followed by a place—usually one which had relevance to the duke’s seat or history, hence the Duke of Salford. A ducal couple were addressed as Duke or Duchess, Your Grace, His Grace the Duke of Salford or Her Grace, the Duchess of Salford or, more formally, Most Noble.

Dating from the fourteenth century, the title of marquis denoted a man second in rank to a duke. As with a duke’s title, that of the marquis was also followed by a place-name, although this was not used in speech. A marquis’s wife was a marchioness. He would be the Most Honourable the Marquis of Alverstoke in writing, and together they would be Lord and Lady Alverstoke in speech.

Earl was the oldest title in the peerage, usually followed by a county or city name. The earl would be styled the Right Honourable the Earl of St Erth in correspondence, and he and his countess would be addressed as Lord and Lady St Erth in person.

The title of viscount was created in 1440 and was the fourth ranking title in the peerage. It was followed only by a name and did not use ‘of’ after the title—as in the Right Honourable the Viscount and Viscountess Lynton or, simply, Lord and Lady Lynton.

Dating from Norman times, the rank of baron was the most commonly held rank in the peerage and the title Baron was always followed by a place-name or other name. ‘Of’ may or may not be used—as in Baron Carlyon or Baron of Beauvallet. The wife of a baron was a baroness. In writing he would be styled the Right Honourable the Lord Carlyon and in speech he and his wife would be addressed as Lord and Lady Carlyon.

The Gentry

The ‘Quality’ was a generic reference used by the middle and lower classes to describe anyone deemed to be a member of the upper class. Members of the peerage were automatically included as was anyone recognised as one of the gentry although, unlike the peerage, they might not necessarily retain a title as was the case with the well-to-do Squire in
Sylvester
, Mr Orde, and the impecunious but well-born Stacy Calverleigh of
Black Sheep
. Recognition of the Quality by those further down the social scale was usually immediate although, as Amanda Smith discovered in
Sprig Muslin
, a young lady of good birth travelling alone might not be treated by innkeepers or middle-class women with the degree of deference usually accorded to those of her class. Only the fortuitous arrival of the obviously aristocratic Sir Gareth Ludlow saved Miss Smith from the humiliation of being sent to a much less genteel hostelry down the road. As a group the gentry was less easily defined than the peerage (whose titles clearly set them apart) but it included wealthy landowners who held no title, baronets and knights, esquires and gentlemen. The latter two titles were slightly tricky in that the difficulties associated with determining who held authentic rights to them, together with the changing definition of the word ‘gentleman’, meant that many more people used the term than the upper class was willing to accept as one of themselves.

Baronet was the sixth ranking title after the five degrees of the peerage and the honour was established in 1611 by James I. A baronetcy was conferred by the sovereign and the title was hereditary in the male line (in Scotland it could pass to a female). The title enabled the holder to call himself Sir followed by his full name and his wife Lady followed only by the surname as in Sir Waldo Hawkridge and Lady Hawkridge.

Although lower in rank than a baronet, a knighthood conferred a similar right of title to that of the baronet and enabled the knight to call himself Sir followed by his full name and his wife Lady followed only by the surname, as in Sir Harry Smith. In speech he would be addressed as Sir Harry and she would be Lady Smith. Originally a medieval rank of chivalry, by the time of the Regency a knighthood could be bestowed on a man for a wide variety of services to the Crown or State.

In medieval times the rank of esquire had carried with it a degree of honour almost equal to that of a knight. Over the centuries, however, the title had lost much of its meaning as more and more males outside the gentry attached it to their names in an effort to attain a higher level of respectability. In writing a man could style himself Fred Merriville, Esq., but in speech he was addressed simply as Mr Merriville.

The rank of gentleman was not conferred but rather applied to those who were obviously genteel or not ignoble but who held no other rank or title. By the time of the Regency a gentleman could be almost any man who did not have to work for a living and the term was often assumed by ambitious men or those with pretensions to class. Although there was no formal title for a gentleman it was not uncommon for a man with social ambition to style himself in his correspondence as, for example, ‘Swithin Liversedge, gentleman’, although in speech there was no distinction and he would be addressed simply as Mr Liversedge.

The New Middle Class, Nabobs and ‘Cits’

The term ‘middle class(es)’ was not actually used until 1832, well after the Regency, but the group of people it came to include were an important and growing force in the early nineteenth century. Those in the middle classes ranged from professionals such as financiers, bankers, prominent doctors, engineers and lawyers, government place-holders and bureaucrats, factory owners, wealthy merchants, nabobs and the well-endowed clergy at the upper end of the scale; to teachers, innkeepers, artists, master craftsmen, smaller merchants, shopkeepers, lesser clergy, and small freeholders at the lower end; while the doctors, lawyers and merchants of moderate means, yeoman farmers, prosperous builders, small manufacturers, chicken-nabobs and university dons took their places somewhere in the middle. A more elastic entity than the upper class, the middle class was forever shifting and changing, its boundaries and inner distinctions difficult to define. The vulgar but endearing Mrs Floore in
Bath Tangle
clearly belonged to the new middle class for, although her fortune was large and she had married above her station, her birth was humble and her manners would never be genteel.

From the late eighteenth century, men returning from India or the Far East with a large fortune made abroad began to be referred to as ‘nabobs’. During the Regency, nabobs were known for buying estates or a seat in parliament, or marrying their daughters into the aristocracy in a (frequently successful) attempt to enter society at a higher level than may have been open to them when they had left England. Unless they were of acceptable birth, like Miles Calverleigh in
Black Sheep
, most nabobs would climb only as high as the upper reaches of the middle class, and remain there, watching their children and grandchildren eventually become accepted as part of the aristocracy—as was the case with Jonathan Chawleigh of
A Civil Contract
. Chicken-nabobs were the much less well-heeled adventurers whose exploits in foreign parts had earned them a minor fortune—usually no more than fifty or sixty thousand pounds—or at least a competence, while overseas. They were called ‘chicken’ nabobs because their fortunes were smaller than those of the nabobs who returned home with enormous wealth.

The term ‘cit’ referred to the citizens of the City of London—those who ran or worked in the financial heart of the City and who were often of plebeian origins like Hannah Plymstock’s brother who so strongly disapproved of the aristocracy in
Cotillion
. Cits were also the merchants and shopkeepers who lived in the City, necessary individuals, but generally kept at arm’s length from the
ton
unless they were extremely wealthy.

Further Down the Ladder

Artisans and tradespeople were skilled workers who had a high level of expertise as well as labour to offer in return for an income. Some artisans were descended from a long line of master craftsmen and used their skills to build successful businesses, make their fortune and climb their way up the social ladder. By the time of the Regency it was not unknown for newly established peers of the realm to have had grandfathers (or even fathers) who had started life as artisans. Not all artisans were well off, however, and many managed to earn little more than the most successful among the labouring poor.

Servants could be difficult to place in the overall class hierarchy as there was great variation in earnings and living conditions depending on their role, the attitude and status of their employer, their wage and board arrangement, the opportunity for promotion or, in some cases, for lining their own pockets. A minority—mainly butlers, chefs, stewards and head gardeners working for royalty or the upper ranks of the nobility—earned large salaries, often at the rate of £100 or more per year. Most servants, however, earned from as little as £6 a year (scullery maids, maids-of-all-work, and stable boys) to approximately £40 a year for a Groom of the Chambers or a butler.

A rigid hierarchy was strictly observed within the servant class and its proprieties were often more closely adhered to by its members than was the case among their employers. Domestic servants were classed as either upper or lower servants and in large households the two groups ate separately, sitting in strict order of rank around the meal-table:

The Upper Servants

The Lower Servants

The cook (or male chef in a great house) was usually employed directly by the master or mistress of the house and paid more than the steward, and as such was often regarded as separate from the rest of the domestic staff. In
False Colours
, the great hedonist and gourmand Sir Bonamy Ripple had three cooks—headed by his French chef Alphonse—all of whom were ‘indispensable to his comfort’.

A servant’s standing was determined by his or her role in the household and the place of the master or mistress both in the family line and in society—a position which could change instantly in the event of a birth, death or marriage. The heir’s valet, for example, took precedence over a younger son’s valet. A family reunion in
The Unknown Ajax
brought two mature valets to Darracott Place, their places at table in the servants’ hall determined by their masters’ positions in the family line. When the new heir arrived at the house his youthful and inexperienced valet automatically took precedence over the two older men for, despite his young age, as the heir’s valet he outranked them both. A servant’s social position and standing were often jealously guarded and it was not uncommon for the upper servants to hold themselves aloof from the lesser servants or even to be snobbish about their employers’ guests or relatives deemed to be socially inferior. Miss Clara Crowle, as dresser to Lady Bridlington in
Arabella
, was allowed a good deal of licence with her mistress but when she dared to criticise her mistress’s young guest she stepped over the line and was chastised by her employer.