Peerage & Titles
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Note: The author is
not a citizen of the United Kingdom and takes all blame for any
mistakes, perceived or real, in the information presented here.
The information here is intended to be brief and
simplified for use in roleplay character creation and is not
considered reference material for the British Peerage.
Everyone in
Victorian times knew exactly where they and all of their
associates stood in rank and precedence of the empire. It
was crucial to know this information because it is tied into
many customs of that time. As an example of this, one must
always introduce a person of lesser rank to a person of higher
rank. Therefore you needed to know the rank of every
individual you associated with.
Royalty & Peerage The Royal family has been at the head of the leadership, the rituals, customs, and traditions, of the British Empire for almost a thousand years. It is currently the reign of Queen Victoria who became Britain's monarch in 1837. The Peers of the realm are people who have inherited a title or had one bestowed upon then by the monarch. This system traces its roots back to feudal times when peers were vassals of the monarch and had sworn their loyalty to them in exchange for a fief or protection. These vassals eventually formed the House of Lords part of the Parliament of Great Britain. There are five distinct titles that a peer can have. Many peers have more that one title and often the higher rank the more titles one has. The tittles, in order of precedence, are:
All of these titles are hereditary passing from father to eldest living son. A woman may hold one of these titles if there are no sons to inherit the title. Titled Non-peers
There are two other titles that a person may have Knight and Baronet. Neither of these titles are part of the peerage so are not part of the House of Lords.
Territorial designation of the
Peerage
A territorial designation of a peer title is usually derived the the place where that peer has an connection with or resides. In earlier times, though to a lesser extent in the 1800's, land was bestowed at the time the title was created. The peer and their ancestors then collected rents from that land. Traditionally this was the source of a peer's wealth. Note that this territorial designation is defined when the title was first created / conferred onto a person. Generally this is needed to avoid confusion since peers can easily have the same surname. As an example the title "Duke of York", this title is generally given to the second son of the British monarch. The use of the territorial designation is mostly for formal occasions only or when needed to disambiguate two peers.
Courtesy Titles
Courtesy titles are used for children, wives, former wives, husbands, and some close relatives of a peer. These titles are "by courtesy" since the the person holding a courtesy title generally is not a peer themselves. Forms of Address
How are all these titles used by a person in the victorian era? It depends on the situation, but from a simplified view it can be broken down into introductions and informal speech. Please note that this is heavily simplified, the correct forms of address are quite detailed and extensive. The most confusing, at least to the author, is the title used for the eldest son. The eldest son may use a courtesy title selected from the highest title their farther bears but of lesser rank than their father. For that reason the information addressing the eldest son of a peer has been left out. Duke title definition:
Marquess title definition:
Earl title definition:
Viscount title definition:
Baron title definition:
Baronet title definition:
Knight title definition (male only):
Dame title definition (female knight):
Professional Titles
The peer and non peer titles defined previously had a fairly clear hierarchy. Professional titles conferred by attaining a specific job also had titles and precedence. There are far to many professions, each with it's own distinctions to discuss here, but realize that their titles were also very import as they helped define ones place in society. A person had to know what profession each of their acquaintances was in as well as their rank in that profession. In any formal speaking or writing a persons professional title was added. There were professional titles much like they are today for Academics, Military, Diplomats, Government Officials, the Legal System, Medicine, Police, and Religious Orders. A few examples of professional titles are:
Non-Titled persons
Persons that did not have a formal title were still honorifics when their name was uses in address people, written documentation and common speech. This practice is still in use today in most European countries, though is was more formal in victorian times.
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