British nobility
Encyclopedia
General History of British Nobility
The nobility of the four constituent home nationsHome Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on the context. Politically, it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom...
of the United Kingdom has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although in the present day even hereditary peers have no special rights, privileges or responsibilities, except for residual rights to stand for election to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and the right to certain titles (see below).
The British nobility consists of two entities, the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and the landed gentry
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
. Members of the peerage are titled (duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron), and frequently referred to as peers or lords. The rest of the nobility is referred to as the landed gentry
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
. Scottish lairds
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
' names include a description of their lands in the form of a territorial designation
Territorial designation
A territorial designation follows modern peerage titles, linking them to a specific place or places. It is also an integral part of all baronetcies...
. In Scotland, a territorial designation infers the rank of "Esquire", thus this is not normally added after the name; Lairds are part of Scotland's landed gentry.
Before the twentieth century, peerages were generally hereditary and (with a few exceptions), descended in the male line. The eldest son of a Duke, Marquess or Earl frequently has a courtesy title - often one of his father's subsidiary titles. For example, the elder son of the Earl of Snowdon is called Viscount Linley.
In 1958 the government introduced (non-hereditary) life peers and from then on the creation of hereditary peerages (except for members of the Royal Family) rapidly became obsolete, almost ceasing after 1964. This, however, is only a convention and was not observed by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
who had the Queen create three hereditary peerages (two of them, however, to men who had no heirs) and whose husband also received the hereditary non-peerage rank of baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
.
Until 1999 possession of a title in the English peerage entitled its holder to a seat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, once of age. The Scottish (since 1707) and Irish (since 1801) peerages elected some of their members to sit in the Lords. Since 1999 only 92 hereditary peers are entitled to sit in the House of Lords, chosen by ballot. A member of the House of Lords cannot be a member of the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. In 1960, Anthony (Tony) Wedgwood Benn, MP
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
inherited his father's title as Viscount Stansgate. He fought and won the ensuing by election, but was disqualified from taking his seat until an act was passed enabling hereditary peers to renounce their titles.
Dukes
- Dukes in Britain
- List of dukes in the peerages of the British Isles
- List of dukedoms in the peerages of the British Isles
Marquesses
- List of Marquesses in the peerages of the British Isles
- List of Marquessates in the peerages of the British Isles
Earls
- List of Earls in the peerages of the British Isles
- List of Earldoms in the peerages of the British Isles
Viscounts
- List of Viscounts in the peerages of the British Isles
- List of Viscountcies in the peerages of the British Isles
Barons / Lords of Parliament of Scotland
- List of Barons in the peerages of the British Isles
- List of hereditary baronies
Irish and Gaelic nobility
Outside the United Kingdom, the remaining Gaelic nobility of Ireland continue informally to use their archaic provincial titles. As a large part of IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
was nominally part of the United Kingdom and formerly England for several hundred years, the Gaelic system coexisted with the British system. A modern survivor of this coexistence is the Baron Inchiquin
Baron Inchiquin
Baron Inchiquin is one of the older titles in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1543 for Murrough O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who was descended from the great high king Brian Boru)...
, still referred to in Ireland as the Prince of Thomond. The Prince of Thomond is one of three remaining claimants to the non-existent, since the 12th century, so-called High Kingship of Ireland
High King of Ireland
The High Kings of Ireland were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland. Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from Tara over a hierarchy of...
, the others being The O'Neill
O'Neill dynasty
The O'Neill dynasty is a group of families that have held prominent positions and titles throughout European history. The O'Neills take their name from Niall Glúndub, an early 10th century High King of Ireland from the Cenél nEógain...
, and the O'Conor Don
O'Conor Don
The Ó Conchubhair Donn is the hereditary Prince and Chief of the Name of the Royal Family of Connacht, the Clan Ó Conchubhair.-Overview:...
.
Chief of the Name is most often a princely title in Ireland and so it is to be distinguished from the Scottish clan chief
Scottish clan chief
The Scottish Gaelic word clann means children. In early times, and possibly even today, clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the Scottish clan. From its perceived founder a clan takes its name. The clan chief is the representative of this founder, and...
, the difference being that nearly all the surviving Irish chiefs descend from provincial and regional kings with pedigrees beginning in Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, the Scottish chiefly lines being half as old and arising well after the formation of the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
, despite pleas to the contrary (with the exception of the Clann Somhairle
Clann Somhairle
Clann Somhairle refers to those Scottish and Irish dynasties descending from the famous Norse-Gaelic leader Somerled, King of Mann and the Isles. Primarily they are the Clan Donald, formerly known as the Lord of the Isles, and the mainland Clan MacDougall, and all their numerous branches...
, or Clan Donald
Clan Donald
Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
and Clan MacDougall
Clan MacDougall
Clan MacDougall is a Highland Scottish clan consisting of the descendants of Dubgall mac Somairle, son of Somerled, who ruled Lorne and the Isle of Mull in Argyll in the 13th century...
, the two of royal origins). The related Mór ("Great") is sometimes used by the dominant branches of the larger Irish dynasties to declare their status as the leading princes of the blood, e.g. Ó Néill Mór, lit. (The) Great O'Neill. In any case an Irish chief is properly addressed with his "sept
Sept
A sept is an English word for a division of a family, especially a division of a clan. The word might have its origin from Latin saeptum "enclosure, fold", or it can be an alteration of sect.The term is found in both Ireland and Scotland...
" name as his title, e.g. O'Neill of Clanaboy
Hugo Ricciardi O'Neill
Hugo Ricciardi O'Neill is the current head of the O'Neill dynasty of Clanaboy, whose family has been in Portugal since the 18th century.-Recognition:...
, and the inclusion of any other elements is unnecessary and may even be undesired (less often means more). O'Donovan
Morgan John Winthrop O'Donovan
Morgan John Winthrop O'Donovan , The O'Donovan, MC, held the position of The O'Donovan from 1940 to his death in 1969. He was the son of Morgan William II O'Donovan, The O'Donovan, and Mary Eleanor Barton, and was a descendant of Donal II O'Donovan, The O'Donovan of Clancahill, the last such to be...
is an example of a recent Irish chief in the British service.
Following the Norman invasion of Ireland
Norman Invasion of Ireland
The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford...
several Hiberno-Norman
Hiberno-Norman
The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...
families also became princely and adopted Gaelic styles, the most prominent being the De Burgh dynasty and FitzGerald dynasty.
See also
- PeeragePeerageThe Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, an exposition of great detail - Peerage of EnglandPeerage of EnglandThe Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....
- Peerage of ScotlandPeerage of ScotlandThe Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. With that year's Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were combined into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a new Peerage of Great Britain was...
- Welsh peersWelsh peersThis is an index of Welsh peers whose primary peerage, life peerage, and baronetcy titles includes a Welsh place-name origin or its territorial qualification is within the historic counties of Wales....
- Peerage of IrelandPeerage of IrelandThe Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
- Landed gentryLanded gentryLanded gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
- GentryGentryGentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
- Forms of address in the United KingdomForms of Address in the United KingdomForms of address used in the United Kingdom are given below.Several terms have been abbreviated in the table below. The forms used in the table are given first, followed by alternative acceptable abbreviations in parentheses.-Abbreviations:*His/Her Majesty: HM...
- British honours systemBritish honours systemThe British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...