British nobility

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The British nobility refers to the noble families of the United Kingdom.

The British nobility[edit]

The nobility of the four constituent home nations 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, dining rights in the House of Lords, position in the formal order of precedence, the right to certain titles (see below), and the right to an audience with the monarch.

In everyday speech, the British nobility consists of peers and their families; however, in a more strict legal sense it includes both the titled and the untitled nobility.[1] Members of the peerage carry the titles of Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. Peers ranked from Marquess to Baron are frequently referred to generically as Lords. However, the Scottish Baron, an official title of nobility in the United Kingdom, is addressed as The Baron of X. The untitled nobility consists of all those who bear formally matriculated armorial bearings.[1] Other than their designation, such as Gentleman or Esquire, they enjoy no privilege other than a position in the formal orders of precedence in the United Kingdom. The largest portion of the British aristocracy have historically been the landed gentry, made up of baronets and the non-titled armigerous landowners whose families hailed from the mediaeval feudal class (referred to as gentlemen due to their income solely deriving from land ownership).

Scottish lairds' names include a description of their lands in the form of a territorial designation.[2] In Scotland, a territorial designation implies the rank of "Esquire", thus this is not normally added after the name; Lairds are part of Scotland's landed gentry and—where armigerous—minor nobility.[3]



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 almost always uses one of his father's subsidiary titles as a courtesy title; for instance, the eldest son of the Earl of Snowdon is called Viscount Linley.


In 1958, the Life Peerages Act enabled (non-hereditary) life peers to sit in the House of Lords, and from then on the creation of hereditary peerages rapidly became obsolete, almost ceasing after 1964. This, however, is only a convention and was not observed by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who asked the Queen to create three hereditary peerages (two of them, however, to men who had no heirs). Until changes in the twentieth century, only a proportion of those holding Scottish and Irish peerages were entitled by that title to sit in the House of Lords; these were nominated by their peers.

Until constitutional reforms in 1999, possession of a title in the peerage (except Irish) entitled its holder to a seat in the House of Lords. Since then, only 92 hereditary peers are entitled to sit in the House of Lords, of which 90 are elected by the hereditary peers by ballot and replaced on death. The two exceptions are the Earl Marshal (a position held by the Dukes of Norfolk), who is responsible for certain ceremonial functions on state occasions, and the Lord Great Chamberlain (a position held in gross and one of a number of persons can hold it), who serves as the monarch's representative in Parliament and accompanies them on certain state occasions; both are automatically entitled to sit in the House. Typically, those due to inherit a peerage—or indeed have done so, in recent times—have been educated at one of the major public schools, such as Eton or Winchester.

A member of the House of Lords cannot be a member of the House of Commons. In 1960, Anthony Wedgwood Benn 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. Titles, while often considered central to the upper class, are not always strictly so. Both Captain Mark Phillips and Vice admiral Timothy Laurence, the respective first and second husbands of Princess Anne, do not hold peerages. Most members of the British upper class are untitled.

Nobility: Peers and non-peers[edit]





Barons / Lords of Parliament of Scotland[edit]

Barons in Scotland (non-peers[5])[edit]

Gentry styles and titles[edit]

Baronets (styled as Sir)[edit]

Hereditary Knights (styled as Sir)[edit]

Knights (styled as Sir)[edit]

Clan Chiefs/Laird[edit]

Untitled members of the Gentry[edit]

  • Esquire (ultimately from Latin scutarius, in the sense of shield bearer, via Old French esquier)
  • Gentleman

Irish and Gaelic nobility[edit]


Chief of the Name was a clan designation which was effectively terminated in 1601 with the collapse of the Gaelic order, and which, through the policy of surrender and regrant, eliminated the role of a chief in a clan or sept structure. Contemporary individuals today designated or claiming a title of an Irish chief treat their title as hereditary, whereas chiefs in the Gaelic order were nominated and elected by a vote of their kinsmen. Modern "chiefs" of tribal septs descend from provincial and regional kings with pedigrees beginning in Late Antiquity, whereas Scottish chiefly lines arose well after the formation of the Kingdom of Scotland, (with the exception of the Clann Somhairle, or Clan Donald and Clan MacDougall, the two of royal origins). The related Irish 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.

Following the Norman invasion of Ireland several Hiberno-Norman families adopted Gaelic customs, the most prominent being the De Burgh dynasty and FitzGerald dynasty; their use of Gaelic customs did not extend to their titles of nobility, as they continuously utilized titles granted under the authority of the English monarchy.


See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b The Nobilities of Europe - Melville H. Ruvigny. p. 2. Retrieved 2016-12-06. 
  4. ^ Opinion of the House of Lords in the Buckhurst Peerage Case