The Ranks and Titles of Britain’s Class System

I'll share with you a little British class history

For many centuries in Great Britain, they had really strict class systems and those class systems although are not as strictly followed as they were centuries ago, still hold value, is recognized and well used in British culture. The class system determined and marked a person's place in society and they expressed them in terms of titles added to their names. At the very top of pinnacle of their hierarchy was the title of King or Queen.

The monarch was the highest authority in the land and that meant all ranks of society fell underneath the person who had that title.

Below the monarch are the nobles. These were great families of landowners, powerful wealthy families in their days who had acquired their lands, power and some special titles long ago.

Their ranks were passed down from one generation to the next. The highest title amongst the nobles was Duke or Duchess and below the Duke or Duchess were the Marquess, then we have the Earl, then the Viscount and finally the Baron. These five ranks together made up what they call the peerage. For many centuries, these peerage members grew in wealth and got lands but were also given the right to sit in the House of Lords and officially contribute in making laws for the country.

There are still ranks below the peerages, these people still enjoyed honor but were not in the peerage. People like the knights and the baronets. A knight was a man who had been honored by the monarch for acts of valor, service or a significant achievement. He had the right to place the title "Sir" in front of his name.

A baronet was rather high compared to a knight and unlike knighthood the baronet title could be inherited from father to son. Still though, both knights and baronets were beneath the lowest levels of nobles.

Just a step below came the rank of gentleman. Nowadays when we say gentleman, we're usually referring to any man who is polite and well behaved in society. However, in the strict British class system of the past, the term had much more specific connotations. A gentleman was mostly the publicity term for someone who came from a respectable family and who normally did not do manual work, as in actual work for his living.

So this meant that a gentleman was considered above ordinary workers or farmers but still below a baron, the lowest title of the nobles. You could also say that a gentleman was just below the degree of nobility and was like the upper level of commoners.

Commoners were the foundation of society. This is by far the largest group of the society, and is made up of all the people who did not have a title. But even amongst the commoners, there were differences. They have the prosperous merchants, the tradesmen and professionals who had some level of influence in society and lived relatively wealthy comfortable lives as compared to poor farmers and some laborers who lived very difficult lives.

Although Britain has changed so much and society has adopted the concept and culture of equality more now than before, the ranks and titles are remembered. Not all are still being used but it's the history of Great Britain and still has some impact on British tradition and culture to this day.

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