British nobility

The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the gentry of the British Isles.

Though the UK is today a constitutional monarchy with strong democratic elements, historically the British Isles were more predisposed towards aristocratic governance in which power was largely inherited and shared amongst a noble class. The nobility of the four constituent home nations and crown dependencies therefore has played a major role in shaping the history of the British Isles, and remnants of this nobility exist throughout the UK's social structure and institutions.

Traditionally, the British nobility rank directly below the British royal family. In the modern era, this ranking is more of a formally recognised social dignity, rather than something conveying practical authority; however, through bodies such as the House of Lords, the nature of some offices in the Royal Household, and British property law, the British nobility retain some aspects of political and legal power.

The vast majority of the British nobility (in the Continental sense) is formed by the 'Gentry', which primarily consists of those who hold a coat of arms, but holds ranks including baronets, knights, esquires and gentlemen.

All ranks and titles of nobility in the British Isles are strictly personal and limited to the lifetime of the holder, though many can be transmitted by primogeniture, usually to heirs male of the body of the original recipient. Male-line descendants of members of the royal family, peers, baronets, knights and esquires do not sink below the rank of Gentleman as long as they are armigerous. Coats of arms are marks of nobility in Britain unlike on the Continent, where a grant of arms does not necessarily result in ennoblement or confirmation of nobility.^[1]

The British nobility should not be confused with the British upper class, though functionally the nobility may be said to make up a significant portion of the upper class. Those belonging to the upper or upper middle class are able to formally accede to the nobility by obtaining a grant of arms.

The British nobility in the narrow sense consists of Peers, not even including their wives. Members of the peerage carry the titles of duke, marquess, earl, viscount or baron (in Scotland historically lord of parliament). British peers are sometimes referred to generically as lords, although individual dukes are not so styled when addressed or by reference, and those holding some offices are afford the title "Lord" by courtesy.

All modern British peerage dignities are created directly by the Crown and take effect when letters patent are issued, affixed with the Great Seal of the Realm. The Sovereign is considered to be the fount of honour and, as "the fountain and source of all dignities cannot hold a dignity from himself",^[2] cannot hold a British peerage. Peerages inherited by the Crown, for example those held by the Prince of Wales upon the demise of the monarch, merge with it and can be regranted to a new individual.

Membership in the Peerage is strictly personal and for life (life peerages) though often heritable (hereditary peerages) primarily by Agnatic Primogeniture with some exceptions of Male-preference cognatic primogeniture. All British subjects who are not themselves Peers of the Realm are technically commoners, regardless of ancestry, wealth, or other social factors. This includes Princes of the United Kingdom who have not yet been granted a Peerage. The term "Commoner" does not imply that the person is not noble in the Continental sense, but rather that he is not a Peer and is therefore entitled to be elected to the House of Commons.

Unlike the feudal titles they replaced, peerages are not a form of property and cannot be transferred, bought, or sold by the title holder. Historically monarchs sold peerage titles under limited circumstances. This was often done to raise funds. For example, in the early Stuart period, King James I sold peerages, adding sixty-two peers to a body that had included just fifty-nine members at the commencement of his reign. Some governments through history also sold peerages to fund government activities, or more controversially, party activities. The selling of peerages by a government was made illegal in 1925 with the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. The act was the result of the administration of David Lloyd George selling a high number of controversial peerages. The Blair administration was later accused of trying to skirt this law in 2006 in the so called "Cash-for-Honours scandal", as was an aide of Prince Charles in the 2021 Cash-for-Favours scandal.

The vast majority of the British nobility is formed by the gentry. These individuals are commoners (in the British sense) who do not have a peerage, but possess another mark of nobility, or in the British sense, gentility.

Other than their designation, such as Gentleman or Esquire, they enjoy only the privilege of a position in the formal orders of precedence in the United Kingdom. The largest portion of the British aristocracy has historically been the landed gentry, made up of baronets and other non-titled armigerous landowners whose families hailed from the medieval feudal class (referred to as gentlemen due to their income solely deriving from land ownership). Roughly a third of British land is owned by the nobility and landed gentry.^[3]

The eldest sons of Peers who are Earls or higher and possess multiple titles may use their father's next-lower title by courtesy, their own eldest sons may use the third-highest title and so on. They are not Peers but remain Esquires until they inherit the substantive peerage themselves. Until 1999, they could sit in the House of Lords by virtue of a Writ of Acceleration.

Baronets are generally considered part of the gentry, being hereditarily titled but not Peers, and form the upper tier. They entitle the holder to the title "Sir/Lady [name]", and will be recognised as the "Baronet of [placename]". The position is therefore comparable with hereditary knighthoods in continental European orders of nobility, such as Ritter, rather than with knighthoods under the British orders of chivalry. However, unlike the continental orders, the British baronetcy system was a modern invention. Baronet titles cannot be bought and sold by the holder, however they were designed specifically to raise money for the Crown with the purchase of the title. No new Baronetcies have been issued since the 1980's, however there is nothing preventing future monarchs or governments from doing so.

In the British isles Knighthoods are not hereditary, with the exception of three Irish hereditary knighthoods created for their kinsmen by the Earls of Desmond. Since 2011, all bar one of the knighthoods are dormant. The only active one being the Knight of Kerry (Green Knight) – the holder is Sir Adrian FitzGerald, 6th Baronet of Valencia, 24th Knight of Kerry. Unlike other knighthoods they do not entitle the holder to the title 'Sir', but rather 'Knight'.

Knighthoods in the UK are typically honours associated with orders of chivalry, with knights ranking in accordance with these orders. The exception is the lowest tier of knighthood Knight Bachelor which is not associated with any order.

Historically the rank of Knight banneret (knights created by the sovereign on the field of battle) also existed, though it is disputed by historians whether any have been created since the time of George I. Traditionally these knights would rank above all other members of the gentry, including Baronets (or directly below Baronets depending on the terms of creation).

The rank of Esquire in the British isles was historically a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank than that of gentlemen. It dated from the military rank of squire, who was a personal attendant to a knight. In a more modern sense it served as a category indicating "candidates for knighthood", and was therefore typically associated with certain professions (such as judges, justices of the peace, and sheriffs). It was also associated with lords of the manor (who made up the traditional 'squirearchy'), as well as certain personal attendants and courtiers to the King, and those who had been presented with a Collar of Esses.

In a contemporary sense, Esquire is often used as a courtesy title in formal address, appended to a man's name when no other title is used, however this does not imply the recipient is actually considered to be at the rank of esquire. The heraldic authorities have specific criteria for who they consider to be an esquire.

A rare hereditary variety of English esquire is found in the West Country, primarily in Devonshire, called White Spur. Though it is possible there remain White Spur families in existence, the title is now not used. The form of usage or style was: "(Surname) the White Spur".

The untitled nobility consists first and foremost of all those who bear formally matriculated, or recorded, armorial bearings (a coat of arms).^[4] CILANE^[1] and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta^[5] both consider armorial bearings as the main, if not sole, mark of gentility (untitled nobility) in Britain. Those who are noble but have no higher title or rank are Gentlemen. The next-higher rank is that of Esquire, which is usually not considered a title.

The only kind of gentility that is transmitted to all descendants (in the male line) is that established by a grant, matriculation or confirmation of arms. Men entitled to arms are archaically called gentlemen of coat armour. Lyon Innes of Learney introduced the term Noblesse referring specifically to the Scottish armigerous gentry, but it is unpopular with some modern heraldic enthusiasts.

Those who hold titles but are not armigerous are considered by CILANE to only hold personal nobility,^[1] whereas hereditary nobility as established by a right to arms is vested in many families that have never possessed a hereditary title or even produced a Knight.^[5]

In Scotland, arms are only transmitted by primogeniture and younger sons must matriculate differenced arms. Nevertheless, male-line descendants of an armiger who have not yet matriculated differenced arms are usually also considered gentlemen by birth.

Sons of Peers, the primogeniture heirs of Knights as well as the heirs of certain individuals created such by the Crown are Esquires.

Certain offices and ranks confer gentility or even the rank of Esquire for life or for the duration of office. This includes barristers, professors, doctors, military officers and senior civil servants. Those who hold or have held personal gentility or the designation of Esquire by office are generally considered eligible for a grant of arms and can thus obtain hereditary gentility fairly easily.

Eligibility for a grant of arms can also be established by social status alone. There are no fixed criteria but it is generally understood that only a minority of those who would theoretically be entitled to a grant make use of the possibility.

A grant of arms made to a person who is not a subject of the King, i.e. not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm, does not constitute the recipient a member of the British gentry. However, later naturalisation has constitutive effect and a new warrant is not needed, unlike for turning a honorary knighthood into a substantive one.^[1]

Scottish and Irish Clan chiefs and chieftains form a rank of nobility. The title is hereditary but succession is more flexible than with most other titles. In Scotland, only those recognised as such by the Lord Lyon are considered legitimate Chiefs and there is a procedure for Clans currently lacking a chief to choose one.^[6]

Prior to the creation of the peerage, the nobility of the British isles was predominantly ordered according to feudalism. Feudal titles are the only titles that can be bought and sold freely by the holder, and are also not considered honours. For the most part there is no longer a formal tie between land and feudal titles in either England or Scotland, however many feudal titles are still connected to land rights. For example, the Marquess of Salisbury owns the mineral rights below Welwyn Garden City, not because of the peerage, but because he also owns the separate historic feudal title "Lord of the Manor of Hatfield" which granted these rights. Many feudal titles are still in the possession of noble families, and noble individuals owning Scottish baronies formerly enjoyed heraldic privileges. Some feudal titles held by Grand Serjeanty include (now) ceremonial offices of state, for example the King's Champion is an office held by the Lord of the Manor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire. It is debated whether any feudal title alone can in the present era afford nobility. In theory for example, a Lord of the Manor holds the rank of Esquire, but would only be considered noble if they also held a coat of arms, and the possession of such a title does not always guarantee eligibility.

The historically feudal title Lord of the manor continues to exist in England to this day, and the status of lord of the manor is often associated with the rank of esquire by prescription. Landed Lords of the Manor historically made up the majority of the gentry in England. A lordship of the manor does not entitle the holder to the title of 'Lord'. Ownership can be noted on request in British passports through an official observation worded, 'The Holder is the Lord of the Manor of [place name]'.

In Scotland, the approximate equivalent title to Lord of the manor is Laird. This rank is held only by those holding official recognition in a territorial designation by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. They are usually styled [name] [surname] of [lairdship]. The title of Laird cannot be acquired by purchasing a souvenir plot and Lord Lyon warns against the activities of companies purporting to confer it that way. Lairdships do not confer nobility in themselves if the Laird does not petition for a grant of arms, and the possession of such a title does not guarantee eligibility.

Scotland also maintains a system of feudal baronies, titles derived from lands once "erected into a barony" by the Crown. Barons formerly obtained the right to their title by owning such a plot of land. The Abolition of Feudal Tenure (Scotland) Act has turned Scottish baronies into incorporeal hereditaments no longer bound to land. Their holders may style themselves [name] [surname], Baron of [barony]. There are often Baronies that have the same territorial designation as a Peerage and the situation is further complicated by the fact that there are also feudal baronies at the rank of lord, earldom, marquessate and dukedom, decreasing in frequency with each tier. Innes of Learney maintained that Scottish barons are equal to Continental barons, however in the view of CILANE the possession of a feudal title is not in itself a mark of nobility.

The Barony of the Bachuil is a unique Scottish barony in two regards: firstly, because it belongs to whoever is the legal possessor of a particular ancient stick, and secondly, because it is held "By the Grace of God" making its holder the only person other than the King entitled to this style. The title is in the possession of the Chief of Clan Livingstone. The Barony is therefore considered to be allodial and not strictly feudal.

Unlike in Scotland, Feudal Baronies have been abolished in England and in Ireland.

In the Channel Islands, there are Seigneuries. The most notable Seigneur is that of Sark, who until recently enjoyed considerable legal privileges. Feudalism has retained a more prominent role in the Channel Islands than in the UK. The Channel Islands are remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and are held directly by the crown on a feudal basis as they are self-governing possessions of the British Crown. The 'Squirearchy' or seigneurial class has been paramount in the social hierarchy of Jersey and Guernsey for many centuries, and some of its members still participate annually in the Court of Chief Pleas in Guernsey and the Assize d'Heritage in Jersey. Seigneurs were (and are) commonly referred to by the names of their fiefs. Purchasing a Channel Island fief is possible for anyone, regardless of nationality or citizenship. However, this occurs infrequently, as fiefs tend to pass down within families.^[1]

Descendants in the male line of peers and children of women who are peeresses in their own right, as well as of baronets, knights, dames, and of non-armigerous landowning families are typically considered members of the gentry informally but must apply for a grant of arms to join a formal nobility association. Their social status will typically make them eligible for a grant.

The Monarch grants Peerages, Baronetcies and Knighthoods to citizens of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms at the advice of the Prime Minister. Honours lists are published regularly at important occasions. Hereditary titles have been seldom conferred on non-royals since 1965.

Untitled nobility, i.e. gentility, being identical to armigerousness, falls into the jurisdiction of the College of Arms and Lyon Court. Part of the Monarch's fons honorum—the power to grant arms—has been de facto devolved to Garter King of Arms and Lord Lyon King of Arms, respectively. A grant of arms is in every regard equivalent to a patent of nobility on the Continent; depending on jurisdiction and circumstances it can be seen as either an act of ennoblement or a confirmation of nobility.

Thus, along with Belgium and Spain, the United Kingdom remains one of the few countries in which nobility is still granted and the nobility (except for the hereditary peerage and baronetage) does not form a closed, purely "historical" class.

There is a number of positions, such as ceremonial offices in government, in public organisations and membership in orders of chivalry, that require existing nobility. Usually, the requirement can be satisfied by obtaining a new grant.

• Sheriffs of the City of London must be armigerous. This requirement can be satisfied by a new grant. One must have been a Sheriff to become the ceremonial Lord Mayor of London.
• Knights of Justice of the Venerable Order of Saint John must be armigerous. This requirement can be satisfied by a new grant.
• Admission to the Order of the Garter also requires a right to arms. This requirement can be satisfied by a new grant.
• Knights of Grace and Devotion in the British Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta must demonstrate 100 years of gentility in the male line. For Knights of Honour and Devotion, either 300 years of gentility in the male line or four armigerous grandparents are required. Newer armigers and non-armigers are admitted as Knights of Magistral Grace. There have been cases in which sons of Scottish heraldic heiresses were admitted to the noble grades based on maternal descent from a sufficiently ancient family.^[5]

In the 5th century, Germanic peoples collectively known as Anglo-Saxons migrated to sub-Roman Britain and came to dominate the east and southeast of the island. Around half the population were free, independent farmers (Old English: ceorlas) who cultivated a hide of land (enough to provide for a family). Slaves, mostly native Britons, made up the other half. By the late 6th century, the archeological evidence (grander burials and buildings) suggests the development of a social elite. The Late Antique Little Ice Age and the Plague of Justinian may have caused famine and other societal disruptions that compelled previously independent farmers to submit to the rule of strong lords. The Old English word for lord is hlaford ('loaf-guardian' or 'bread-giver').^[7]

The early law codes of Kent use the Old English word eorl ('high born', 'noble') to describe an aristocrat. By the 8th century, the word gesith ('companion'; Latin: comes) had replaced eorl as the common term for a nobleman.^[8][9]

By the 10th century, Anglo-Saxon society was divided into three main social classes: slaves, ceorlas ('free men'), and þegnas ('thegns', 'aristocrats').^[10] Thegn (Old English: þeġn) meant servant or warrior, and it replaced the term gesith in the 10th century.^[8] In 1066, there were an estimated 5,000 thegns in England.^[11] Thegns were the backbone of local government and the military. Sheriffs were drawn from this class, and thegns were required to attend the shire court and give judgment. For these reasons, historian David Carpenter described thegns as "the country gentry of Anglo-Saxon England".^[12]

Thegns were divided into three ranks: ealdormen, king's thegns, and median thegns.^[13] The ealdorman was an official appointed by the king to administer a shire or group of shires (an ealdormanry).^[14] In the 11th century, while England was ruled by a Danish dynasty, the office changed from ealdorman to earl (related to Old English eorl and Scandinavian jarl).^[15] After the king, the earl was the most powerful secular magnate. During Edward the Confessor's reign (1042–1066), there were four principal earldoms: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia.^[16] Below ealdormen were king's thegns, so called because they only served the king. The lowest thegnly rank were the median thegns who owed service to other thegns.^[17]

High-ranking members of the church hierarchy (archbishops, bishops and abbots) paralleled the secular aristocracy. The church's power derived from its spiritual authority as well as its virtual monopoly on education. Secular government depended on educated clergy to function, and prelates were important politicians and royal advisers in the witan (the king's council).^[18]

The Norman Conquest of 1066 marked the creation of a new, French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy with estates in both Normandy and England.^[19] This cross-Channel aristocracy also included smaller groups originating from other parts of France, such as Brittany, Boulogne, and Flanders.^[20]

When William I (r. 1066–1087) confiscated the property of the old Anglo-Saxon nobility, he kept 17 percent of the land as his royal demesne (now the Crown Estate). The rest was given to the Conqueror's companions and other followers. According to the Domesday Book of 1086, the rest of the land was distributed as follows:^[21]

• 50 percent went to greater tenants-in-chief
• 25 percent went to the church
• 8 percent went to minor royal officials and lesser tenants-in-chief

Land was distributed according to the rules of feudalism. Vassals were granted fiefs in return for military service and counsel. These vassals were called tenants-in-chief because they held land directly from the king.^[22] According to Domesday Book, there were 1,100 tenants-in-chief in 1086. Those with estates worth over £30 a year were considered the greater tenants-in-chief. Those with smaller estates were considered the lesser tenants-in-chief.^[23]

The greater tenants-in-chief constituted the highest ranks of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy: earls and the king's barons (see Feudal baron). The Normans continued to use the title of earl and equated it with the title of count (Latin: comes) used in Normandy.^[24] This was the only hereditary title before 1337,^[25] and it was the most exclusive rank within the aristocracy. Between 1000 and 1300, there were never more than 25 extant earldoms at any one time.^[26]

Below earls were the king's barons. Baron (Latin: baro) originally meant "man". In Norman England, the term came to refer to the king's greater tenants-in-chief. King's barons corresponded to king's thegns in the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy.^[27] Baron was not yet a hereditary title but rather described a social status.^[28]

The estate of an earl or baron was called an honour. Domesday Book identifies around 170 greater tenants-in-chief, and the ten wealthiest among them owned 25 percent of the land:^[21]

1. Robert of Mortain, the earl of Cornwall
2. Odo of Bayeux, the earl of Kent
3. William FitzOsbern, the earl of Hereford
4. Roger de Montgomery, the earl of Shrewsbury
5. William de Warenne, the earl of Surrey
6. Hugh d'Avranches, the earl of Chester
7. Eustace II, the count of Boulogne
8. Richard fitz Gilbert
9. Geoffrey of Coutances
10. Geoffrey de Mandeville

Domesday Book also records around 6,000 under-tenants. Earls and barons granted land to their own vassals in a process called subinfeudation. Their most important vassals were honorial barons, who were of lesser status than king's barons (see for example Barony of Halton). They corresponded to the lesser thegn of Anglo-Saxon England. Honorial barons were given manors in return for service and had their own tenants. For this reason, they were intermediate or mesne lords.^[29][30] These could also be wealthy and powerful, with some eclipsing the lesser important king's barons.^[31]

The lower ranks of the aristocracy included the landless younger sons of important families and wealthier knights (men who held substantial land by knight-service). Poorer knights (whose knight's fees were small) were likely excluded from the aristocracy.^[32]

By 1300, the knightly class or gentry numbered around 3,000 landholders. Half of these were dubbed knights, while the other half were styled esquire.^[33] The banneret was ranked below a baron but above a regular knight.^[34] There was overlap between this group and the "lesser barons".^{[note 1]}

The baronage (including barons, earls, and high-ranking churchmen) had a duty as tenants-in-chief to provide the king with advice when summoned to great councils.^[36] In the 1200s, the great council evolved into Parliament, a representative body that increasingly asserted for itself the right to consent to taxation. Initially, participation in Parliament was still determined by one's status as a tenant-in-chief. Earls and greater barons received a writ of summons issued directly from the king, while lesser barons were summoned through the local sheriffs.^[37] In the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the first hereditary barons were created by writ. Over time, baronies by writ became the main method of creating baronies, and baronies by tenure became obsolete.^[38]

Non-hereditary positions began to be created again in 1867 for Law Lords. In 1958, the Life Peerages Act 1958 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 is only a convention, and was not observed by prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who asked the Queen to create three hereditary peerages (two of them, 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 soon after Tony Blair came to power (the House of Lords Act 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, Radley, Oundle, Winchester or Harrow.

A member of the House of Lords cannot simultaneously 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 the Peerage Act 1963 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 Sir Timothy Laurence, the respective first and second husbands of Princess Anne, do not hold peerages. Most members of the British upper class are untitled.^{[citation needed]}

• Dukes in the United Kingdom
• List of dukes in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of dukedoms in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of dukedoms in the baronage of Scotland

• Marquesses in the United Kingdom
• List of marquesses in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of marquessates in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of marquessates in the baronage of Scotland

• Royal earldoms in the United Kingdom
• List of earls in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of earldoms
• List of earldoms in the baronage of Scotland

• List of viscounts in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of viscountcies in the peerages of Britain and Ireland

• Royal baronies in the United Kingdom
• List of barons in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of baronies in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
• List of baronies in the baronage of Scotland
• List of life peerages
• List of lordships of Parliament

The name adopted by the grantee of a title of nobility originally was the name of his seat or principal manor, which often had also been adopted as his surname, for example the Berkeley family seated at Berkeley Castle had the surname "de Berkeley" ("from Berkeley") and gained the title Baron Berkeley, amongst many others. Dukes were originally named after counties, the earliest one being Duke of Cornwall (1337) followed by Duke of Norfolk (1483) and Duke of Somerset (1547). The Duke of Wellington (1814) is an early example of a dukedom being named after a mere village, or manor, after Wellington in Somerset.

Earls, being in reality the "Count" of Continental Europe, were also named after the County over which they exercised control. The range of names adopted for titles gradually expanded from territorial names alone. Later titles used a wide variety of names, including surname (unrelated to territorial designation indicated by the French particule de), for example in 1547 Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich. Edward Russell in 1697 was created Viscount Barfleur after a naval victory in foreign territory, setting a precedent which has been repeatedly followed.^[39] Later earldoms also adopted family names, and omitted the preposition "of", an early example being Earl Rivers^[40] created in 1466 for Richard Woodville, 1st Baron Rivers. The title was not derived from the name of a place, but from the family name de Redvers, or Reviers, Earls of Devon. Earl Ferrers was created in 1711 for Robert Shirley, 14th Baron Ferrers, whose earlier title was named after the de Ferrers family, or Norman origin. Another early example of a surname being used as a title is Earl Poulett (1706).

Modern life peers do not generally own large estates, from which to name their title, so more imagination is required, unless the simple option of using the surname is selected.

• List of baronetcies

• Knight of Kerry

• Knight, from Old English cniht ("boy" or "servant"),^[41] a cognate of the German word Knecht ("labourer" or "servant").^[42]
• British honours system

• Dame

• Titles in the Baronage of Scotland^[43]
• Noblesse

• Clan chief
• Laird (Territorial Designation)

• Esquire (ultimately from Latin scutarius, in the sense of shield bearer, via Old French esquier) - comparable to the French-Belgian ecuyer, Dutch jonkheer and German Edler
• Gentleman - the lowest rank and lowest common denominator of British nobility

Outside the United Kingdom, the remaining Gaelic nobility of Ireland continue informally to use their provincial titles, few are recognised as royal extraction by the British Royal Family such as O'Donovan family. As Ireland was nominally under the overlordship of the English Crown for between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Gaelic system coexisted with the British system. A modern survivor of this coexistence is the Baron Inchiquin, 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, High Kingship of Ireland, the others being The O'Neill, MacCarthy Mor dynasty and the O'Conor Don.

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. This does not mean there is no longer a Chief or a sept today. 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.MacCarthy Mor dynasty, lit. (The) Great Macarthy or 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.

• 
  Lady Margaret Beaufort
• 
  Elizabeth de Clare
• 
  The Lord Bishop William Smyth
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  Margaret, Countess of Salisbury
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  Walter, 1st Earl of Essex
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  Philip, 20th Earl of Arundel
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  Sir William Dugdale
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  The Lord Bishop Jonathan Trelawny
• 
  Admiral George Churchill
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  John, Earl of Mar
• 
  Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore
• 
  Thomas Forster Esq.
• 
  The Reverend Nicolas Tindal
• 
  James Oglethorpe
• 
  Sir John Acton, 6th Bt
• 
  Elizabeth, Countess of Derby
• 
  The Rt Hon William Windham
• 
  Lord Robert Manners
• 
  Charles, 5th Duke of Richmond
• 
  Rowland Egerton-Warburton
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  William, 7th Duke of Devonshire
• 
  Sir William Molesworth, 8th Bt
• 
  The Hon Jane Plumer Erskine
• 
  Robert, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
• 
  John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
• 
  Dudley, 24th Baron de Ros
• 
  Sir Clements Markham
• 
  John, 9th Duke of Argyll
• 
  Winifred, Duchess of Portland
• 
  Simon, 14th Lord Lovat
• 
  Lady Margaret Sackville
• 
  Edward, 17th Earl of Derby
• 
  Sir Thomas Innes of Learney
• 
  David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley
• 
  Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton

• Aristocracy
• British Royal Family
• Forms of address in the United Kingdom
• Gentry
• Honourable
• List of British monarchs
• Noblesse
• Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom
• Order of precedence in England and Wales
• Peerage, an exposition of great detail
• Peerage of England
• Peerage of Great Britain
• Peerage of Ireland
• Peerage of Scotland
• Peerage of the United Kingdom
• British Public Schools
• Welsh peers and baronets

• Bartlett, Robert (2000). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225. New Oxford History of England. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780199251018.
• Carpenter, David (2003). The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066–1284. Penguin History of Britain. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140148248.
• Crouch, David (1992). The Image of Aristocracy in Britain, 1000–1300. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415755047.
• Given-Wilson, Chris (1996). The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages. Routledge. ISBN 0415148839.
• Green, Judith A. Green (1997). The Aristocracy of Norman England. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524652.
• Green, Judith A. (2017). Forging the Kingdom: Power in English Society, 973–1189. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521193597.
• Huscroft, Richard (2016). Ruling England, 1042-1217 (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1138786554.
• Jolliffe, J. E. A. (1961). The Constitutional History of Medieval England from the English Settlement to 1485 (4th ed.). Adams and Charles Black.
• Loyn, H. R. (1955). "Gesiths and Thegns in Anglo-Saxon England from the Seventh to Tenth Century". The English Historical Review. 70 (277): 529–549. doi:10.1093/ehr/LXX.CCLXXVII.529. JSTOR 558038.
• Maddicott, J. R. (2010). The Origins of the English Parliament, 924-1327. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199585502.
• Morris, Marc (2021). The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400–1066. Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-64313-312-6.
• Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968). The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297761056.
• Williams, Ann (2008). The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy, 900–1066. London: Continuum. ISBN 9781847252395.

• Beckett, J. V. The Aristocracy in England 1660-1914 (1986)
• Cannadine, David. The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy (1990)
• Collins, Marcus. "The fall of the English gentleman: the national character in decline, c. 1918–1970." Historical Research 75.187 (2002): 90-111 online^{[dead link‍]}.
• Lipp, Charles, and Matthew P. Romaniello, eds. Contested spaces of nobility in early modern Europe (Ashgate, 2013).
• Manning, Brian. "The nobles, the people, and the constitution." Past & Present 9 (1956): 42-64 online during 17th century.
• Masters, Brian. The Dukes: The Origins, Ennoblement and History of Twenty-six Families (1975; revised ed. 2001)
• Stone, Lawrence. "The Anatomy of the Elizabethan Aristocracy." Economic History Review, 18#1/2, 1948, pp. 1–53. online
  • Trevor-Roper, H. R. "The Elizabethan Aristocracy: An Anatomy Anatomized." Economic History Review 3#3 1951, pp. 279–298. online
    • Stone, Lawrence. "The Elizabethan Aristocracy-A Restatement." Economic History Review, 4#3 1952, pp. 302–321. online, a famous controversy
• Wasson, Ellis, Born to Rule: British Political Elites (2000)
• Wasson, Ellis, The British and Irish Ruling Class 1660-1945 (2017) 2 vols.

• The Aristocracy, BBC Radio 4 discussion with David Cannadine, Rosemary Sweet & Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (In Our Time, Jun. 19, 2003)