The social structure in Regency England was a lot more complicated than it is in today’s world. As an American who is an Anglophile as well as a certified history geek, I delved into this topic like Alice going into the rabbit hole and found a plethoria of fascinating tidbits.
At the top of the social structure is royalty. These include the monarchy and their offspring, and siblings who were often royal dukes. According to Regency goddess Allison Lane,
The Regent’s brothers were royal dukes, titles given to royal younger sons for use during their lifetime, but which are not passed on to their children. The titles are not automatic, though, but are bestowed at the discretion of the king and often not until the boy reaches some milestone, such as adulthood or marriage.
Right below that are the nobility. These are men with real titles (not honorary titles) who can sit in the House of Lords, plus their spouses. This group included dukes, marquis or marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. These lords often had multiple titles. For example, a duke might have secondary titles of marquess, earl and baron. His eldest son and heir uses the curtesy title of the next highest title, and is addressed as that title. In my Rogue Hearts series, the father was the Earl of Tarrington who had the courtesy title of Viscount Amesbury and Baron of Amesbury. His eldest son, Cole, used the courtesy title of viscount and was addressed as Lord Amesbury even though he didn’t have the real title and couldn’t sit in the house of lords.
The aristocracy is the nobility and their families, children and or grandchildren, and their spouses as well as siblings. The aristocracy can also include aunts & uncles, cousins, etc of the current lord if they are children or grandchildren of a previous lord. It also includes great-grandchildren in the direct line. This is actually a bit of a gray area but the third generation usually got counted in this class.
The next class is gentry. This was a large group of people who were considered ladies or gentlemen by birth, live in the town or village Great House, and owned land, much like the aristocracy. However, despite having titles, they are considered commoners and don’t sit in the House of Lords. Their titles are baronet and knight (or dame, for the ladies), and squire, although squires were considered part of the lower gentry.
