What title would a man of the Victorian gentry (land owning classes) have?

Question

Britain, 1800-1900. I'm writing a short story set in this time, and want to give a character a title, like 'Lord' or 'Sir'... not sure what title he would have though. Thanks.

Answer 1

It depends on how exclusive you intend your character to be.

Lord denotes Dukes, Earls, Barons & other high nobility - persons traditionally of very high office; only a few hundred in the country. All were peers.

"Sir" would denote a knight - the highest rank of the lower nobility ("the gentry") and far more common than the above. They are granted or inherit title.

Squires & gentlemen: non-titled members of the gentry; those of good birth, education & holders of certain public office (JPs, high military rank, barristers etc) They are not officially titled & are not entitled to use "Sir" but may have "Esq" after their name.

Answer 2

"Sir" would be a title given to two types - either a Baron, who had the right to be called "Sir" and passed that right on to his oldest son, or a knight, who would have been granted that personal right by the Queen.  Knighthoods were originally granted either for special services to the Crown or for victories in war, by by this period, eminent men in a variety of different areas might reasonably have been knights.

Peers, a much smaller group which in the 19th Century was slowly losing much of its wealth and political influence, are the Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, etc, all inherited titles.

Answer 3

unless he were knighted or had some other title, he would be addressed as esquire and honorable as in the honorable or right honorable ******** ******* esquire.

Answer 4

not sure but i think it might be squire.

Answer 5

Lord Marmaduke Squimly-Pottmoss

Answer 6

There is a lot of misinformation here!

First: the "gentry" as a class specifically excludes anyone with the title "Lord" - lords are nobility, not gentry!

If your wealthy landowner is a member of the gentry (and he probably would be: the nobility in Britain have always been a very small class, unlike some Continental countries where everybody who is anybody has a noble title), he will probably just be "Mr Darcy". (You would address letters to him as "John Darcy, Esq." but he would not use the title "Esquire", nor would anyone use it when speaking of or to him,) If he had ever done anything special he might have been made a knight, in which case he would be Sir John Darcy, and be addressed by everyone as "Sir John". He might also be a baronet, which is a sort of hereditary knight, in which case he would still be Sir John Darcy.

(Loren S is quite wrong about "Honourable": this is a title given to the sons and daughters of barons.)