Would Mr. Darcy from pride and prejudice be considered the squire of derby shire?

Question

In terms of the squire being the person who lived in the biggest house and/or owned most of the land?

I'm not really sure b/c Mr. Darcy owns half the land in derby shire while someone else owns the other. So can a county have 2 squires?

One final question: If Mr. Darcy were visiting say another county and meeting a squire would the squire outrank Mr. Darcy if he is not one himself, even though he is a private large land holder?

Answer 1

Sure he could be considered a Squire.  The definition of the term does not require only one squire in a region and just because one is not the largest landowner, that would not exclude them.  In terms of ranking, I don't see any official rights or priveledges attached to the title to pull rank with.