British “Court Etiquette” Caste System

“The British have a way of adjusting these matters, and fixing the social status of all classes, from Princes and peers to peddlers and paupers, which is really stunning. They classify the entire population, with remorseless exactitude, in one hundred and twenty eight classes, beginning at the throne as the topmost round of the social ladder…”

BRITISH ETIQUETTE

Where Professional Men Stand in the Phalanx of English Society

It is a great satisfaction to know exactly where one stands in the grand phalanx of society — whether one is a general, colonel, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, high private or camp follower in that host composed of many grades. The British have a way of adjusting these matters, and fixing the social status of all classes, from Princes and peers to peddlers and paupers, which is really stunning. 

They classify the entire population, with remorseless exactitude, in one hundred and twenty eight classes, beginning at the throne as the topmost round of the social ladder, and ending at the work house, or thereabouts. 

According to this nicely graduated scale of precedence, untitled men of letters are very, very low people. They belong to class one hundred and twenty-three, only five degrees above zero. For the benefit of all low-caste Americans who may contemplate a visit to England, we give the subdivisions of their “fardowners” of class 123, officially announced in “Court Etiquette:” 

“Class 123. Professional gentlemen — Solicitors, attorneys, proctors, engineers, architects, medical practitioners, (not being physicians), artists, literary men, merchants, master-manufacturers, scientific professors, and others not engaged in manual labor, farming of land, or retail trade.”

We don’t as yet understand the niceties of precedence quite as well as our transatlantic cousins; but we arc getting along pretty well for new beginners. We know enough already to place the drones of our hive before the working-bees. — Amador-Ledger Dispatch, 1890

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia