Landed Gentry

Landed gentry is a largely historical British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity managing of their own lands.

The term "landed gentry" included four separate groups in England:

1. Baronet, a title originally created by King James in 1611 giving the holder the hereditary right to be addressed as "Sir"
2. Knight, originally a military honour, but increasingly awarded to civilians as a reward for service to the Crown. The holder has the right to be addressed as "Sir".
3. Esquire, originally a title related to the battlefield. It included a squire or person aspiring to knighthood, an attendant on a knight, and was later an honour that could be conferred by the Crown. It later included certain offices such as Justice of the Peace
4. Gentleman, recognised as a separate title by the Statute of Additions of 1413. It was used generally for a man of high birth or rank, good social standing, and wealth, who did not need to work for a living

The designation landed gentry originally referred exclusively to members of the aristocracy that were commoners in the British sense, i.e. that did not hold peerages, but usage became more fluid over time: by the late 19th century, it was also applied to peers such as the Duke of Westminster who lived in such a manner. The book series Burke's Landed Gentry recorded the members of this class. Successful burghers frequently tried to use, and often were successful in capitalising on, their accumulated wealth to establish themselves as landed gentry.

Persons who are closely related to peers are also more correctly described as gentry than as nobility, since the latter term, in the modern British Isles, is synonymous with "peer". However, this popular usage of 'nobility' omits the distinction between titled and untitled nobility. The titled nobility in Britain are the peers of the realm, whereas the untitled nobility comprise those here described as gentry. That the untitled nobility exists in the UK in a legal if not popular sense can be seen in the fact that British armigerous families who hold no title are represented together with those who hold titles through the College of Arms by the Commission and Association for Armigerous Families of Great Britain at CILANE.