The class system at this time was more rigid than it is today. Everyone knew their place in the social order, and attempting to improve your position was sometimes seen (by those in the higher levels, at least) as trying to shoulder your way into a place where you didn't belong.
Despite this many people did rise from humble beginnings to take their place in the higher social classes, often by being successful in the military, politics, or by providing support or service to the King.
The levels of Society in Regency England:
Royalty - members of the Royal Family.
Nobility - Peers, (Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons) Officers of State like the Lord Chancellor, and the highest levels of the church, i.e. Archbishops.
Gentry - Baronets, Knights, Gentlemen entitled to heraldic arms, Landowners/Gentlemen of independent means, Judges, Bishops.
The Upper Middle Class - Doctors, Barristers, Bankers, ordained Clergymen, wealthy Industrialists and Merchants. Higher officers in the Army and Navy, and those who held public office, such as a Member of Parliament (MP) or Town Mayor.
The Lower Middle Class - Lawyers, surgeons, school teachers, shopkeepers, innkeepers, Civil Servants, and those with a moderate private income.
The Upper Working Class - Highly skilled workers, such as butchers, bakers, shoemakers, coopers, curriers, carriage makers, fishmongers, saddlers and other time-served master craftsmen. Those with a small private income, who may also work. Higher-level servants, such as butlers, housekeepers, and bailiffs.
The Lower Working Class - Unskilled and semi-skilled workers, apprentices, agricultural Labourers, lower servants, such as maids, stable hands and gardeners, factory workers,
The Poor - Paupers, Vagrants, Gypsies, long term sick and idle. Criminals.
Of course, this list is a huge simplification. There were many grey areas and even some overlap between the classes. Just like today, a skilled worker who worked for himself would often be better off financially than a man with the same skill who worked for someone else.
Even some skilled jobs were poorly paid. One example was the Stocking Framework Knitters. Their livelihood was under threat from the new manufactories, which could produce more stockings per day, at a cheaper cost, than a single knitter working from home.
Geography also played a part. A simple cabinet maker in a small provincial town would have earned considerably less money than a man like Thomas Chippendale in London, creating furniture for the nobility and gentry.
Social Mobility
During this period of history there was a significant desire among all classes to improve their situation in life - if not for their benefit then for future generations of their family. An earl may seek an advantageous marriage for his son, which could bring additional land into their estate, and increase their family income. A wealthy industrialist might provide his daughters with a generous dowry, hoping to attract the attention of an impoverished Viscount or Baron, and thereby improving the prospects for his grandchildren.
Parents of all levels would encourage their children to find husbands and wives within their own social sphere or higher. To marry beneath you was seen as taking a step down the social ladder.
Some of the working classes were no less aspirational than the middle classes. Skilled workers saved up to invest in a better apprenticeship for their sons, or paid to send him to a local school in the hopes that he might look for employment as a clerk in an office, or a shopkeeper's assistant. It wasn't unheard of for office clerks or shopkeeper's assistants to inherit their master's businesses if the master had no children of their own.
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Reading the Regency
Non-FictionA guide to Regency England for readers of classic literature or historical fiction set in the early 19th century. England, as it was in the early 1800's, can sometimes be as confusing to a modern reader as travelling to a foreign country. Their clot...
