Reply to Sherlock Holmes: is he upper or middle class?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What's an aristocrat versus upper class?[/quote]
The British upper class was primarily comprised of the peerage and the gentry.  The peerage is the titled nobility--the dukes and earls and so forth.  The gentry referred to the landed gentry, families who owned country estates, often tenanted farms, and therefore did not have to work (other than the work involved in managing their estates).  Many of the gentry came from very old, established, and respected families, and were sometimes wealthier than peers.  Some had coats of arms.  The two groups were closely connected--the families were often related.  Gentry might have minor titles (baronet, knight, etc.) and the two groups often received similar educations, intermarried, and their non-eldest sons (who would not inherit) often pursued the same careers--the officer corps of the military, clergy, state service (as a Member of Parliament or a high-ranking position in the civil service), or the law.

In a larger sense, a "gentleman" was someone who did not have to work for a living.

Professionals and businessmen who became very wealthy could often mix socially with the upper classes, and would often try to buy a landed estate or seek a minor title (such as a knighthood or baronetcy) for the social prestige.  They also sometimes married into the upper class, or married their children into the upper class.

One poster used Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice as an example of the non-aristocratic upper class, and he's a great example.  He inherits a landed estate, he does not have to work for a living, and he is related to the aristocracy (his mother was an earl's daughter).  Elizabeth also comes from the gentry--her father inherited their estate and money, and does not work for a living, either.  He married into the middle class, however--Mrs. Bennet's family was "in trade," her brother is in trade, and her brother-in-law is an attorney.  Interestingly, Mr. Bingley is *not* from the landed gentry--he has inherited a lot of money from his father, who earned it "in trade," but does not own an estate.  At the beginning of the novel, Bingley rents an estate.  At the end of the novel, he buys one.  So the Bingley sisters' snobbery about Jane's social status is pretty clearly based on anxiety because they are not feeling secure in their social position--Jane's mother was middle class, but so was Mr. Bingley, senior.  They want their brother to marry someone of higher rank to cement the family's social climb.

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