Their Noble Lordships: Class and Power in Modern Britain

by Simon Winchester

A study of the hereditary peers of Great Britain, their history, their place in British society, and their varied lifestyles concludes that the hereditary aristocracy should be abolished

Genres: Nonfiction, History, British Literature, Ebooks, Reference

281 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Simon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel, and his articles appear in several travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.

In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.

After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.

Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.

Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.

Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia

Reviews

[Margaret Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This enjoyable and readable book would be of infinite use to Americans (and others) confused about the workings of the British peerage; however, having been written in the late 1970s, the information is out of date, especially with the passage of the House of Lords Act in 1999, which set in motion the abolition of hereditary peerages--or at least the amendment of the right of such peers to sit in the House of Lords. However, for the enthusiast of historical fiction set in the UK, it might help sort out the bewildering array of Dukes and Earls and Lords.

The author's cheeky style shows his own opinion--that the UK will be better off for not leaving its government up at least partly to those born to the position, even though he was able to find some sterling examples of hereditary peers; we were especially fond of his description of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, father of the present Duke, who seemed like an absolute duck.

Lots of fun and certainly worth a read for those interested in the subject. The ebook was inexpensive and had only a couple of OCR errors that we noticed.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I've been reading this book since the beginning of time.

This is not because it's bad.

It's because it's old.

This was published in 1984. Most of the information seems to halt around the lat '70s. While still good information about the various families, I found myself at wikipedia nearly constantly checking up on the latest info.

So then I would fall down the wikipedia wormhole.

An hour later, I would get back to what I was reading.

The book makes a strong case that even in 1984, the House of Lords was just plain silly. And that dichotomy of the "noble class" makes you long for Downton Abbey-esque nobility and their select set.

Winchester is a great story-teller, and his ability to interweave the examples of lords-in-name-only with "but I'm a Lord" types is exquisite. He juxtaposes murderers with farmers. For the record, it seems that no one with a title can keep a marriage going for longer than a week. I also thought the nobility frowned at divorce, but it seems not.

Good read, fun, but have your computer open at all times.

[Alexis Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an unpleasant book. I admit that I was looking for a history with, perhaps, some insight into how the peerage have adapted to modern adjustments. And this simply is not at all that. So my disappointment was largely due to that fallen expectation. I also was looking forward to it because I'm an admirer of Winchester's other books, Krakatoa being a big favorite. But this was written when he was younger, and more driven by his own political agenda. In the forward, he mentions that many of the peers attempted to have publication suppressed, and by the end I almost wished they'd succeeded, if only to spare me some wasted time.

I imagine that people who are interested in the tumultuous political years during which this book was written may find it illuminating as a portrait of the influence of the times, but I found it resoundingly partisan and largely scornful of its subject. And while I don't object to critical assessments, I walked away from it with a stronger sense of the author's biases than I did of the subject he was writing about.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snarky study of 1970's nobility.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1982 - a story in itself related in the preface - so it is out of date which is hard to belief in regards to a system already hundreds of years old.

Winchester makes note at the very beginning that this is about the hereditary peers of modern England, Scotland and Ireland. Not the Life Peerages which were first created in 1958. It does not include the Royal Family except as a reference to some titles being held.

How much of the peers reticence to talk on record is due to personal need for privacy and how much is evading the public eye due to a personal desire to maintain the legacy provided by their ancestors is a question that can only be answered by each peer.

Some of Winchester's comments are amusing and snarky especially when relating some traditions that seem down-right silly or mired in pretensions and micromanagement.

Pomp and circumstances entering the House of Lords - especially if it's the first time - where to acquire the entire kit of robes as well as a trip to the College of Arms and precedence publications.

Massive amounts of information and names with amusing and sometime sad anecdotes regarding the Dukes; Marquesses; Earls; Viscounts and Barons of England. Then there is the side trip to the Irish Peers who are almost considered a pariah as they are not invited to participate in the House of Lords (unless they have a proper British title also) but, unlike the members of the House of Lords, they can serve in the House of Commons without having to set aside their title.

I must admit, my favorite chapters were the last two: "Of Men and Manners" and "The Fatal Weakness". The first being about the habits and institutions that the peers support - proper manners and wordage (serviette verses table napkin); schools; clubs; serving in the military; 'marriage policy (so-called marrying among their own).

And the second was about how the hereditary peers are trying to find their way with the Capital Transfer Act which is whittling away at the large landholdings upon the death of a peer (replaced in 1986 with the Inheritance Tax) and the 1963 Peerage Act which enabled hereditary peers to 'disclaim' the title for their lifetime, holding it for their descendants.

Overall, an interesting abet dry book completely dependent on how interested you are in British history.

[Sara Kellogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, a cracking read. The aristocracy are more bizarre than you imagine:)

[J.A. Pieper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the updated 2012 edition newly subtitled: How to tell a Duke from an Earl ... and other mysteries solved. Simon Winchester is such a good storyteller that I read this book even though I care very little about noble peers. As an American I do not understand why anyone should be "elevated" above others on account of birth. I was curious why the British buy into it all still.

It all seemed archaic and irrelevant--helpful for understanding Jane Austen novels and Downton Abbey. Except that this Thursday the Scottish vote is scheduled. The vote for Scottish independence is polling so closely, that the Queen came as close as she ever gets to comment on current affairs. I wondered how this would impact the Scottish peers. They would probably become like Irish peers; "The dilemma of the Irish nobility stems from the fact that the Republic of Ireland is no longer formally associated with the Crown from which the honours spring."

If the author is correct, this is not likely to impact the Scottish lords and ladies. According to Winchester, generally Scots care more about their clan than titles. And their respect is saved for the Laird, or leader of their clan. A yes vote will mean a number of the members of the House of Lords will be excused and not likely to have a similar role in governing Scotland. And Queen E. will be their right well-beloved cousin and she'll still own Balmoral. The real impacts lie elsewhere.

It is a credit to Simon Winchester that he kept my interest for so long on such a trivial subject.

[Julie Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition of Their Noble Lordships is a re-release written at the end of the 70s, and first published after threats of a law suit from the lordships in the 1980s.
Written in Winchester's recognizable droll style, this book is not his best, though many of his loyal readers will enjoy it. It demystifies the British aristocracy and the role of the House of Lords in their parliamentary system.
Winchester interviewed many Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, etc., in his research and visited many of their stately homes. Some of his insights are fascinating, but the book is seriously out of date and loses much of its authority because of it. However, he does take the position that the House of Lords should be reformed or abolished.
I wish that Winchester and his publishers had, instead, brought it into the 21st century and then I would have appreciated it much more.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even tho' the book is old (30 years), that fact alone tells you how profoundly entrenched the British class system is, since the writing is still shockingly relevant. The power exercised by the hereditary peers, perhaps not in legislation any longer, is very real and closely guarded. The dry-ness of some of the writing is well-balanced by some of the more unpleasant, unseemly anecdotes and also by a percentage of lordly interviewees who are more human and self-aware as to the randomness of their privilege.

[Alicia Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another gem, full of lines I'd like to steal.

This book is ideal for a lover of obscure facts. Although the tone is clearly and convincingly anti-peerage, Winchester's observation that the vast majority of estates are well-managed and bereft of garishness and pollution, because the dukes et al. are concerned with their legacies, is the only argument I've ever read that advocates feudalism over capitalism (and makes a good point).

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 30 years old, its dated, but still an interesting look at the state of the peerage at the time. It provides an interesting bridge between the idea of the peer at the turn if the century-WWI-through the 1920's and the Lords reforms subsequent to this book. Very readable, but a bit tedious when he starts into long paragraphs of lists.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting journey through the English aristocracy. I still couldn't tell you the proper forms of address, and how the various courtesy titles are allocated. This was a tract critical of the nobility, but I don't see it as being that strong a statement. Perhaps it's my own detachment from the matter which has me think that. It was nice, but not terribly gripping.

[Tessa Arlen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a squiffy look at the British aristocracy, for those of you who are interested in the ramifications of the peerage, the complexity of the order of precedence and amusing accounts of the eccentrics who make Britain's peerage so utterly hilarious.

[Popup-ch]

This book is among the first of Winchesters oeuvre, and he has improved a lot since.

[Jonathan Leblang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read (especially for an american who hasn't had exposure to the whole english thing, other than through reading), but unfortunately very dated (data 30 years old).

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read about the British peerage. Thirty years out of date, but full of eccentrics/wealthy lunatics.

[Hoyadaisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fabulous information for a committed Anglophile. Getting the information is painful, however, because it is delivered as circuitously as possible.