As well as the distinctions between Peers, Knights, and Gentlemen, there were also more subtle groupings and descriptors found in fashionable society.
Regency London had its own "cliques"; people who were lumped together due to their behaviour, background, habits or the way they dressed. Here I've collected some of the words you might find mentioned in classic literature or historical novels, with an explanation for each.
There was a considerable overlap between some of these groups. For example, George Brummell was a beau, a dandy, and a member of the Beau Monde. The Lady Patronesses were, by the nature of their positions, also the gatekeepers to the ton.
Pronunciation is included in brackets for the French terms.
Beau (boh)
"Beau Brummell had only three pet points: the way he took snuff, opening the box with one hand, the ease with which he cut an old acquaintance, and the grace with which he bowed to a new one."
[The Habits of Good Society: A Handbook for Ladies and Gentlemen. Pub. 1864]
The dictionary of 1806 described a Beau as "a man of dress," and it is true that any man who earned the nickname "Beau" was often known for the way he dressed and how he looked, although dressing well wasn't enough on its own.
A man did not have to be handsome to be a Beau, but he did need taste, refinement and sartorial elegance. A Beau was an arbiter of fashion, setting trends and dismissing the unfashionable to the outer reaches of elite society.
In the 18th century, one of the most famous beaus of his time was Beau Nash, a former military officer, gambler and dandy, who was the Master of Ceremonies in Bath and presided over Bath's most fashionable society.
The best known Beau during the Regency was Beau Brummell, a former military officer and gambler, who remade the dandy in his own image. He is credited as the father of the modern gentleman's tailored suit, as he was the first to combine a fitted coat with trousers.
"He was extremely fair, and the expression of his countenance far from disagreeable. His person, too, was rather good; nor could any body find fault with the taste of all those who, for years, had made it a rule to copy the cut of Brummell's coat, the shape of his hat, or the tie of his neckcloth: for all this was in the very best possible style. No perfumes, Brummell used to say, but very fine linen, plenty of it, and country washing. If John Bull turns round to look after you, you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable."
[Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, pub 1825]
At the height of his social power, through his friendship with the Prince of Wales and the ton's hostesses, Beau Brummell could influence who received invitations or admittance to the most fashionable entertainments, and who did not.
"...even a patent of nobility is no passport into 'select society' —nay, a Bohun or a Mowbray, if any such there were—a hereditary Lord High Constable or Earl-Marshal of England—might be black balled by a Brummell. ... From the moment that he comes within the magic circle of Bond-street and St. James' the peer of the realm, it seems, is merged in the courtier and the man of fashion, and is measured by a new and most arbitrary standard, set up, it may be, by some presumptuous and vulgar coxcomb who happens to play the 'Master of the Revels' for the time being."
[Southern Review, No. VI, pub May 1829]
Mr. Brummell was not the only Beau in London during the Regency period. Charles Stanhope, as the eldest son of the Earl of Harrington, bore the title Viscount Petersham, and was often known as Beau Petersham.
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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...
