Today is National Sons Day, so let’s take a look at the plight of youngers sons of the Georgian Era gentry.

During the Georgian era, English lands passed from one generation to the next in primogenitor inheritance. The eldest son would inherit the entire estate. Younger sons would have inheritances cobbled together out of their mother’s doweries or other funds that were not included as part of the estate. (If there were only daughters, then the estate would be divided among them all, not given solely to the eldest.)

If they wanted to remain part of the gentry class, younger sons needed to find a source of income that did not require exchanging work for a salary. That was a gentleman’s primary distinction from the classes below them.

Several professions offered younger sons an income that wasn’t in the form of a salary: the traditional ‘learned’ professions: the church, the law and medicine and services as a military officer or a position in the government, diplomatic or civil service. All required a significant investment in the way of education, purchase of a commission, or bribery, and provided an income disconnected from sullying one’s hands with a trade.

Previous Random Bits have discussed clergy and officers at length. You can find them here:

Rectors and Vicars and Curates, Oh My!

It’s a Church Living

Taking Orders

An Officer and a Gentleman

Militia—A Different Breed of Officers

Naval Officers—Self Made Gentlemen

The Civil Service

The British government of the Georgian era employed many. Some of those positions required actual labor, but many, called sinecures, provided an income with very little worked attached. Naturally, these positions were more often bought or awarded as gifts than offered to individuals uniquely qualified for the position.

Those seeking such positions were even known to advertise for them.

“SIXTY GUINEAS will be given to any Lady or Gentleman who can procure the advertiser a SITUATION in ANY DEPARTMENT UNDER THE GOVERNMENT, or in any of the Public Offices, which may meet his approbation. Letters addressed (post paid) to C. D. at the Post Office, No. 49 Oxford Street, will meet with due attention. The greatest secrecy will be observed. The advertiser will not mind a few pounds more, should the situation prove advantageous. “

[Morning Post, 3rd July 1804]

All things considered, that still seems a little bold to me.

Sinecures

The Black Book; or, Corruption Unmasked! revealed just how many positions there were and how much money was being spent on those no-value-added sinecures. In his words,

Next to offices of this cast , are those of which the salaries are vastly disproportioned to the employment, and of which the duties are discharged wholly by deputy. This forms a very numerous class. As specimens of Sinecures of this character, we may mention the Auditorship of the Exchequer, held by Lord Grenville, with a salary of £4000; the Registrarship of the Admiralty, held by Lord Arden, with a salary of £10,000; the Clerkship of the Pells, held by a son of Lord Sidmouth  with a salary of £3000; and the Tellerships of the Exchequer. Many offices in the Courts of Justice belong to this head, and we may also add a host of Commissioners for the collection of the Revenue, the Receivers of Taxes, and Distributors of Stamps.

(Fairburn, 1820)

In addition to these he also notes these roles:

Over £ 500 per year

• Auditor of the Civil List £1,500
• Commissioner for Auditing the Public Accounts, £1,500
• Keeper of the Records in the Tower, £1,435
• Inspector of the Audit office, £600
• Vice-chamberlain in the Lord Chamberlain’s office, £600

£300-£500 per year

• Cashier in the Stationary Office, £500
• Commissioner of Taxes, £500
• The Keeper of the Lions in the Tower, £450
• A Clerk in the Exchequer Bills Office, £400
• Assistant Clerk at the War Office, £400
• The Examiner of Plays, £400 (learn more about that here )
• The Clerk of the Signet, £368
• The Commissioner of Bankrupts, £350
• Apothecary to the Queen, £320

Under £300 per year

• Examiner at the Audit office, £260
• The Commissioner of the Lottery Office (of which there were twenty), £200
• Inspector of Wheel-Carriages, £100

A statement taken from Supplementary Report of the Committee of Public Expenditure in 1809, shows the net value of the principal sinecures in England to have been £178,051. (Keep in mind that £250 a year would provide a fairly comfortable middle-class lifestyle for a family of four during that same period.)

Government Service

Families who held a constituency within their lands frequently chose one of the family to hold the MP (Member of Parliament) position. Who better than an (obedient) younger son to fill the role? Nearly two-thirds of parliamentary seats were held this way, keeping the House of Commons effectively controlled by the peer and gentry families who usually instructed their votes.

Although the position of MP did not have any pay associated with it, it put one in a position where it was much easier to secure a governmental position with a generous income, and possibly a pension. For example, Secretaries of State r and Speaker of the House of Commons each received £6,000 per year. The Under Secretaries each took in £2,000 per annum. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s post brought in £l,800, and the Treasurer of the Navy and the Paymaster of the Forces each received £2,000 per year.

While gentlemen might live off these incomes, it was not unusual for them to be supplemental incomes alongside other sources, including inheritances, annuities, clerical livings, pensions, and additional sinecures. If an income had actual work attached to it, an inexpensive underling might be hired to do the actual labor while the gentleman enjoyed the bulk of the income, a practice common among vicars.

Watch for future Random Bits about barristers and physicians.

References

Fairburn, John. The Black book; or Corruption Unmasked. John Fairburn: London. 1820

Morning Post, 3rd July 1804

https://www.wattpad.com/399858489-reading-the-regency-the-younger-sons-of-peers-and