The UK honours system can be somewhat bewildering. The following should be sufficient to introduce the various titles of the characters covered by this website.
Peerages
‘Peerages’ (legal titles) can be hereditary or for a lifetime. There are five levels of hereditary peerage (in descending order):
| Level | Title (peerage) | Title (prefix) | Title (style) |
| 1 | Duke/Duchess | Royal: Prince/Princess; Duke/Duchess of Non-royal: Duke/Duchess of | Royal: His/Her Royal Highness Non-Royal: His/Her Grace |
| 2 | Marquess/Marchioness | Lord/Lady | Lord/Lady |
| 3 | Earl/Countess | Lord/Lady | Lord/Lady |
| 4 | Viscount/Viscountess | Lord/Lady | Lord/Lady |
| 5 | Baron/Baroness | Lord/Lady | Lord/Lady |
House of Lords
All the above previously gave the holder an entitlement to a seat in the House of Lords, much curtailed since 1999.
Dukedoms
Since the early 1900s, dukedoms have been reserved for the royal family. Hence when Churchill was offered one as a very rare courtesy in 1955 he was expected to (and did) turn it down. Various hereditary non-royal dukedoms continue, such as those of the Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of Westminster.
Although ‘duke’ is a male title, the queen was nevertheless the Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands. She also held another traditionally male title, the Lord of Mann: head of state of the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.
Hereditary peerages
There has been a considerable slowdown in the creation of hereditary peerages. No new marquessates have been created since 1936. There have been only six new earldoms in the last 50 years, of which five were for royals and the other for Harold Macmillan, former prime minister. Only four viscountcies and three hereditary baronies were created over the same time period.
Elevation
It used to be reasonably common for favoured people to start at one level and to be ‘elevated’ further, such as F.E. Smith (Birkenhead), who was a baron, then viscount, then earl. Camrose and Rothermere were barons then viscounts; Lloyd George was a viscount then earl. Peers retain earlier titles, usually using only the highest.
Names
Peers choose their own titular name, which can be their own surname if they wish, but is often sentimental; for example ‘Beaverbrook’ is a contraction of Beaver Brook in which Max Aitken swam and fished as a youth. Once a name was chosen, it was often used on its own to refer to someone informally (less so these days), such as ‘Rothermere’. Lords often signed themselves just with their peerage name, e.g. ‘Camrose’. Peers may also specify a territorial element, which no longer needs to refer to their own property, such as ‘1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein’.
Inheritance of hereditary titles
On the holder’s death, hereditary titles typically pass to the eldest son or next male in line, although some can pass to or via daughters. For example, 1st Viscount Camrose’s son Seymour became 2nd Viscount Camrose, who died without children and the title passed to his younger brother Michael, who disclaimed it for himself. On his death it passed to his son Adrian, 4th Viscount Camrose.
An example of a major title passing via the female line was on the death of Churchill’s ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who was succeeded by his daughter Henrietta in 1722 as 2nd Duchess of Marlborough, by a special Act of Parliament.
Courtesy titles
The eldest son of dukes, marquesses and earls may take one of his father’s lesser titles before inheriting the main title. Younger sons and all daughters of a duke or marquess are courtesy ‘Lords’ or ‘Ladies’. Hence Winston Churchill’s father ‘Lord’ Randolph Churchill had only a courtesy title as a junior son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough; he was not a peer.
Baronetcies
A baronetcy is a hereditary honour that is not part of the peerage, ranking beneath a baron and above a knight. Beaverbrook, Birkenhead, Camrose and Rothermere were all baronets before becoming peers. A baronetcy confers the title ‘Sir’ or ‘Dame’.
Non-hereditary peers
Non-hereditary peers (‘life peers’) are created at the level of baron, such as Winston’s wife Clementine who was made Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell in the County of Kent, four months after Winston’s death, thereby superseding his status as a knight (see below). Around 1300 people have been made life peers over the last 50 years at an average rate of 26 per year.
Knights
There are various levels of knights, the highest being those belonging to the Most Noble Order of the Garter. When Churchill was made a ‘Knight Companion’ of the order, he became ‘Sir’ Winston and Clementine became ‘Lady’ as his wife. As he was a knight, not a peer, Winston remained in the House of Commons, rather than moving to the House of Lords. Knights’ children do not gain any courtesy title.
The usual form of ‘knighthood’ for men in today’s honour lists is at the junior level of ‘knight bachelor‘, conferring the title of ‘Sir’ but not granting an association with an order of chivalry. Women are typically appointed as ‘Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire’, giving the title of ‘Dame’.
Illustrations
Below are a couple of illustrations from Churchill’s own circle:
- Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames gained the title ‘Lady’ when her husband Christopher Soames became a knight in 1972. She then held the title ‘Lady’ in her own right from 2005 when she was made a Lady Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, outranking her deceased husband.
- Churchill’s early love Violet Bonham-Carter (née Asquith) was made a life peer as Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury. She had already become Lady Bonham-Carter through her marriage to Sir Maurice Bonham-Carter, a knight. They were a rare example of both members of a couple being titled in their own right. Wives normally gain an honorific from their husbands (usually ‘Lady’), but not vice versa.
Further reading
- Debrett’s, ‘Essential Guide to the Peerage’, Debrett’s
- Harper, Tobias, From Servants of the Empire to Everyday Heroes: The British Honours System in the Twentieth Century (OUP Oxford, 2020)