a guide

[calimac]

I wrote to Pat Murphy. I said we all liked her book, there was just one small error. She asked for more information. I sent her an explanation. Rather than being put off by this core dump, she thanked me for it and asked if she could copy my e-mail to another author who was interested. I said don't bother, I've put the whole thing online. Pass it along to anyone who's interested.

So here it is, "A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility." Let me know if there's anything wrong, or anything left out you think is necessary.

Comments

[oursin]

Meant to comment before, not just fiction writers who get this wrong - have come across the occasional egregious error by academics - e.g., no, he is not Sir [Last Name] - in at least one instance where the offender was a Victorianist who had apparently previously published on Trollope, which one would have thought conveyed a few clues.

[calimac]

I've seen "Sir Lastname" occasionally, but that bespeaks a level of cluelessness beyond what I find in fiction authors, whom I'm addressing. Besides, I did cover that, in the example using Terry Pratchett.

[sartorias]

I've found this site useful https://www.chinet.com/%7Elaura/html/titles12.html

[calimac]

That's accurate, and very thorough for what it covers, but it's too detailed for the purposes I'm intending and doesn't directly address the common problems I'm trying to address. I think it's part of the site that I did link to, at any rate it has the same name in the URL.

[andrewducker]

A friend says: "There's a Baroness von Krakenfeldt in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke (premiered 1896), so either Baroness was used in the 19thC (whether for barons' wives (presumably widow in this case, as she's now betrothed to the Grand Duke) or for women with baron titles in their own right, or both), or Gilbert actually writing in the 19thC got it wrong."

[calimac]

Or she's German.

[andrewducker]

Aaaah, that would make sense! There would definitely be different rules there!