![]() The only form of non-hereditary nobility in Great Britain is that associated with certain offices, which give the rank of Gentleman for the duration of tenure, or for life. The eldest son of a Knight and his eldest sons in perpetuity attain the rank of Esquire. The bestowal of a peerage or a knighthood is seen as due reason for a grant of arms by Garter King of Arms or Lord Lyon, and thus, those who make use of it attain hereditary nobility. It is often wrongly assumed that knighthoods and life peerages cannot grant hereditary nobility. The largest portion of the British aristocracy has historically been the landed gentry, made up of baronets and the non-titled armigerous landowners whose families hailed from the medieval feudal class (referred to as gentlemen due to their income solely deriving from land ownership). Other than their designation, such as Gentleman or Esquire, they enjoy only the privilege of a position in the formal orders of precedence in the United Kingdom. ![]() ![]() CILANE and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta both consider armorial bearings as the main, if not sole, mark of nobility in Britain. The untitled nobility consists of all those who bear formally matriculated, or recorded, armorial bearings (a coat of arms). Descendants in the male line of peers and children of women who are peeresses in their own right, as well as baronets, knights, dames and certain other persons who bear no peerage titles, belong to the gentry, deemed members of the non-peerage nobility below whom they rank. ![]()
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