“Esquire”

[dottyaboutstripes]

I’ve found a photo of the church register when my 3x great grandfather married in 1838. His father’s name is listed (different surname which is interesting) but his father’s rank or profession simply says “esquire”. Does this mean he was a man of means or did he maybe hold some rank which allowed him to be described this way? I’ve reached a bit of a dead end and am pretty clueless.
can anyone please fill me in? Thanks!

Licensed to practice law?

I think the legal connection is mainly a US usage.
In the UK it was sometimes used to denote a landowner - I don't know how much land they had to own though!

That’s a US usage, isn’t it?

In the UK it seems to be a bit wider - no idea which of these categories OP’s relative may have fallen into but it seems to differ by period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquire

Back in the 70's my father would receive letters addressed to him as Mr k macfanny esq. He was a plasterer! I think this was commen usage?

Not at all. Leaving aside the historical derivation, it simply meant that the man was a gentleman, not in trade, and had no other title.

Even in the 60s and early 70s, it was common to put Esq after a man’s name when addressing an envelope.

Ok I know that in more recent times it’s used quite a lot but maybe not almost 200 years ago. I haven’t found anything else re these people so I don’t know who his mother was nor why he doesn’t have his father’s name. My first thought was maybe the esquire was a cad who took advantage of a poor girl but if he’s named it surely means he at least acknowledged his son? I’m new to all this and want to know it all!! 😄

Yes I think so..im.sure letters to my dad were addressed Esq.
I think its a bit outdated now though

It is more historical / complex than that...

it is technically a title of rank - sitting between 'gentleman' and 'knight' originating from the days of being a squire first then being knighted etc. - slightly more marital days...

good article here: https://freiherrvonquast.wordpress.com/2020/01/19/who-is-entitled-to-the-suffix-of-esquire-esq/

historically it has been seen as one of the categories of those who are armigerous (entitled to bear arms - i.e. has a coat of arms, or who on apply to the college of arms would be granted a coat of arms)...

As far as profession goes - it isn't really a profession, but might have been shorthand for saying - have wealth, don't need a profession... on the basis that someone of certain rank was not expected to need to work to live...

I have had ancestors listed as gentleman of independent means - which probably served the same purpose...

Letters were addressed either to
Mr K MacFanny or to
K MacFanny Esq.

Mr and Esq were not used together.

Using Esq was considered more polite (presumably because it treated the recipient as a “gentleman”).

Have you looked the father up in the Census ?

"...his father’s rank or profession simply says “esquire”"

What was put down as the father's profession generally depended on what the person getting married actually told the vicar. A person could say that their father was whoever they said.

So job descriptions aren't always entirely accurate - it was what the child perceived their father's profession to be.

Where a particular 'profession' wasn't given then a 'rank' would be given. This was often 'gentleman' or 'esquire'.

Basically, this meant that the person had private means - they didn't have a job. For example, he may have been somebody who owned a country estate or he may have had an inheritance invested in government bonds that paid out an annuity.

For example, the novel Pride and Prejudice was published about 25 years before this and Mr Bennet (the father of Jane and Elizabeth and the others) would likely have been described as 'gentleman' or 'esquire' at the time.

However, some barristers (who worked for a living) were also referred to as 'esquire'.

The easiest step would be to look for the father in the 1841 census. This will likely give a better indication of his status.
.

"His father’s name is listed (different surname which is interesting)"

If he has a different surname to his father then one possibility is that he was illegitimate (ie his parents weren't married) and that he was baptised with his mother's surname.
.

"I’ve reached a bit of a dead end and am pretty clueless.
can anyone please fill me in? Thanks!"

If you like I can have a look to see what records are available. If you want to send me a DM with whatever information you feel happy sharing then I can have a look at Ancestry and FindMyPast to see what information is available there.

His birth father may have died, his mother remarried, and your ancestor became known by his stepfather's name.

Have you found him in a later census?

It means landowner, possibly with a coat of arms.

The son having a different name could indicate illegitimacy, or either father or son changing their name for an inheritance.

Gentlemen had enough money not to work but without the land. So an esquire,s sons would have been gentlemen usually until the eldest inherited the estate.

Lawyers, incidentally, are usually described as gentlemen.

I have come across a practice of men holding a commission from the crown being called esq - so naval captains would sign themselves esq. But I think it fluctuates over time

Definitely remember my dad getting letters in the 80s addressed to firstname lastname Esq

He is in fact a lawyer but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I actually worked for a very grand old Tory peer in the 2000s who knew loads of people with titles, but any man without one had to have letters addressed in that way. In 2002!

Any particular status linked with the word disappeared over the course of the 19th century. By the mid 20th it just meant an adult male