An interesting element in the readings about Elgar this week, for me, was his societal ambition. Elgar seemed to care very much about his station in life, working hard to improve his lot in a society that discouraged vertical mobility among the classes. He was honored greatly throughout his life, including being knighted in 1904 and made a Baronet in 1931, but he never achieved one of his great ambitions: A hereditary peerage. Now, I know a little about the peerage system from things like Iolanthe and my role as the title character in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, but not enough to understand what Elgar was missing. This lead me to look into the British peerage system, and I'd like to share what I found here.
Apparently there are 5 degrees of peers within the peerage system in the UK. The highest title is "Duke". This is followed, in descending order, by Marchess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. This was where my first confusion with Elgar came up, as he was made a Baronet, which is a hereditary title just like these peerages. However, it seems that Baronets are commoners, not peers. Their title is similar to a knighthood, but ranks above all but the two most prestigious orders of knights (the Most Noble Order of the Garter in England and Wales, and the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle in Scotland). So, it was indeed a 'promotion', societally speaking, for Elgar when he was made a Baronet after being a knight, but it was not the peerage he sought.
I began reading more about the peerage system on Wikipedia and found it very interesting. For example, the Monarch of the UK is not technically able to hold a peerage, yet there is an honorary Dukedom associated with the throne (the Dukedom of Lancaster). This ties directly into Henry IV, whose family held the Dukedom of Lancaster prior to his ascent to the throne. In fact, one of his younger sons, Prince John, was of Lancaster. It provided a wonderful personal connection for me into this topic, which was so near and dear to Elgar.
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