Part 5 (2/2)
standing ranks with a major in the army, and a lieutenant under that standing in the navy, ranks with a captain in the army, etc.
Consulate officers also take precedence according to seniority of service in England and date of official arrival. The Foreign Office List of the current year should be consulted for date in each instance.
=As regards the Precedence due to Widows= bearing t.i.tles who have married again: The widow of a peer married to a commoner retains her t.i.tle by courtesy, and the precedency due to the t.i.tle is accorded to her.
=When the Widow of a Duke= marries a person of lower rank than that of her late husband, she still retains her precedency.
=The Daughter of a Peer= if married to a baronet or a commoner retains her precedency, but if married to a baron her precedency is merged in that of her husband.
=The Widow of a Baronet= married to a commoner retains her t.i.tle by right and not by courtesy.
=The Widow of a Knight= married to a commoner retains her t.i.tle by courtesy only, but the precedency due to the widow of a knight is accorded to her.
=When the Daughter of a Duke= marries a peer she takes the precedency due to the rank of her husband; if she marries a commoner, precedency is accorded to her due to the daughter of a duke.
=Age confers no Precedency= on either s.e.x. Equals in rank from the highest to the lowest take precedence according to the creation of their t.i.tle and not as regards the age of the person bearing the t.i.tle. As, for instance, a youthful duke would take precedence of an aged duke, if the t.i.tle of the youthful duke bore an earlier date than that of the aged duke. The same rule applies equally to baronets and knights.
When two earls are present at a dinner-party, the date of their respective patents of n.o.bility decides the order of precedency due to them.
A host or hostess should always consult a ”Peerage” or a ”Baronetage” if in doubt as to the precedence due to expected guests bearing t.i.tles; wealth or social position are not taken into account in this matter, it being strictly a question of date.
=The Precedence due to Ladies of Equal Rank= takes effect in the same manner. Thus, a young wife of a baronet takes precedence over the elderly wife of a baronet if the creation of her husband's t.i.tle bears an earlier date.
=When the Claims to Precedency of Persons of Equal Rank= clash, the claims of a gentleman should be waived in favour of those of a lady, should the persons be of opposite s.e.xes. Thus, if two couples of superior rank to the other guests were present at a dinner-party, the host should take down the lady of highest rank, and the hostess should be taken down by the gentleman of highest rank, in which case the lady second in rank should go in to dinner _before_ her husband, although the gentleman taking her down to dinner were of lower rank than her husband.
=Esquires, and the Wives of Esquires=, take precedence according to their social position. Members of Parliament have no precedence, though it is often accorded to them as a matter of courtesy, especially in the county which they represent; the wives of members of Parliament are likewise ent.i.tled to no precedence on the ground of their husbands being members of Parliament.
=The High Sheriff of a County= takes precedence over all other gentlemen in the county, of whatever rank, save the lord-lieutenant, according to the Royal warrant issued by His late Majesty King Edward, giving precedence to lord-lieutenants of counties before high sheriffs.
=The High Sheriff= out of his particular county has no precedence, neither has a lord-lieutenant; and the wives of either lords-lieutenants or high sheriffs take no precedence on account of their husbands'
official dignity.
=An a.s.size Judge= takes precedence over the high sheriff as the a.s.size judge represents the Sovereign of the Realm.
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