Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-20
USE OF ESQUIRE
MisappIication of Term in Eng
land Frequent.
RIGHT DEFINED BY BURKE
Twelve Glasses Are Entitled to Be
So Addressed.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
LONDON. April 6. 1912
Any man in England not a tradesman
or a laborer feels offended II he is ad-
dressed as "Mr" on letter, and no
tradesman would omit the ESQ" on
letter to a male customer, for he would
feel that to do so would certainly lose
him custom. schoolboy on being asked
by his teacher what the title esquire
implied answered. That's the name they
call my father on his letters at election
time. The reply is quite correct, though
not quite exhaustive. It is true that the
name has come to be used with a freedom
which has broadened down from prece
dent to precedent until it has lost all
distinction except that appertaining to a
term of address of courtesy, or. it may
be. of f1attery.
But in the roll Of British titles the es-
auire has his definite place. Some time
since baronets were very wroth over the
use Of their title by men who had no
right to it, and they wished to strike them
off the list. Were the esquires to attempt
a similar task in respect Of their order
we'll, l should not envy them it, espe-
cially if they essayed the purge at cleo
llOIi tlIicS
Entitled to Be Called Esquires.
Yet, as matter of fact, the persons rho
may properly be called and call them
selves esquires are quite clearly defined.
The unimpeachable Burke sets them out
thus:
1. The sons of all the peers and lords
of parliament during the lives Of their
fathers; the younger sons Of peers after
the death OF their father; the eldest sons
of the youngest sons of peers and their
eldest sons in perpetual succession.
>. Noblemen of other nations.
,. The eldest land, we think II any, all
the) sons of baronets and the eldest sons
of knights.
4. Esquires created expressly with a
collar of SIS. and spurs OF silver-now OBJ
solete
5. Persons to whom the king gives arms
by his own letters patent, with the title of
esquire.
s. Esquires Of the Bath and the eldest
sons of those esquires pursuant to the
statutes of the order.
Z. Barristers-at-law by their Office
profession.
s. Justices of the peace and mayors
while in the commission or in the office.
8. Persons chosen eSquireS to the body
or the prlnce-nOW obsolete.
10. Persons attending on the sovereign's
coronation, In some notable employment,
or persons employed in any superior Of
flee or trust (where they have discretion
airy power, and are not, such as clerks,
merely ministeriaD under the crown, or
serving in some place of better note in
the kings household.
IL. Persons who are styled esquires by
the king in their patents, commissions or
appointments, such as sheriffs OF counties
or captains in the army or navy.
IL. Attorneys in the colonies where the
departments Of counsel and attorneys are
united.
An Erroneous Belief.
There is current belief, as l mention
ed, that every gentleman is an esquire,
but this is not the case, though 1t is pre-
sumed that every esquire is a gentle
man. This was the mistake that a resi-
dent in Tunbridge Wells made the other
day, when he wrote a tradesman. strong
ly protesting against being addressed as
plain Mr. and demanding that he
Should have Esq" put at the end of
his name He maintained that he was
entitled to this honorable designation on
the ground that he had been Independent
all his life, las We're also my father and
grandfather before ME-; that he was heir
to his aunt, Lady -; that his brother
was an NJ A. of oxford. and his brother
in-law was a deputy court judge.
The correspondence was published in
the newspapers, and created no small in
dignation among the great middle class
that tradesman should SO presume.
But none Of the Tunbridge Wells mans
distinctions entitled him to be ranked as
an esquire. They may be perfectly hon
orable, but they are not on Burke's list
of qualifications, and they must in con-
sequence be ruled out Of court.
The esquire. if We go back to the be-
ginning of things, was really the shield
bearer or armor-bearer of a knight. In
the days Of chivalry knight, fully
equipped. was attended by two esquires,
whose spurs were Of silver. while those
of the knight were of gold. When the
sovereign created esquires in those days
silver spurs were placed on their heels
and collars Of SIS. round their necks
The title, however, as time went on, was
given to others than attendants on
knights-it lost. in short, all its original
meaning. The Knights Of the Bath used
to have the power Of constituting three
esquires each at their installation, but
no creations of this kind have been made
since 1872, and, by the statutes OF 1847.
the power to nominate esquires was talk
en- away from the order. The barristers
had great fight to obtain the title, but
it was at last decided by the court of