Hi Bill You may have read this before but just in case you haven't; from 1818 & 1822 a description of Gentleman and Esquire posted on my site. http://home.people.net.au/~ousie/esquires_&_gentlemen.htm I recall in the late '60's, that many of the graziers had the title Esq., added to their names on the envelopes of their correspondence where I worked. Susie > > Message: 8 > Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 16:17:31 +1100 > From: "Bill Webster" <wbwebster@internode.on.net> > Subject: [IRL-CARLOW] Esq. and Gent. > To: <irl-carlow@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <000301caa7b4$d9fda0f0$8df8e2d0$@on.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > The following is typical of entries to some government records I have been > inspecting: > > > 1821 (477) (Ireland) Grand Jury Presentments, Dublin (pp. 43 - 44): > > "To L. Crosthwaite, P. Roe and R. Shaw, esqrs. and George Halpin, gent, to > repair 76 perches of road from Ringsend bridge to Artichoak road, between > said bridge and Beggar's Bush road...?159 12 0." > > > The "esquires" concerned were merchants of no particular family standing, > wealthy, successful, on some company and banking boards and civic > committees, undoubtedly property owners, possibly landlords. > > The "gentleman" was also well-to-do, largely self-made, a property owner > and > city landlord but also of a hands-on nature, the "Inspector" appointed by > two civic corporations. > > All came from a background of education and industry, erudition and > ambition. > > May I therefore revisit the old debate about the distinction between an > esq(ire) and a gent(leman)? The best summation that I have found is at > Wikipedia but even there the editors ask for the article to have more > grounding and references. Even by the 1700s I think it was too archaic to > hark back to esquire deriving from the squires of knights, certainly by > the > 1800s. Knights had not had squires for 500 years. So, what did 1820s > publications mean by such epithets? What was the implied distinction > between an esquire and a gentleman? > > > I have put this query to another list and there have been a number of > replies but I thought I should put it to the learned subscribers here too. > > Bill. > > > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the IRL-CARLOW list administrator, send an email to > IRL-CARLOW-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the IRL-CARLOW mailing list, send an email to > IRL-CARLOW@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-CARLOW-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the > email with no additional text. > > > End of IRL-CARLOW Digest, Vol 5, Issue 85 > ***************************************** > > > __________ NOD32 4841 (20100206) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > part000.txt - is OK > > http://www.eset.com > >