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A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the The Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th century; however, in its current usage it was created by James I of England in 1611 as a means of raising funds for the crown.
Baronets rank below , but above all other .
Like all British knights, baronets are addressed as "Sir" and baronetesses as "Dame". They are conventionally seen to belong to the lesser nobility, although William Thoms in 1844 wrote:
The precise quality of this dignity is not yet fully determined, some holding it to be the head of the nobiles minores, while others, again, rank Baronets as the lowest of the nobiles majores, because their honour, like that of the higher nobility, is both hereditary and created by patent.William J. Thoms (1844). The Book of the Court (2nd edition). London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, p. 132
Comparisons with continental titles and ranks are tenuous due to the British system of primogeniture and because claims to baronetcies must be proven; currently the Official Roll of the Baronetage is overseen by the Ministry of Justice. In practice this means that the UK Peerage and Baronetage consists of about 1,200 families (some peers are also baronets), which is roughly less than 0.01% of UK families.
The title of baronet was initially conferred upon nobility who lost the right of individual summons to Parliament, and was used in this sense in a statute of Richard II. A similar title of lower rank was banneret.
Present-day baronets date from 1611 when James I granted letters patent to 200 gentlemen of good birth with an income of at least £1,000 a year (equivalent to £ in ). In return for the honour, each was required to pay one pound a day for the upkeep of thirty soldiers for three years (1,095 days), thus amounting to £1,095 (equivalent to £ in ), in those days a very large sum. The money was to help fund the Plantation of Ulster. (2025). 9781860771361, Phillimore. ISBN 9781860771361 In 1619, James I established the Baronetage of Ireland; Charles I in 1625 created the Baronetages of Scotland and Nova Scotia. The new baronets were each required to pay 2,000 marks (equivalent to £ in ), or to support six colonial settlers for two years. Over a hundred of these baronetcies, now familiarly known as Scottish baronetcies, survive to this day.
As a result of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, all future creations were styled baronets of Great Britain. Following the Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, new creations were styled as baronets of the United Kingdom.
Under royal warrants of 1612 and 1613, certain privileges were accorded to baronets. Firstly, no person or persons should have place between baronets and the younger sons of peers. Secondly, the right of knighthood was established for the eldest sons of baronets (this was later revoked by George IV in 1827), and thirdly, baronets were allowed to augment their armorial bearings with the Arms of Ulster on an inescutcheon: "in a field Argent, a Hand gules (or a bloudy hand)". These privileges were extended to baronets of Ireland, and for baronets of Scotland the privilege of depicting the Arms of Nova Scotia as an augmentation of honour. The former applies to this day for all baronets of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom created subsequently.
Unlike knighthoods – which apply to the recipient only – a baronetcy is hereditarily entailed. The eldest son of a baronet who is born in wedlock succeeds to a baronetcy upon his father's death, but will not be officially recognised until his name is recognised by being placed on the Official Roll. With some exceptions granted with special remainder by letters patent, baronetcies descend through the male line.
A full list of extant baronets appears in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, which also published a record of extinct baronetcies.
A baronetcy is not a peerage; so baronets, like knights and junior members of peerage families, are and not peers of the realm. Originally, all first baronets were knighted. Baronets also had other rights, including the right to have the eldest son knighted on his 21st birthday. However, at the beginning of George IV's reign, these rights were eroded by orders-in-council on the ground that sovereigns should not necessarily be bound by acts of their predecessors. Although never having been automatically entitled to heraldic , baronets who were also a Knight Grand Cross of a Crown order were allowed them in heredity in the first half of the 19th century.
Baronets of Scotland or Nova Scotia were allowed to augment their armorial bearings with the Arms of Nova Scotia and the privilege of wearing a neck badge signifying "of Nova Scotia", suspended by an orange-tawny ribbon. This consists of an escutcheon argent with a saltire azure, an inescutcheon of the Royal Arms of Scotland, with an Imperial Crown above the escutcheon, and encircled with the motto Fax Mentis Honestae Gloria. This badge may be shown suspended by the ribbon below the escutcheon.
Baronets of England and Ireland applied to King Charles I for permission to wear a badge. Although a badge was worn in the 17th century, it was not until 1929 that King George V granted permission for all baronets (other than those of Scotland) to wear badges.
The wife of a baronet is addressed and referred to by her married surname, as "Lady Bloggs"; the salutation would be "Dear Lady Bloggs". Her given name is used only when necessary to distinguish between two holders of the same title. For example, if a baronet has died and the title has passed to his son, the widow (the new baronet's mother) will remain "Lady Bloggs" while he (the son) is not married, but if he is or becomes married, his wife becomes "Lady Bloggs" while his mother will be known by the style "Alice, Lady Bloggs". Alternatively, the mother may prefer to be known as "The Dowager Lady Bloggs". A previous wife will also become "Alice, Lady Bloggs" to distinguish her from the current wife of the incumbent baronet. She would not be "Lady Alice Bloggs", a style reserved for the daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls (and now Ladies Companion of the Garter and Ladies of the Thistle without higher styles). Debrett's Correct Form. Addressing the family of a Baronet.
The children of a baronet are not entitled to the use of any .
In 1976, Lord Lyon King of Arms stated that, without examining the patent of every Scottish baronetcy, he was not in a position to confirm that only these four title creations could pass through female lines.
, there are no living baronetesses.
For a baronetess one should write, for example, "Dame Daisy Smith, Btss" on the envelope. At the head of the letter, one would write "Dear Dame Daisy", and to refer to her, one would say "Dame Daisy" or "Dame Daisy Smith" (never "Dame Smith").
| + Estimated numbers of baronetcies as at 1 January 2023 |
| 50 |
| 23 |
| 30 |
| 31 |
| 106 |
| 240 |
The first publication listing all baronetcies ever created was C. J. Parry's Index of Baronetcy Creations (1967). This listed them in alphabetical order, other than the last five creations (Dodds baronets, Redmayne of Rushcliffe, Pearson baronets, Finlay baronets and Thatcher of Scotney). It showed the total number created from 1611 to 1964 to have been 3,482. They include five of Oliver Cromwell, several of which were recreated by Charles II. Twenty-five were created between 1688 and 1784 by James II in exile after his dethronement, by his son James Stuart ("The Old Pretender") and his grandson Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"). These "Jacobite baronetcies" were never accepted by the English Crown, have all disappeared and should properly be excluded from the 3,482, making the effective number of creations 3,457. A close examination of Parry's publication shows he missed one or two, so there might well have been some more.
As of 2000, including baronetcies where succession was dormant or unproven, there was a total of 1,314 baronetcies divided into five classes of creation included on The Official Roll of the Baronetage – 146 of England, 63 of Ireland, 119 of Scotland, 133 of Great Britain and 853 of the United Kingdom.
The total number of baronetcies today is approximately 1,204, although only some 1,020 are on The Official Roll of the Baronetage. It is unknown whether some baronetcies remain extant and it may be that nobody can prove himself to be the actual heir. Over 200 baronetcies are now held by peers; and others, such as the Knox line, have been made tenuous by internal family disputes. According to the Ministry of Justice, it is not necessary to prove succession to a baronetcy in order to use the title, but a person cannot be referred to as a baronet in any official capacity unless their name is on the Official Roll.
Since 1965 only one new baronetcy has been created, for Denis Thatcher on 7 December 1990, husband of a former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher (later Baroness Thatcher); their only son, Mark Thatcher, succeeded as 2nd Baronet upon his father's death in 2003.
Seven baronetcies dormant in 1965 have since been revived: Innes baronets (1686), Nicolson baronetcy of that Ilk and of Lasswade (1629), Hope baronets (1698), St John ( later St John-Mildmay) baronetcy, of Farley (1772), Maxwell-Macdonald baronetcy of Pollok (1682), Inglis baronets (1687) and Von Friesendorff baronetcy, of Hirdech, Sweden (1661).
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