Baronets

The term baronet was first applied to the nobility who had lost their right of individual summons to Parliament.

The hereditary Order of Baronets in England was erected by Letters Patent by King James I on May 22, 1611, for the settlement of Ireland. He offered the dignity to 200 gentlemen of good birth, with a clear estate of £1,000 a year, on condition that each should pay into the King's Exchequer in three equal installments a sum equivalent to three years' pay to 30 soldiers at 8d per day per man (£1,095 total). The first installment was to be paid on the delivery of the patent. The Baronets form the sixth division of the Nobiles Majores, following the five degrees of the Peerage.

The Baronetage of Ireland was erected on September 30, 1611; the Baronetage of Scotland or Nova Scotia on May 28, 1625, for the establishment of the plantation of Nova Scotia. After the union of England and Scotland in 1707 no further Baronets of England or Scotland were created, the style being changed to Baronet of Great Britain. With the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, all Baronets subsequently created were under the style of the United Kingdom.

Baronets are not entitled to sit in the House of Lords as they are not truly considered Peers. A Baronetcy is more like a hereditary knighthood. As such, Baronets are styled with the prefix of "Sir" and the most frequent postnominal of "Bt." (example, Sir Jeffrey Allen, Bt.)

The title of Baronet is one of some personal importance to the author of this web page.