If you fancy the idea of adding a title to your name and you don’t think you are in line to inherit one, why not purchase one? On the face of it, the idea of becoming a Lord or Lady for a few quid is enticing. Indeed, a quick Google search provides a multitude of options starting from as little as £20. The host of enterprising companies offering this service promise an apparently effortless route into the aristocracy.
Unsurprisingly, it is not as simple as that. These inexpensive titles are sold as gifts or novelties and are essentially for amusement. Buying a tiny plot of land, or a certificate purporting to make its owner ‘Lord’, ‘Lady’, or ‘Laird’, does not confer a peerage, nor even the right to be addressed as one. Genuine peerages are creations of the Crown either for life, or as hereditary dignities, inherited according to the terms under which they were created.
That said, we are constantly being regaled with tales of people who have looked to exploit the possibilities of their newly purchased title. (Some don’t even bother to buy a title). They set about booking tables at restaurants or rooms at hotels, hoping the casual mention of the word Lord or Lady will trigger an upgrade. This is not illegal, but it is of course, disingenuous and dishonest. Using a fake title in this way is not without jeopardy. The possibility of challenge, exposure or rejection leaves the false peer open to ridicule or disappointment, and as far as we are concerned, ideally both.
It is one thing to purchase a title but another to build an entire backstory around it and to try to pass it off as inherited. Some people even build a business around the fake title. It seems counter-intuitive to us to run a business with foundations built on a lie that will be discovered sooner rather than later. Every few months our attention is drawn to a new batch of fake heirs whose story unfolds with a quick reference to our Peerage database.
What of the Scottish barons? These titles can also be purchased but they are emphatically not the £20 peerages. They began life as inheritable titles and some have existed for the best part of 1,000 years, but it was the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 that changed their nature. The Act separated Scottish feudal baronies from the land to which they had historically been attached. It allowed the dignity of baron to exist as incorporeal,* heritable property, which can therefore be bought, sold and inherited.
This allowed genuine Scottish baronies to change hands for money. These days, a price of £100,000 or more is not uncommon and, at the time of writing, none are on the open market. But they should not be confused with a peerage. To be clear, the possession of a Scottish feudal barony does not make the holder a peer. Many Scottish peers do hold inherited feudal baronies, and these are not generally recorded in the Peerage.
If £100,000 does not buy you a peerage, what is the attraction? Why do they change hands for such large sums of money? We can only conjecture. Their scarcity and traceable history must count for something, and it is true that the title is not entirely without official recognition. HM Passport Office permits a recognised Scottish barony to be reflected in a passport, subject to specified evidence and recognition requirements. The holder’s territorial designation may form part of the surname, with the barony recorded separately as an observation. This is very different from it being recorded as a ‘title’, in a passport, which is an option for peers, though very few peers go to this trouble. Debrett’s maintained a list of Scottish barons until recently and we are now very happy to leave this matter to the Scottish Barony Register.
https://scottishbaronyregister.org
It is worth noting that, as with Scottish baronies, there is a similar arrangement with English and Welsh manorial and lordship titles. There are plenty for sale, and the majority are a lot cheaper than their Scottish equivalents. A genuine lordship of the manor is a historic and transferable property right, and its owner is entitled to describe themselves as Lord of that Manor. It is not, however, a title of nobility and should not be confused with a peerage.
Curiously, the idea of money and hereditary distinction being linked is not a modern invention.
The hereditary baronetage of England, instituted by James I & VI in 1611, had fundraising at its heart. The King wanted money to support soldiers in Ireland. Two hundred gentlemen of good birth and substantial means were to be offered the new hereditary dignity, ranking below the peerage but above ordinary knighthood. Each was required to provide a sum equivalent to maintaining thirty soldiers for three years. Today we still keep the Peerage and baronetage separate to allow for the distinction.
The cynics amongst you might point out that a good number of life peers owe their title to a timely financial contribution made to some cause or other. A life peerage is a title bestowed by the monarch; it is not heritable, it is recorded in the Peerage, and we will let the matter rest there.
The crucial distinction is between a novelty-style title, a transferable historic dignity and a Crown-created title. They may all employ aristocratic-sounding terminology, but they are very different things. That distinction is precisely why authoritative records remain important. Debrett’s has chronicled the British peerage and baronetage for more than two centuries, allowing readers to distinguish legitimate hereditary titles from the multitude of impressive-sounding alternatives. The fact remains: however much money you spend, you cannot buy a peerage.
*Property without physical presence.
