Description

Burke's published this collection of Family Records as a supplement to its" Peerage and Baronetage" and the "Landed Gentry." The nobility and gentry of England, Scotland, and Wales, as Mr. Burke explains in his preface, "are by no means confined to these classes, but include many other families of equal position, descent and alliance, for a gentleman derives his nobility from his ancestors and not from the mere possession of lands or titles . . . Many a noble lord, paramount in his own county, would be astonished to find that his less distinguished neighbor was of a nobility as ancient as his own. The position of these cadet houses has been still further obscured by the acquisition of lands and titles by those who have risen from humble rank to wealth and honour . . . have ennobled themselves by their great services to the Crown and country, or whose alliances make them so near akin to our ancient nobility."