Money and Society

This chapter discusses the incomes of younger sons, as this has a bearing upon their position in society. Younger sons, in short, needed to work to secure their positions. Money was very important but it was not the only thing that decided someone's place in society. At the very top of the tree the chapter reveals three distinct but overlapping hierarchies: birth, wealth, and political power. The aristocracy dominated the ownership of land and still controlled a substantial share of the country's wealth, although the rapid growth of new industries, the colonial empire, and overseas trade was diluting its pre-eminence. There were many self-made men of large fortune; and also quite a number of relatively poor peers.