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During the eighteenth century, the ideals of rank and order predominately dictated the

social standing and class bearance of individuals. What stature a person lived under depended

entirely upon their parentage or the services they rendered to the crown. This provided little

ability for citizens to climb the ladder of social success. However, as the Industrial Revolution

came about, new forms of wealth, commercial, urban, industrial, or otherwise, bruised the

confidence of society's belief in traditional identifications (Corfield 38). These new outlets of self-

made wealth created a previously unbeknownst sector of society, the middle class. The

emergence of these highly influential professions provided common citizens with a pathway for

navigating Regency society. With the preconceived notions of class manners and a rigid social

hierarchy, movement through the class system in Regency England depended highly upon

marriage, devout service to the crown, and other extenuating circumstances.

The Regency Era was a time that depended highly upon the social standing, office, or

occupation a person held. In other words, a persons career was not just a job; it was his/her

life. Every opportunity people received or could afford was based entirely upon their wealth and

status in society. The class system started with the Royal family and the highest ranking

religious and military executives and continued all the way down to gypsies and vagrants. The

top two classes consisted of mostly those that were either born into or groomed since birth to

rule and succeed. The Royal family, baronets, and true gentlemen were among those that

inherited their power from family entailment. Those that were groomed since birth included

religious officials, military officers, and usually knights. The truly interesting difference of the

Georgian/ Regency Era hierarchy was the creation of a sustainable and thriving middle class

life. These included the professional class: doctors, lawyers, bankers, clergymen, and

professors; the artisan class: builders, artists, and smiths/metallurgists; and the service class:

shopkeepers and inn and ship owners (Regency). Within this middle class sector there was

much mobility, meaning any son of a shopkeeper could work hard enough to become a doctor

or a lawyer, and any son of a doctor or lawyer could become a shopkeeper if he chose. This
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type of mobility was unheard of in earlier eras of english history. In fact, one of the requirements

for becoming a physician at one point was that a person had to have a relative, distant or

immediate, that was already a physician or have a patron that was a member of the upper class

society who would vouch for the character and ethics of the person. The lower classes

consisted of enlisted soldiers, craftsmen, mechanics, farmers, and common workers. On

account of lacking monetary means and clout to pursue any truly meaningful movement or

change, these men and women had very low class mobility (Regency). However, the military did

provide simple enlisted soldiers a means of climbing the rungs of the social ladder as well as

paying them a steady paycheck. The mobility between the social classes in this period occurred

at a rate that had not been possible in earlier eras; this is because of the continually growing

middle class and a weakening of the aristocratic rigidness that had held the hierarchy in place

for so many years.

Now that the transformation from one standard of living to another was completely

possible, it was still complicated. The real trick was being in a position to jump from one class to

the next. The most obvious, and easiest, way to be gleaned into high society life in the Regency

period was, of course, to be born into it. However, if a person was not so lucky as to be handed

their place in the ruling aristocracy, then other arrangements had to be made to compensate.

Movement for women was much easier than for men in the time period. For women, the power

of marriage was often a driving force for all relationships that either the woman or her family had

ever set up (Hughes). With that being said, the whole idea of the damsel that was whisked away

from her job at the inn to be the bride of some major hot shot in English society just did not

happen. At the time, the most mobility that occurred between the aristocratic class came from

upper middle class, where some families had large fortunes even by the standards of a Baronet.

So, while it was not impossible, the movement could be achieved only with certain prerequisites.

Firstly, the woman had to be well educated in the world and society, so as to fit in with the high

society life. Then, by the time of marrying age, she had to be able to conduct herself with
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enough grace and charm to catch the eye of a man in a promising position. Finally, she would

then have to integrate into the new society, by learning the new social policies and normalities,

before completely transitioning into the new class. For men, the transition was much easier. All

a man had to do was join into a profitable profession, make large sums of money, and then buy

large acreages in the country. By doing this, a man transitions from a professional into a true

gentleman who can simply rely on his land and debts to substitute for his income. In rare

instances a third case can emerge, where the extreme and devout service to the crown

coincides with an extraordinary feat of accomplishment. This usually ends in a newly instated

knighthood amongst the ranks of the English social culture. Navigation of class in Regency

England seemed to be a minefield, where every step could end in disaster or advancement.

Although movement through the hierarchy was restricted to only a few privileged niches, the

modes of traversing were even narrower.

As the rigidity of the social hierarchy lessened and more integration into the upper

socialite class ensued, the ability of citizens to climb the social pyramid increased. Stabilization

of a middle class sector of society was crucial to the mobility of all citizens. With more wealth

accumulating to those that were not in the aristocratic part of society, the line drawn between

the two orders began to blur. Even though women and men had different rules and methods for

navigating this battlefield, the overall goal was the same. Social mobility, while steadily

increasing, was still narrow and required the full attention of those that were not content with

their current standing in English society.