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Lady is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord , now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men.

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91-411: "Lady" is also a formal title in the United Kingdom . "Lady" is used before the family name or peerage of a woman with a title of nobility or honorary title suo jure (in her own right), such as female members of the Order of the Garter and Order of the Thistle , or the wife of a lord, a baronet , Scottish feudal baron , laird , or a knight , and also before the first name of the daughter of

182-535: A duke , marquess , or earl . The word comes from Old English hlǣfdige ; the first part of the word is a mutated form of hlāf , "loaf, bread ", also seen in the corresponding hlāford , "lord". The second part is usually taken to be from the root dig- , "to knead", seen also in dough ; the sense development from bread-kneader, or bread-maker, or bread-shaper, to the ordinary meaning, though not clearly to be traced historically, may be illustrated by that of "lord". The primary meaning of "mistress of

273-625: A B-29 bomber in early 1945. They unsurprisingly chose to name it after their most famous citizen, William Allen White. This bomber was sent with a crew of men to the island of Tinian in the South Pacific and was part of the same bomber squadron that the Enola Gay was in. During World War II, the William Allen White Liberty ship was launched from Richmond, California on May 8, 1944. His autobiography, which

364-582: A White editorial titled " What's the Matter With Kansas? " attracted national attention with a scathing attack on William Jennings Bryan , the Democrats , and the Populists . White sharply ridiculed Populist leaders for letting Kansas slip into economic stagnation and not keeping up economically with neighboring states because their anti-business policies frightened away economic capital from

455-718: A baffled spectator. Nevertheless, he clung to his vision of a cooperative society until his death in 1944. White became a leader of the Progressive movement in Kansas, forming the Kansas Republican League in 1912 to oppose railroads . White helped Theodore Roosevelt form the Progressive (Bull-Moose) Party in the 1912 presidential election in opposition to the conservative forces surrounding incumbent Republican president William Howard Taft . White

546-470: A confirmation of nobility. Thus, along with Belgium and Spain , the United Kingdom remains one of the few countries in which nobility is still granted and the nobility (except for the hereditary peerage and baronetage) does not form a closed, purely "historical" class. In the 5th century, Germanic peoples collectively known as Anglo-Saxons migrated to sub-Roman Britain and came to dominate

637-593: A famous eulogy, "Mary White," on May 17, 1921. White visited six of the seven continents at least once in his long life. Due to his fame and success, he received 10 honorary degrees from universities, including one from Harvard. White taught his son William L. the importance of journalism, and after his death, William L. took charge of the Gazette and continued its local success; after he died, his wife Kathrine ran it. Their daughter Barbara and her husband, David Walker, took it over much as William had earlier, and today

728-454: A female equivalent to princes or earls or other royals or nobles. Aside from the queen, women of royal and noble status simply carried the title of "Lady". As a title of nobility, the uses of "lady" in Britain are parallel to those of "lord". It is thus a less formal alternative to the full title giving the specific rank, of marchioness , countess , viscountess or baroness , whether as

819-455: A formal and respectful quality, being used to describe an elderly woman as "an old lady" or when speaking about a woman to a child (e.g. "Give the money to the lady.") It remains in use as a counterpart to "gentleman", in the plural phrase " ladies and gentlemen ", and is generally interchangeable (in a strictly informal sense) with "woman" (as in, "The lady at the store said I could return this item within thirty days"). However, some women, since

910-504: A household" is now mostly obsolete, save for the term " landlady " and in set phrases such as "the lady of the house". This meaning is retained in the southern states of the United States . In some contexts "lady" is synonymous with the old-fashioned word " gentlewoman ", meaning someone of high social status by birth and upbringing, but not necessarily titled. The term is also used in titles such as first lady and lady mayoress ,

1001-527: A major role in shaping the history of the country, although the hereditary peerage now retain only the rights to stand for election to the House of Lords , dining rights there, position in the formal order of precedence , the right to certain titles, and the right to an audience (a private meeting) with the monarch . The British nobility in the narrow sense consists of members of the immediate families of peers who bear courtesy titles or honorifics . Members of

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1092-463: A position in the formal orders of precedence in the United Kingdom . The largest portion of the British aristocracy has historically been the landed gentry , made up of baronets and the non-titled armigerous landowners whose families hailed from the medieval feudal class (referred to as gentlemen due to their income solely deriving from land ownership). Roughly a third of British land is owned by

1183-436: A precedent which has been repeatedly followed. Later earldoms also adopted family names, and omitted the preposition "of", an early example being Earl Rivers created in 1466 for Richard Woodville, 1st Baron Rivers . The title was not derived from the name of a place, but from the family name de Redvers, or Reviers, Earls of Devon . Earl Ferrers was created in 1711 for Robert Shirley, 14th Baron Ferrers, whose earlier title

1274-443: A process called subinfeudation . Their most important vassals were honorial barons, who were of lesser status than king's barons (see for example Barony of Halton ) . They corresponded to the lesser thegn of Anglo-Saxon England. Honorial barons were given manors in return for service and had their own tenants. For this reason, they were intermediate or mesne lords . These could also be wealthy and powerful, with some eclipsing

1365-442: A term of address in the plural, which is also the case for " gentleman ". The singular vocative use (i.e. to address someone directly) was once common but has become mostly confined to poetry. In some dialects it may still be used to address an unknown woman in a brusque manner, often in an imperative or interrogatory context, analogous to " mister " for an unknown male: e.g., "Hey, lady, you aren't allowed in here!" In this usage,

1456-577: A title in the peerage (except Irish) entitled its holder to a seat in the House of Lords. Since then, only 92 hereditary peers are entitled to sit in the House of Lords, of which 90 are elected by the hereditary peers by ballot and replaced on death. The two exceptions are the Earl Marshal (a position held by the Dukes of Norfolk ), who is responsible for certain ceremonial functions on state occasions, and

1547-525: Is no longer a Chief or a sept today. Contemporary individuals today designated or claiming a title of an Irish chief treat their title as hereditary, whereas chiefs in the Gaelic order were nominated and elected by a vote of their kinsmen. Modern "chiefs" of tribal septs descend from provincial and regional kings with pedigrees beginning in Late Antiquity , whereas Scottish chiefly lines arose well after

1638-581: Is not used as the counterpart of "gentleman". It is suggested by academic Elizabeth Reid Boyd that feminist usage of the word "lady" has been reclaimed in the 21st century. Formally, "Lady" is the female counterpart to higher ranks in society , from gentlemen, through knights, to peers of the realm. During the Middle Ages , princesses or daughters of the blood royal were usually known by their first names with "Lady" prefixed, e.g. The Lady Elizabeth ; since Old English and Middle English did not have

1729-418: Is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better world for tomorrow. From a 1933 editorial about the futility of war (referring to World War I ): The boys who died just went out and died. To their own souls' glory of course -- but what else? ... Yet the next war will see the same hurrah and the same bowwow of the big dogs to get the little dogs to go out and follow

1820-524: Is sometimes used by a healthcare receptionist when booking an appointment at a group practice health centre so that the situation is clear to the patient. It is still used in some other occupations, to give dignity and express respect to less skilled work such as tea ladies in offices and hospitals, lunch ladies (or dinner ladies) in school canteens, cleaning ladies in private homes and in business premises, and healthcare ladies for female healthcare assistants . Both British and American commentators noted

1911-592: Is that associated with certain offices, which give the rank of Gentleman for the duration of tenure, or for life. Some offices and ranks also give the rank of Esquire for life. The Monarch grants Peerages, Baronetcies and Knighthoods (nowadays mostly Life Peerages and Knighthoods) to citizens of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms at the advice of the Prime Minister. Honours lists are published regularly at important occasions. Untitled nobility, i.e. gentility, being identical to armigerousness , falls into

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2002-515: Is the most difficult thing in the world for a people to accomplish. It is not a matter that a nation acquires by adopting a set of laws. Only Anglo-Saxons can govern themselves. The Cubans will need a despotic government for many years to restrain anarchy until Cuba is filled with Yankees. Uncle Sam, the First, will have to govern Cuba as Alphonso, the Thirteenth, governed it if there is any peace in

2093-581: The Asantehene of the Ashanti people is known as Lady Julia Osei Tutu . In Nigeria, the Yoruba aristocrats Kofoworola, Lady Ademola and Oyinkansola, Lady Abayomi made use of the title due to their being the wives of British knights. British aristocracy The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry . The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played

2184-536: The Children's Book Award . The town of Emporia honors him to this day with city limits signs on I-35 , US-50 , and K-99 announcing "Home of William Allen White." A photograph of White has been used by the band They Might Be Giants in stagecraft and music videos throughout their entire career. From editorial "Mary White": A rift in the clouds in a gray day threw a shaft of sunlight upon her coffin as her nervous, energetic little body sank to its last sleep. But

2275-596: The Ku Klux Klan – a crusade that led him to run for governor of Kansas in 1924 so that his anti-Klan message would reach a broader state and national audience. As expected, White did not win the election, but he was widely credited with deflating Klan intentions in Kansas. In the 1928 presidential election , he condemned the Democratic nominee Al Smith as the candidate of "the saloon , prostitution , and gambling " for Smith's opposition to Prohibition . He

2366-609: The Lord Great Chamberlain (a position held in gross and one of a number of persons can hold it), who serves as the monarch's representative in Parliament and accompanies them on certain state occasions; both are automatically entitled to sit in the House. Typically, those due to inherit a peerage—or indeed have done so, in recent times—have been educated at one of the major public schools , such as Eton , Radley , Oundle , Winchester or Harrow . A member of

2457-579: The New Deal , but voted against Franklin D. Roosevelt every time. Life described White: He is the small-town boy who made good at home. To the small-town man who envies the glamour of the city, he is living assurance that small-town life may be preferable. To the city man who looks back with nostalgia on a small-town youth, he is a living symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense. The city of Emporia raised $ 25,000 in war bonds during World War II and were granted naming rights for

2548-583: The Norman invasion of Ireland several Hiberno-Norman families adopted Gaelic customs, the most prominent being the De Burgh dynasty and FitzGerald dynasty ; their use of Gaelic customs did not extend to their titles of nobility, as they continuously utilized titles granted under the authority of the English monarchy. William Allen White William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944)

2639-524: The Plague of Justinian may have caused famine and other societal disruptions that compelled previously independent farmers to submit to the rule of strong lords. The Old English word for lord is hlaford ( ' loaf-guardian ' or ' bread-giver ' ). The early law codes of Kent use the Old English word eorl ( ' high born ' , ' noble ' ) to describe an aristocrat. By the 8th century,

2730-421: The husband's given and family names, e.g. Lady John Smith . However, she may not use "Lady" prefixed to her husband's surname alone. Neither may she use the title prefixed to her own given name unless entitled to do so by her own birth as the daughter of an earl, marquess or duke. The daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls are by courtesy "ladies"; here, that title is prefixed to the given and family name of

2821-409: The witan (the king's council). The Norman Conquest of 1066 marked the creation of a new, French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy with estates in both Normandy and England. This cross- Channel aristocracy also included smaller groups originating from other parts of France, such as Brittany , Boulogne , and Flanders . When William I ( r.  1066–1087 ) confiscated the property of

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2912-523: The 10th century. In 1066, there were an estimated 5,000 thegns in England. Thegns were the backbone of local government and the military. Sheriffs were drawn from this class, and thegns were required to attend the shire court and give judgment. For these reasons, historian David Carpenter described thegns as "the country gentry of Anglo-Saxon England". Thegns were divided into three ranks: ealdormen , king's thegns, and median thegns. The ealdorman

3003-707: The British Royal Family such as O'Donovan family . As Ireland was nominally under the overlordship of the English Crown for between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Gaelic system coexisted with the British system. A modern survivor of this coexistence is the Baron Inchiquin , still referred to in Ireland as the Prince of Thomond . The Prince of Thomond is one of three remaining claimants to

3094-537: The County over which they exercised control. The range of names adopted for titles gradually expanded from territorial names alone. Later titles used a wide variety of names, including surname (unrelated to territorial designation indicated by the French particule de ), for example in 1547 Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich . Edward Russell in 1697 was created Viscount Barfleur after a naval victory in foreign territory, setting

3185-638: The Heart of a Fool (1918), White fully developed the idea that reform remained the soundest ally of property rights . He felt that the Spanish–American War fostered political unity, and believed that a moral victory and an advance in civilization would be compensation for the devastation of World War I . White concluded that democracy in the New Era inevitably lacked direction, and the New Deal found him

3276-621: The House of Lords cannot simultaneously be a member of the House of Commons . In 1960, Anthony Wedgwood Benn inherited his father's title as Viscount Stansgate . He fought and won the ensuing by-election, but was disqualified from taking his seat until the Peerage Act 1963 was passed enabling hereditary peers to renounce their titles. Titles, while often considered central to the upper class, are not always strictly so. Both Captain Mark Phillips and Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence ,

3367-405: The Matter With Kansas?" and "Mary White" (a tribute to his 16-year-old daughter on her death in 1921) were his best-known writings. Locally he was known as the greatest booster for Emporia. He won a 1923 Pulitzer Prize for his editorial " To an Anxious Friend ", published July 27, 1922, after being arrested in a dispute over free speech following objections to the way the state of Kansas handled

3458-476: The Realm . The Sovereign is considered to be the fount of honour and, as "the fountain and source of all dignities cannot hold a dignity from himself", cannot hold a British peerage. Descendants in the male line of peers and children of women who are peeresses in their own right, as well as baronets , knights , dames and certain other persons who bear no peerage titles, belong to the gentry , deemed members of

3549-571: The Sage of Emporia, he continued to write editorials for the Gazette until his death in 1944. He was also a founding editor of the Book of the Month Club , along with longtime friend Dorothy Canfield . White married Sallie Lindsay in 1893. They had two children, William Lindsay , born in 1900, and Mary Katherine, born in 1904. Mary died in a 1921 horse-riding accident, prompting her father to publish

3640-467: The United Kingdom . Her husband was later created a baronet, thus making her "Lady Thatcher" as of right. After she retired, she was given a barony as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, and was thereafter known as "The Lady Thatcher". Elsewhere in the Commonwealth , the word is used in a similar fashion to aristocratic usage in Britain. In Ghana, for example, the consort of

3731-636: The blood scent and get their entrails tangled in the barbed wire. From an editorial published in February 1943, shortly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt returned from the Casablanca Conference with Winston Churchill : We who hate your gaudy guts salute you." From a March 20, 1899 editorial, The Emporia Gazette : Riots against the police are occurring in Havana. They will keep occurring. No Latin country governs itself. Self-government

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3822-425: The country and was personally attractive, but White considered his solutions haphazard. White saw the country uniting behind old ideals by 1940, in the face of foreign threats. White sought to encourage a viable moral order that would provide the nation with a sense of community. He recognized the powerful forces of corruption but called for slow, remedial change having its origin in the middle class. In his novel In

3913-417: The east and southeast of the island. Around half the population were free, independent farmers ( Old English : ceorlas ) who cultivated a hide of land (enough to provide for a family). Slaves , mostly native Britons , made up the other half. By the late 6th century, the archeological evidence (grander burials and buildings) suggests the development of a social elite. The Late Antique Little Ice Age and

4004-563: The ex-wife becomes Jane, Lady Smith until either her own death or until she remarries. Female members of the Order of the Garter and Order of the Thistle who do not hold a higher style also receive the prefix of "Lady"; here that title is prefixed to the given and family name of the lady, e.g. Lady Marion Fraser , LT , with the post nominal LG or LT, respectively, and this is preserved if

4095-552: The formation of the Kingdom of Scotland , (with the exception of the Clann Somhairle , or Clan Donald and Clan MacDougall , the two of royal origins). The related Irish Mór ("Great") is sometimes used by the dominant branches of the larger Irish dynasties to declare their status as the leading princes of the blood, e.g. MacCarthy Mor dynasty , lit. (The) Great Macarthy or Ó Néill Mór , lit. (The) Great O'Neill. Following

4186-458: The incident, White assured his readers, his papers referred to human females as "women", with the exception of police court characters, who were all "ladies". The British historian Nancy Mitford wrote an influential essay in 1954, " U vs. non-U ", in which she noted the class distinctions : lower class women strongly preferred to be called "ladies", while those from higher social backgrounds were content to be identified as "women". Commenting on

4277-603: The intensely fought presidential election of 1896 , providing White with national exposure. With his warm sense of humor, articulate editorial pen, and uncommon sense approach to life, White soon became known throughout the country. His Gazette editorials were widely reprinted; he wrote stories on politics syndicated by the George Matthew Adams Service ; and he published many books, including biographies of Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge . "What's

4368-600: The island at all. The Cubans are not and, of right, ought not to be free. To say that they are, or that they should be, is folly. Riot will follow riot. Anarchy will rise to be crushed. And unrest will prevail until the Yankee takes possession of the land. Then the Cubans will be an inferior—if not a servile—race. Then there will be peace in the land. Then will Cuba be free. It is the Anglo-Saxon's manifest destiny to go forth in

4459-566: The jurisdiction of the College of Arms and Lyon Court . Part of the Monarch's fons honorum—the power to grant arms—has been de facto devolved to Garter King of Arms and Lord Lyon King of Arms , respectively. A grant of arms is in every regard equivalent to a patent of nobility on the Continent; depending on jurisdiction and circumstances it can be seen as either an act of ennoblement or

4550-482: The king's greater tenants-in-chief. King's barons corresponded to king's thegns in the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy. Baron was not yet a hereditary title but rather described a social status. The estate of an earl or baron was called an honour . Domesday Book identifies around 170 greater tenants-in-chief, and the ten wealthiest among them owned 25 percent of the land: Domesday Book also records around 6,000 under-tenants. Earls and barons granted land to their own vassals in

4641-480: The king. According to Domesday Book, there were 1,100 tenants-in-chief in 1086. Those with estates worth over £30 a year were considered the greater tenants-in-chief. Those with smaller estates were considered the lesser tenants-in-chief. The greater tenants-in-chief constituted the highest ranks of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy: earls and the king's barons (see Feudal baron ) . The Normans continued to use

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4732-444: The king. The lowest thegnly rank were the median thegns who owed service to other thegns. High-ranking members of the church hierarchy ( archbishops , bishops and abbots ) paralleled the secular aristocracy. The church's power derived from its spiritual authority as well as its virtual monopoly on education . Secular government depended on educated clergy to function, and prelates were important politicians and royal advisers in

4823-692: The lady marries. The special use of the word as a title of the Virgin Mary , usually Our Lady , represents the Latin Domina Nostra . In Lady Day and Lady Chapel , the word is properly a genitive , representing hlǣfdigan "of the Lady". The word is also used as a title of the Wiccan Goddess, The Lady . Margaret Thatcher was informally referred to in the same way by many of her political colleagues when Prime Minister of

4914-406: The lady, e.g. Lady Jane Smith , and this is preserved if the lady marries a commoner , e.g. Mr John and Lady Jane Smith . "Lady" is also the customary title of the wife of a baronet or knight , but in this case without Christian name: "Lady" with the surname of the husband only, Sir John and Lady Smith . When a woman divorces a knight and he marries again, the new wife will be Lady Smith while

5005-421: The lesser important king's barons. The lower ranks of the aristocracy included the landless younger sons of important families and wealthier knights (men who held substantial land by knight-service ). Poorer knights (whose knight's fees were small) were likely excluded from the aristocracy. By 1300, the knightly class or gentry numbered around 3,000 landholders. Half of these were dubbed knights, while

5096-469: The main method of creating baronies, and baronies by tenure became obsolete. Non-hereditary positions began to be created again in 1867 for Law Lords . In 1958, the Life Peerages Act 1958 enabled (non-hereditary) life peers to sit in the House of Lords , and from then on the creation of hereditary peerages rapidly became obsolete, almost ceasing after 1964. This is only a convention, and

5187-529: The majority of his childhood. He loved animals and reading books. He attended the College of Emporia and the University of Kansas , and in 1889 started work at The Kansas City Star as an editorial writer. In 1895, White bought the Emporia Gazette for $ 3,000 from William Yoast Morgan and became its editor. White was a political conservative at this early stage of his career. In 1896

5278-527: The men who participated in the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 . In his novels and short stories, White developed his idea of the small town as a metaphor for understanding social change and for preaching the necessity of community. While he expressed his views in terms of the small town, he tailored his rhetoric to the needs and values of emerging urban America. The cynicism of the post-World War I world stilled his imaginary literature, but for

5369-527: The nobility and landed gentry. It is often wrongly assumed that knighthoods and life peerages cannot grant hereditary nobility. The bestowal of a peerage or a knighthood is seen as due reason for a grant of arms by Garter King of Arms or Lord Lyon, and thus, those who make use of it attain hereditary nobility. The eldest son of a Knight and his eldest sons in perpetuity attain the rank of Esquire. The only form of non-hereditary nobility in Great Britain

5460-465: The non-existent, since the 12th century, High Kingship of Ireland , the others being The O'Neill , MacCarthy Mor dynasty and the O'Conor Don . Chief of the Name was a clan designation which was effectively terminated in 1601 with the collapse of the Gaelic order, and which, through the policy of surrender and regrant, eliminated the role of a chief in a clan or sept structure. This does not mean there

5551-491: The non-peerage nobility below whom they rank. The untitled nobility consists of all those who bear formally matriculated, or recorded, armorial bearings (a coat of arms). CILANE and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta both consider armorial bearings as the main, if not sole, mark of nobility in Britain. Other than their designation, such as Gentleman or Esquire , they enjoy only the privilege of

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5642-668: The old Anglo-Saxon nobility, he kept 17 percent of the land as his royal demesne (now the Crown Estate ). The rest was given to the Conqueror's companions and other followers. According to the Domesday Book of 1086, the rest of the land was distributed as follows: Land was distributed according to the rules of feudalism . Vassals were granted fiefs in return for military service and counsel. These vassals were called tenants-in-chief because they held land directly from

5733-457: The other half were styled esquire . The banneret was ranked below a baron but above a regular knight. There was overlap between this group and the "lesser barons". The baronage (including barons, earls, and high-ranking churchmen) had a duty as tenants-in-chief to provide the king with advice when summoned to great councils . In the 1200s, the great council evolved into Parliament , a representative body that increasingly asserted for itself

5824-458: The paper remains family-run, currently headed by William Allen White's great-grandson, Christopher White Walker. White developed a friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1890s that lasted until Roosevelt's death in 1919. Roosevelt spent several nights at White's Wight and Wight -designed home, Red Rocks , during trips across the United States. White was to say later, "Roosevelt bit me and I went mad." Later, White supported much of

5915-508: The peerage carry the titles of duke , marquess , earl , viscount or baron . British peers are sometimes referred to generically as lords , although individual dukes are not so styled when addressed or by reference. All modern British honours, including peerage dignities, are created directly by the Crown and take effect when letters patent are issued, affixed with the Great Seal of

6006-454: The remainder of his life he continued to propagate his vision of small-town community. He opposed chain stores and mail order firms as a threat to the business owner on Main Street . The Great Depression shook his faith in a cooperative, selfless, middle-class America. Like most old Progressives his attitude toward the New Deal was ambivalent: President Franklin D. Roosevelt cared for

6097-531: The respective first and second husbands of Princess Anne , do not hold peerages. Most members of the British upper class are untitled. The name adopted by the grantee of a title of nobility originally was the name of his seat or principal manor, which often had also been adopted as his surname, for example the Berkeley family seated at Berkeley Castle had the surname "de Berkeley" ("from Berkeley") and gained

6188-467: The right to consent to taxation. Initially, participation in Parliament was still determined by one's status as a tenant-in-chief. Earls and greater barons received a writ of summons issued directly from the king, while lesser barons were summoned through the local sheriffs. In the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the first hereditary barons were created by writ . Over time, baronies by writ became

6279-476: The rise of second-wave feminism, have objected to the term used in contexts such as the last example, arguing that the term sounds patronising and outdated when used in this way; a man in the same context would not necessarily be referred to as a "gentleman". One feminist proponent of language reform , Robin Lakoff , in her book Language and Woman's Place (1975), notably raised the issue of the ways in which "lady"

6370-428: The same way as the wife of a substantive peer, except that the definite article is not used. The title "Lady" is also used for a woman who is the wife of a Scottish feudal baron or laird , the title "Lady" preceding the name of the barony or lairdship. In the case of younger sons of a duke or marquess , who have the courtesy title "Lord" prefixed to their given and family name, the wife may use "Lady" prefixed to

6461-399: The shifting uses of "lady" in the mid-twentieth century. The American journalist William Allen White noted one of the difficulties in his 1946 autobiography. He relates that a woman who had paid a fine for prostitution came to his newspaper to protest, not against the fact that her conviction had been reported, but that the newspaper had referred to her as a "woman" rather than a "lady". After

6552-458: The soul of her, the glowing, gorgeous, fervent soul of her, surely was flaming in eager joy upon some other dawn. From editorial "Student Riots", The Emporia Gazette , April 8, 1932: As a matter of fact student riots of one sort or another, protests against the order that is, kicks against college and university management indicate a healthy growth and a normal functioning of the academic mind. Youth should be radical. Youth should demand change in

6643-402: The state. White wrote: "There are two ideas of government," said our noble Bryan at Chicago. "There are those who believe that if you legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, this prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class and rest upon them." That's

6734-419: The stuff! Give the prosperous man the dickens! Legislate the thriftless man into ease, whack the stuffing out of the creditors and tell the debtors who borrowed the money five years ago when money "per capita" was greater than it is now, that the contraction of currency gives him a right to repudiate. The Republicans sent out hundreds of thousands of copies of the editorial in support of William McKinley during

6825-629: The support of Governor Walter Huxman and other politicians, and the result was the prestigious invitation to paint murals for the Kansas Capitol . The result was Tragic Prelude . The last quarter century of White's life was spent as an unofficial national spokesman for Middle America . This led President Franklin Roosevelt to ask White to help generate public support for the Allies before America's entry into World War II . In 1940 White

6916-487: The title Baron Berkeley , amongst many others. Dukes were originally named after counties, the earliest one being Duke of Cornwall (1337) followed by Duke of Norfolk (1483) and Duke of Somerset (1547). The Duke of Wellington (1814) is an early example of a dukedom being named after a mere village, or manor, after Wellington in Somerset. Earls, being in reality the "Count" of Continental Europe, were also named after

7007-480: The title of earl and equated it with the title of count (Latin: comes ) used in Normandy. This was the only hereditary title before 1337, and it was the most exclusive rank within the aristocracy. Between 1000 and 1300, there were never more than 25 extant earldoms at any one time. Below earls were the king's barons. Baron (Latin: baro ) originally meant "man". In Norman England, the term came to refer to

7098-488: The title of the husband's rank by right or courtesy, or as the lady's title in her own right. A peeress's title is used with the definite article : Lord Morris's wife is "the Lady Morris". A widow's title derived from her husband becomes the dowager , e.g. The Dowager Lady Smith . In the case of an heir apparent to a peerage using one of his father's subsidiary titles by courtesy, his wife uses his courtesy title in

7189-542: The wives of elected or appointed officials. In many European languages the equivalent term serves as a general form of address equivalent to the English Mrs ( French Madame , Spanish Señora , Italian Signora , German Frau , Polish Pani , etc.). In those languages it is correct to address a woman whose name is unknown as Madame , Señora , etc., but in polite English usage "lady" has for centuries only normally been

7280-403: The word gesith ( ' companion ' ; Latin : comes ) had replaced eorl as the common term for a nobleman. By the 10th century, Anglo-Saxon society was divided into three main social classes: slaves, ceorlas ( ' free men ' ), and þegnas ( ' thegns ' , ' aristocrats ' ). Thegn (Old English: þeġn ) meant servant or warrior, and it replaced the term gesith in

7371-616: The word "lady" is very seldom capitalized when written. The usual English term for politely addressing a woman is madam or its abbreviation ma'am . In English, relatively few job titles are un-gendered . Some names for jobs are gender-neutral, e.g. mail carrier (postal worker), but where there is a common word with a -man suffix, sometimes -lady may be used as an equivalent, e.g. postman and (sometimes) postlady. Using "lady" in professional job titles which had previously been male preserves fell out of favour with second-wave feminism (lady doctor, lady engineer, lady judge), though lady doctor

7462-456: The word in 1953, C. S. Lewis wrote that "the guard at Holloway said it was a ladies' prison!" The term "a bag lady" ( vagabond ) is a euphemism for a woman who has fallen on hard times; a "lady of the night" is a polite term for a prostitute . In British English , "lady" is often, but not always, simply a courteous synonym for "woman". Public toilets are often distinguished by signs showing simply "Ladies" or "Gentlemen". "Lady" can have

7553-449: The world. Youth should not accept the old order if the world is to move on. But the old orders should not be moved easily—certainly not at the mere whim or behest of youth. There must be clash and if youth hasn't enough force or fervor to produce the clash the world grows stale and stagnant and sour in decay. If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all their youthful vim and vigor, then there

7644-628: Was a reporter at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson 's proposal for the League of Nations . The League went into operation but the U.S. never joined. During the 1920s, White was critical of both the isolationism and the conservatism of the Republican Party. According to Roger Bresnahan: White's finest hour came in his vigorous assault, beginning with Gazette editorials in 1921, on

7735-606: Was an American newspaper editor , politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement . Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America . At a 1937 banquet held in his honor by the Kansas Editorial Association, he was called "the most loved and most distinguished member" of the Kansas press. White was born in Emporia, Kansas and moved to El Dorado, Kansas , with his parents, Allen and Mary Ann Hatten White, where he spent

7826-549: Was an early supporter of Republican presidential nominees Alf Landon of Kansas in 1936 and Wendell Willkie in 1940. However, White was on the liberal wing of the Republican Party and wrote many editorials praising the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt . White was the leader in persuading Kansas newspaper editors and publishers to run a fund-raising campaign so as to invite Kansas's most famous artist, John Steuart Curry , to paint murals for Kansas. He got

7917-613: Was an official appointed by the king to administer a shire or group of shires (an ealdormanry). In the 11th century, while England was ruled by a Danish dynasty , the office changed from ealdorman to earl (related to Old English eorl and Scandinavian jarl ). After the king, the earl was the most powerful secular magnate . During Edward the Confessor 's reign (1042–1066), there were four principal earldoms: Wessex , Mercia , Northumbria , and East Anglia . Below ealdormen were king's thegns, so called because they only served

8008-648: Was fundamental in the formation of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies , sometimes known as the White Committee. He resigned on January 3, 1941, writing to a newspaper columnist that "In our New York and Washington chapters we have a bunch of war mongers and under our organization we have no way to oust them and I just can't remain at the head of an organization that is being used by those chapters to ghost dance for war." Sometimes referred to as

8099-486: Was named after the de Ferrers family, or Norman origin. Another early example of a surname being used as a title is Earl Poulett (1706). Modern life peers do not generally own large estates, from which to name their title, so more imagination is required, unless the simple option of using the surname is selected. Outside the United Kingdom, the remaining Gaelic nobility of Ireland continue informally to use their provincial titles, few are recognised as royal extraction by

8190-519: Was not observed by prime minister Margaret Thatcher , who asked the Queen to create three hereditary peerages (two of them, to men who had no heirs). Until changes in the twentieth century, only a proportion of those holding Scottish and Irish peerages were entitled by that title to sit in the House of Lords; these were nominated by their peers. Until constitutional reforms soon after Tony Blair came to power (the House of Lords Act 1999 ), possession of

8281-602: Was published posthumously in 1946, won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography . In 1948 a 3¢ stamp was issued in his honor by the U.S. Postal Service . The University of Kansas Journalism School is named for him, as is the library building at Emporia State University . There are also two awards the William Allen White Foundation has created: the William Allen White Award for outstanding journalistic merit and

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