I feel sure that someone in my circle will know this

[luzula]

I mean, what with the historians and the Age of Sail fans, etc.

Question for fic purposes: how do British titles work if someone has both a military rank (captain, major, colonel, etc), and they are either 1) in some knightly order, and thus should be addressed as Sir, or 2) they have titles (such as "Lord X") because of their birth or because they have been ennobled.

Are these titles ever combined, does one supersede the other, or are they somehow kept separate?

I note that Broster has military officers talk about the Duke of Cumberland as His Royal Highness even though he of course has a military rank. Likewise the Earl of Loudoun is always Lord Loudoun and never General Campbell. This would seem to suggest that titles of type 2) always supersede military rank, even within the military? Primary documents always talk about Lord George Murray and don't use his military rank, which supports this. What about 1), though?

(Yes, I will in fact be having Keith knighted in one of my stories...)

Comments

[hyarrowen]

Keith as a knight! What an absolutely lovely idea.

It would be rank first, then title. cf Captain Sir Thomas Moore, who raised over 30 million GBP for charity in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tom_Moore I believe he was also made an honorary Colonel of a new Army training centre but still used his WW2 rank instead, on the grounds that he'd earned that. LOL.

(The Queen knighted him in a special ceremony at Windsor with her father's sword, which was a very nice touch.)

Once you get above knights, I honestly have no clue. Probably reading Georgette Heyer's "An Infamous Army" would give you some ideas. His Staff was full of titled young things.

[luzula]

I knew you would like the idea of Keith being knighted. : ) Although as I said in email, I understand if you won't read it given how tragic the story is.

Thanks for the input on title usage!