A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS. 543 



III. SOCIAL CLASS. 



In considering to what social classes the 902 eminent British men 

 and women on our list belong, we naturally seek to ascertain the 

 position of the fathers. In 262 cases it has not been easy to pronounce 

 definitely on this point, and I have, therefore, classed these cases as 

 doubtful. The remaining 640 may be classed with a fair degree of cer- 

 tainty. I find that they fall into the following groups: Upper Classes 

 (or 'good family') 110 (12.2 per cent.), Yeomen and Farmers 39 (4.3 

 per cent.), Church 113 (12.5 per cent.), Law 49 (5.4 per cent.), Army 26 

 (•^.9 per cent.), Medicine 26 (2.9 per cent.), Miscellaneous Professions 

 80 (8.9 per cent.), Trade 113 (12.5 per cent.), Crafts 63 (7 per cent.), 

 Unskilled Workers 21 (2.3 per cent.), while the remaining 262 of doubt- 

 ful origin constitute 29 per cent, of the whole. In a very few cases (not 

 more than half a dozen) the status of the father is entered undt r 

 two heads, but, as a rule, it has seemed sufficient to state what may be 

 presumed to be the father's chief occupation at the time when his 

 eminent child was born. 



In the order in which I have placed the groups they may be said 

 to constitute a kind of hierarchy. I place the Yeomen and Farmers 

 immediately after the Upper Class group. Until recent years, the man 

 who lived on the land which had belonged to his family for many cen- 

 turies occupied a position not essentially different from that of the more 

 noble families with somewhat larger estates around him. Even at the 

 present day, in remote parts of the country it is not difficult to meet 

 men who live on the land on farms which have belonged to their 

 ancestors through several centuries. Such aristocrats of the soil, thus 

 belonging to 'old families,' frequently have all the characteristics of 

 fine country gentlemen, and in former days the line of demarcation 

 between them and the 'upper class' must often have been difficult to 

 draw. I have formed my 'upper class' group in a somewhat exclusive 

 spirit; I have not included in it the very large body of eminent men who 

 are said to belong to 'old families'; these I have mostly allowed to fall 

 into the 'doubtful' group, but there is good reason to believe that a 

 considerable proportion really belong to r the class of small country 

 gentlemen on the borderland between the aristocracy in the narrow 

 sense and the yeoman and farmer class. To this class, therefore, must 

 be attributed a very important part in the production of the men who 

 have furnished the characteristics of British civilization. 



The same must be said of the clergy (including dissenting ministers 

 of all denominations), whom I place next because they are largely drawn 

 from the same ranks and have on the whole led very similar lives. 

 The religious movements of the past century have altogether trans- 

 formed the lives of the clergy, but until recent years the parson was 



