The Navy

This chapter takes a look at the navy. For many boys growing up in England in the eighteenth century, the Royal Navy was immensely glamorous, the object of intense fascination. There was almost universal agreement that the navy was Britain's own particular strength, and that unlike the army, the navy defended the country and promoted trade without threatening traditional English liberties. Even in peacetime there were naval exploits to capture the imagination. A career at sea, especially in the navy, appeared exciting, romantic, and desirable; and there were numerous cases of young boys either running away to sea or demanding that their parents allow them to join the navy. Many parents favoured the navy as a career for their younger sons on more pragmatic grounds. It was traditional, patriotic, and thoroughly respectable.

The Law

This chapter takes a look at the barristers. Becoming a barrister was always something of a gamble: only a minority achieved even a modicum of professional success, and many quit the profession in disgust while relatively young men. The position worsened in the years after the Napoleonic Wars when the size of the Bar expanded far more quickly than the demand for barristers — partly because the end of the war made alternative careers in the army and navy much less appealing. Nonetheless for an ambitious young man, particularly of an earlier generation, the Bar was not necessarily a bad choice: it required great effort and considerable ability, luck and patience, while the rewards were far from certain. But it was relatively open to talent, and the rewards of success were great, not just in material terms, but in prestige and fame, and it could open a door into a career in politics as well as in the law.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter offers reflections on all the career options discussed in the previous chapters. It is rather surprising that the large number of well-educated young men, brought up in comfort if not affluence, only to be faced with such limited and bleak prospects, did not develop a greater sense of collective identity and grievance, and turn to radical politics to remedy the flagrant injustices of a society that could treat them in this manner. Presumably they retained a sufficiently strong sense of belonging to the privileged classes and were not sufficiently alienated to want to upend the applecart, but revolutions have been fuelled by less reasonable complaints, and Britain in the years immediately after Waterloo was seething with discontent. At that time, however, most half-pay officers and other young gentlemen in a similar position probably imagined that some fresh war would soon break out, or some other opportunity would arise, that would rescue them from the doldrums and carry them forward in their career. Like the proverbial frog boiling in water, their disillusionment was gradual and they slowly adjusted to their altered circumstances and diminished prospects.

Civil Office

This chapter explores careers in government service. Such a career had many advantages for a younger son, especially if he could find an office as well suited to his tastes and habits. But procuring such an office was not easy and almost invariably depended on a close connection to someone who was either the dominant local magnate or influential on the national stage. Most gentlemen had some connection — either by family or friendship — with a Member of Parliament or a peer, but this was not enough to give them a realistic chance of securing anything more than a clerk's position in a government office, if indeed it stretched that far. Some politicians were more adept and successful at playing the patronage game than others — but even so they faced far more claims than they could hope to satisfy, and had to make hard choices, disappointing more clients than they pleased.

Banking and Commerce

This chapter discusses banking and commerce. Banking and commerce were risky activities in the early nineteenth century. For instance, of the thirteen nabobs who invested their Indian wealth in banks and sat in the Commons between 1790 and 1820, no fewer than five saw the bank fail and lost at least part of their fortune. It was this insecurity that helped underpin the social prejudice against trade. A landed gentlemen might prove a wastrel and ruin his estate, but most of his land was generally entailed, and even if it was not, his extravagance could be detected well before the final crash. But a merchant or a banker might appear prosperous and secure until, overnight, his fortune vanished or at least was severely reduced.