Addressing Someone as "Esquire" on Letters

1903

"ESQUIRE" ON LETTERS.

In a Great Many Cases Its Use Is Much Abused.

About half the letters that go through our mails are addressed to some "Esq." Occasionally you will find a "Mr." at the front of the name and the "Esq." at the tail end.

The 'Squire in the United States is usually a police justice in the small country towns. The title originally was bestowed upon the shield-bearer, or armor-bearer, of a knight. In these days we use it loosely, tacking it on to everybody, just as "Hon." is tacked. Any old or young scoundrel in a state legislature is "Hon."

Esquire may be divided into five classes; he who does not belong to one of them may or may not be a gentleman, but is no esquire. According to Wharton these are the classes: "Younger sons of peers and their eldest sons; eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons; chiefs of ancient families (by prescription); esquires by creation or office, as heralds or sergeants at arms, judges, justices of the peace, the higher naval and military officers, doctors in the several faculties, and barristers; each Knight of the Bath appoints two esquires to attend him at his installation and at coronation. No estate, however large, confers this rank upon its owner." — New York Press.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 7, 1903, page 4.


About half the letters that go through our mails are addressed to some "Esq." Occasionally you will find a "Mr." at the front of the name and the "Esq." at the tail end.

The 'Squire in the United States is usually a police justice in the small country towns. The title originally was bestowed upon the shield-bearer, or armor-bearer, of a knight. In these days we use it loosely, tacking it on to everybody, just as "Hon." is tacked. Any old or young scoundrel in a state legislature is "Hon."

Esquire may be divided into five classes; he who does not belong to one of them may or may not be a gentleman, but is no esquire. According to Wharton these are the classes: "Younger sons of peers and their eldest sons; eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons; chiefs of ancient families (by prescription); esquires by creation or office, as heralds or sergeants at arms, judges, justices of the peace, the higher naval and military officers, doctors in the several faculties, and barristers; each Knight of the Bath appoints two esquires to attend him at his installation and at coronation. No estate, however large, confers this rank upon its owner." — New York Press.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 7, 1903, page 4.