Page:Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy.djvu/55

 A TABLE OF PRECEDENCE part of Great Britain ; and all the Lords Spiritual of Ireland shall have rank next after the Lords Spiritual of the same rank in Great Britain, and shall enjoy the same privileges (except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords) ; and the Temporal Peers of Ireland shall have rank next after the Peers of the like rank in Great Britain at the time of the Union ; and all Peerages of Ireland and of the United Kingdom created after the Union, shall have rank according to creation ; and all Peerages of Great Britain and Ire- land shall in all other respects be considered as Peerages of the United Kingdom : and the peers of Ireland shall enjoy the same privileges, except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords." The priority of signing any treaty or public instrument by public Ministers, is taken by rank of place, and not by title. Tables of Precedency usually subdivide the degree of Esquire to a considerable extent ; comprehending Flag and Field Officers, Eldest Sons of the younger sons of Peers, Baronets' Eldest Sons, Eldest Sons of Knights of the Garter, Eldest Sons of Bannerets, of Knights of the Bath, and of Knights Bachelors, and the Younger Sons of the younger sons of Peers, of Baronets, of Knights^of the Bath, of Knights Bachelors, fyc. Many printed tables extend the order of precedency to Divines, Members of the Legal Profession, Officers of the Army and Navy, Citizens and Burgesses ; in point of fact, however, such persons have no peculiar precedency assigned to them, either by statute or by any fixed principle. In certain public ceremonials of State, such as coronations, royal funerals, and those of distinguished public individuals, wherein the Knight Marshal, Judge of the Admiralty, Law Officers of the Crown, and others, have formed part ot those pro- ceedings, the following precedency appears for many years to have been observed, viz. : Baronets. Knights of the Bath. Knight Marshal. Judge of the Admiralty. Prime Serjeant. Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, Esquires of the King's Body. Attorney -General. SoJ'citor-General. Serjeants-at-Law. Masters in Chancery. Knights Bachelors. iJivines. Physicians. Esquires. Gentlemen. It should be remarked that Esquires of the King's body do not appear in any recent ceremonials ; and that by virtue of a Royal Warrant bearing date 14 Dec. 1813, His Majesty King George III. in consideration of the important and weighty affairs in which his Attorney and Solicitor-General were constantly engaged on behalf of the Crown, was pleased to declare that henceforth they should have pre-audience in all Courts of Law before the Ancient Serjeant-at-Law, as well as all other Serjeants-at-Law ; and conse- quently, at the funeral of Queen Charlotte, in 1818, and at the Coronation of King George IV., 1821, those high officers had precedency of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, over whom the King's Prime Serjeant had precedency, and in subsequent public ceremonials they have been so placed.