Elegant Etiquette in the Nineteenth Century

social rank.

In 1870 Mixing in Society defined military and naval officers, members of the clergy and physicians as people engaged in aristocratic professions, which also conferred the honour of presentation at court to wives and daughters

take direct payment for your goods or services, was often a mark of a lower social rank.

order to belong to the gentry. Indeed, even being engaged in a profession did not preclude a gentleman and his family from entry. Of course, owning an estate and not needing to work for a living were good indicators of higher ranking social status.