Heaphy Members Registered in Peerage - but of the Commoner Classes.

Registries confirm that the members below belonged exclusively to the landed gentry, meaning they were wealthy, upper-class landowners but did not hold noble titles of the peerage. Lucinda Heaphy rose to the highest, sitting between Peerage and Gentry Classes. 

Daniel Heaphy Esq. (b.1689) Branch 1

Son of John Heaphy. 

Married Rachel Blennerhassett (1715), daughter of Gerald Blennerhassett Esq. and Mrs. Christina Bayley. 

Class: Gentry Class, Esquire 

Recorded under: 

• Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain & Ireland 

• History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland (territorial possessions, or high official rank, but is uninvested in heritable honours - did not possess peerage titles)

John Heaphy Esq. (b. c1716) Branch 1

Son of Daniel Heaphy and Rachel Blennerhassett. 

Married Lucy Blennerhassett (1736), daughter of Henry Blennerhassett Esq. and Dorcus Crumpe. 

Class: Gentry Class, Esquire, or Squire Heaphy

Recorded under: 

• Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain & Ireland 

• History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland (territorial possessions, or high official rank, but is uninvested in heritable honours - did not possess peerage titles)

(The Hon.) Lucinda Heaphy (Heiress, b.c1778) Branch 1

Daughter of John Heaphy, granddaughter of John Heaphy Esq and Lucy Blennerhassett. 

Married Hamilton White Esq. (1802), son of Simon White and Frances Jane Hedges Eyre, and brother to Richard White, 1st Earl of Bantry.

Class: Gentry. Becoming Mrs. Lucinda White on marriage and following 1816, she became The Honourable Lucinda White, when her brother in-law Richard White was raised in Peerage to Earl of Bantry. 

Recorded under: 

• Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland 

• The Peerage of the British Empire 

• New Extinct Peerage 1884 - 1971 (a peerage survey of Britain, Scotland and Ireland and the royal families of Europe)

In the Registries - Landed Gentry / Commoners Records: 

Lucinda is explicitly catalogued here because she was born into the prominent, non-noble Protestant Ascendancy Heaphy and Blennerhassett lines, serving as an heiress who brought gentry territory connections into her marriage. 

Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland Records: 

Lucinda appears in these registers exclusively under the lineage tree of the Earls of Bantry (White family). The title of Earl of Bantry eventually became extinct in 1891, which is why her final lineage placement is recorded under the New Extinct Peerage registry.

Irish Peerage Titles 

• Duke - Highest Rank 

• Marquess - Second Rank 

• Earl - Third Rank 

• Viscount - Fourth Rank 

• Baron - Fifth Rank 

Titles between the Peerage and the Gentry

• The Honourable (The Hon.)  - individuals styled as "The Honourable" are legally commoners. It is their noble bloodlines that place them socially above the entire Gentry class, so they outrank Baronets, Knights, Esquires, and Gentlemen. 

Irish Gentry Classes 

• Baronet - Highest Rank and hereditary title. 

• Knight - A personal or lifetime honour. This title is not hereditary. 

• Esquire (Esq.) - A title reserved for men of high social standing who held specific offices. This included justices of the peace, barristers, high-ranking military officers, and the younger sons of peers. 

• Gentleman (Gent) - Lowest rank within the gentry classes. It referred to men of "gentle birth" and high social standing who owned enough land or wealth that they were not required to perform manual labour or engage in common trade. 

Some differences for Squire - Esquire - and Gentleman. 

• Squire: He was the principal landowner in a parish or district. He owned the local manor, held the rights to the tenant farms, and usually served as the local Magistrate (Justice of the Peace). He was the undisputed political and economic leader of his local community. A Squire held the legal rank of Esquire (Esq.) because of his wealth, land, or appointment as a magistrate. 

• Esquire (Esq.): This was a title of rank conferred by the Crown, by the assumption of a specific public office, or by direct inheritance. It was used as a post-nominal suffix. 

• Gentleman: He was any man of good birth and education who did not perform manual labour. A gentleman might own a small piece of land, but he could also be a younger son with no land, a retired military officer, or a professional living in a town. A Gentleman held the legal rank of Gentleman (Gent.), which sat exactly one step below Esquire in the formal order of precedence.