"My Lord" and "His Lordship" in British English (2024)

Watching the popular TV series "Downton Abbey," I noticed that as late as 1926 people still call the earl of Downton Abbey "His Lordship." Servants still call the family by terms like "My Lord" and "My Lady." When did British people stop using these terms? They aren't still used today, are they?

Thank you for your reply.

These terms probably are still used by servants who work for the upper-crust in the UK. You might even be expected to use them yourself if you went to a formal do where Lords and Ladies were present, these names are official titles for some people in the UK.

Normal folk don't use them for each other, but the terms are not extinct, for sure.

suzi br said:

These terms probably are still used by servants who work for the upper-crust in the UK. You might even be expected to use them yourself if you went to a formal do where Lords and Ladies were present, these names are official titles for some people in the UK.

Normal folk don't use them for each other, but the terms are not extinct, for sure.

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I don't think servants exist in Britain these days, at least not in the old sense. Obviously there are housekeepers and cooks and gardeners, maybe even the odd butler, but surely nobody has 'servant' as their job title these days?

In answer to the original poster: yes, people are still encouraged to use the traditional mode of address when conversing with high-ranking members of the aristocracy: not just servants but all commoners. 'My lord' and 'my lady' are still used, albeit it is probably more common to use 'your lordship/ladyship' these days. Different members of the aristocracy have different forms of address. See this Wikipedia page for a full list:

Forms of address in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As you can see, 'my lord/lady' is still there, along with 'your grace', 'your royal highness' and 'your majesty'.

I don't think the word servant has expired yet, I reckon it covers all the jobs you list, copperknickers. I chose it to distinguish staff from members of the public.

Check out the dictionary entry:
servants - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

suzi br said:

I don't think the word servant has expired yet, I reckon it covers all the jobs you list, copperknickers. I chose it to distinguish staff from members of the public.

Check out the dictionary entry:
servants - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

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We can agree to disagree on that: I have met a great many people with 'servants' of the types I mentioned, but I have never heard them being referred to as such by native English speakers, at least not if they worked in the UK.

Neatly sidestepping the "servant" issue...

I think the answer to Bobbie's question is that these terms are still used today. For example, to quote from the Wiki article High Court judge (England and Wales)

In court, a High Court judge is referred to as My Lord or Your Lordship if male, or as My Lady or Your Ladyship if female.​

I would be an 'employee' these days, not a 'servant', if I were employed by a person with an aristocratic style title. As an employee, I suppose I would have to address my employer appropriately as they wish, much the same as in any workplace.
I think this question is really about suitable and appropriate forms of address nowadays in the UK, across the board.

I don't expect anybody in my personal employment to address me by my title; perhaps, if they are mentioning my name in other, third person, contexts and choose to use my title : it's as simple as that.
I love Dave, my regular cab driver, addressing me as 'Babe' or 'Darlin'. He also calls me by my first name, as do my hairdresser, chiropodist and my two homehelps. I have informed my doctors that it's OK to call me by my first name so long as they don't mind me calling them by their first name.
In a formal setting, of course I call people by their titles, to their faces and to others, simply to make sure everybody knows who I am talking about.

I deplore the excessive use of first names these days, especially the diminutives. I am not taken in by 'Dave', or 'Tony', or even by the full name: why aren't you called 'Harry', or 'Borry', or 'Jezza' ? How on earth do you expect to be taken seriously, especially without a perfectly knotted tie?
I'm on first name, familiar, terms with one 'Lady', a life peerage, and two 'Lords', one a hereditary peer going back about 600 years and one life peer.
I would be amazed if any of them, even the 'aristocrat', wanted to be addressed by anybody in daily life, by their title.

suzi br said:

Indeed I make it my business NOT to know this sort of heirarchical codswallop

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Then you wouldn't know whether it should be "My Codswallop" and "His Codswallopship."

suzi br said:

I'm on first name, familiar, terms with one 'Lady', a life peerage, and two 'Lords', one a hereditary peer going back about 600 years and one life peer.
I would be amazed if any of them, even the 'aristocrat', wanted to be addressed by anybody in daily life, by their title.

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And that's a good point: such modes of address are for formal settings and contexts only. Of course most of us don't move in such high circles as Hermione and so would never have cause to meet a titled person outside of a very formal occasion. Obviously if you are a servant then you will always have to address your employer in formal terms unless you get very friendly with them. By the same token, the Queen must always be addressed in formal manner by everyone who is not a royal themself, by birth or marriage, because we are all her subjects. But naturally, those people lucky enough to be on friendly terms with high society can dispense with such formalities.

While agreeing that "My Lord" etc is far from obsolete, a reminder that "servant" also has yet to die A job for Jeeves: Kate and Wills advertise for servants at new Kensington Palace flat