Genteel poverty

Genteel poverty is term describing a state of poverty marked by one's connection or affectation towards a higher ("genteel") social class.[1] Those in genteel poverty are often people, possibly titled, who have fallen from wealth due to various circumstances. Others may be working-class people, but are seen as the "genteel poor" if they are perceived as more refined than other people.

Illustration from an 1898 edition of Persuasion. The main character's father runs into monetary trouble due to excessive spending, causing them to fall into genteel poverty.

Spinsters were likely to fall into genteel poverty during those points in history when women were barred from earning a living wage through work. Families with a lack of male heirs can risk falling into genteel poverty when the family money passes out of one's household and to the oldest near male relative. Those described as the genteel poor who do come from the aristocratic class may still retain one or more servants, and live off rental income or income from a country estate, although this money may not sufficiently cover daily expenses or the luxuries typical to those from a lineage of landed gentry. The genteel poor may also describe those on fixed income such as pensioners or vicars whose income is determined by their local parish.

Working-class people who have a higher level of education or training such as teachers or skilled artisans may be considered members of the genteel poor. The term can also describe people from working-class backgrounds who pretend towards a higher class through their interests and affectations, such as Leonard Bast of the 1910 novel Howards End: a lower-middle class insurance clerk who reads and attends lectures in the pursuit of self-improvement.

The term peaked in usage in the late 19th century[2] and characters in genteel poverty are often seen in English literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The genteel poor as seen in these works are typically not working class.[3] Notable books containing characters which are members of the genteel poor include I Capture the Castle, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and many of the works of Jane Austen. For example, in her 1817 novel Persuasion, the main characters must rent out their estate and move to a cheaper house in Bath due to the father's habit of excessive spending on luxury goods. Theodore Dalrymple suggested that the genteel poor as a phenomenon had disappeared by the 1960s and 70s due to the decline of the genteel social class (that is, the British gentry) as well as inflation.[3]