Civil Office

This chapter explores careers in government service. Such a career had many advantages for a younger son, especially if he could find an office as well suited to his tastes and habits. But procuring such an office was not easy and almost invariably depended on a close connection to someone who was either the dominant local magnate or influential on the national stage. Most gentlemen had some connection — either by family or friendship — with a Member of Parliament or a peer, but this was not enough to give them a realistic chance of securing anything more than a clerk's position in a government office, if indeed it stretched that far. Some politicians were more adept and successful at playing the patronage game than others — but even so they faced far more claims than they could hope to satisfy, and had to make hard choices, disappointing more clients than they pleased.