[pyuser583]

It was just marriages fueled by a pretty daughter. It was actual social advancement.

Sir Thomas More’s grandfather was a butcher - a highly stigmatized occupation. More rose to be Chancellor.

The fact that the British conquered a third of the world created many opportunities for advancement- military, commercial, artistic.

Sir John Major came from a family of musicians. When he ran for PM, his enemies said as a child he “ran away from the circus to become an accountant.”

Part of the issues is that people copy elites. A blacksmith from Birmingham would marry his daughter off to a banker, and the granddaughter off to a Baron. The family would spend money supporting artists, and build cathedrals. And eventually become “posh.”

A good example are the Rothschilds, who are currently at the height or British aristocracy, but were once grubby merchants.