Talk:Arthur Forman Balfour Paul

Latest comment: 4 years ago by 78.144.71.29 in topic Questionable sentence

Questionable sentence edit

'He was one of a type often referred to as "gentleman architect", architecture being an acceptable role for the aristocratic gentleman.' This seems superfluous, particularly where it's placed, and is anyway flawed in that an 'aristocrat' and a 'gentleman' are technically two different things, the former being of a higher social grade than the other. In the sense of 'he's a real gentleman', of course, one can be an aristocrat but not a 'gentleman' at all, but that's by the by in this context...

The roles considered 'acceptable' were, at any rate, traditionally: the eldest son inherited the estate/ title and concomitant responsibilities; junior sons went into the Army and the church. After a certain point however such strictures were (if not entirely) relaxed, so drawing a specific conclusion regarding whether or not architecture was 'acceptable' as a profession seems pointless, particularly considering the lack of any citation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.144.71.29 (talk) 18:26, 30 November 2019 (UTC)Reply