''Walford's County Families'' is the short title of a work, partly

social register The ''Social Register'' is a semi-annual publication in the United States that indexes the members of American high society. First published in the 1880s by newspaper columnist Louis Keller, it was later acquired by Malcolm Forbes. Since 2014, it ...

, partly "

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

", which was produced in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in the 19th and 20th centuries, initially under the editorship of

Edward Walford Edward Walford (1823–1897) was a British magazine editor and a compiler of educational, biographical, genealogical and touristic works, perhaps best known for his 6 Volumes of ''Old and New London'' (the first two of which were written by Geor ...

. It served as a guide or handbook to the British upper classes and

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

(in this case referred to in the title under the term, county families, for which see

county family The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

). The title of the annual volumes making up the series varied, and they are sometimes referred to simply as Walford or Walford's. According to the British Library catalogue, they were published from 1860 to 1920. The work's coverage encompassed many of the most important rich,

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

ly powerful of the people of the period. On the other hand, a sarcastic review in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1868 related that "Mr. Walford ... knows his countrymen, and has compiled a book, which, it is clear, they buy, a directory of all Englishmen distinguished for anything except knowledge, wisdom, or service to mankind." Discussing the "county family" concept, it went on to say that Walford had "included in a vast list of some twelve thousand persons every family living outside a town, and having any sort of claim ... to be considered distinguished."

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British biographical dictionaries {{bio-dict-stub

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