Accuracy is tiresome
Sir: Antony Lambton (who, I presume, is the same Antony Lambton who holds the courtesy title of Viscount Lambton, having disclaimed the Earldom of Durham) is one of those tiresome reviewers who show off their knowledge of the correct styles and titles of the aristocracy by nit-picking at the index.
In his review of Philip Ziegler's King Edward VIII (6 October) he castigates the indexer (not me) for a variety of solecisms but he should realise that the sole purpose of an index is to provide the reader with easy access to the book; it is not Burke's Peerage and, if the author refers to some- one by the name or title by which that person is commonly known then that is how they should appear in the index. Who, apart from the dwindling band of cognos- centi, know or care if Lady X is an earl's daughter or merely the wife of a baronet? If, say, in a work on 19th-century politics, Lord Londonderry is referred to and there is no other Lord Londonderry in the text I see no reason why he should not be indexed as 'Londonderry, Marquess of (or, even. 'Londonderry, Lord', instead of `Londonderry, Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of which is what Antony Lambton, presum- ably, would want.
It is asking too much of an indexer to try to index the aristocracy correctly with all their variety of multi-barrelled names and various titles which often change several times in one person's lifetime and are sometimes not even used.
David Bowron
(Registered Indexer) 68 High Street, Stokesley, North Yorkshire
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