Sloane Ranger

In the United Kingdom, a Sloane Ranger, or simply a Sloane, is a stereotypical upper-middle or upper class person, typically although not necessarily a young one, who embodies a very particular upbringing and outlook. The Sloane Ranger style is a uniform, effortless, and unambitious although sophisticated one.

The television character Tim Nice-But-Dim, an Old Ardinian, is thought by some to be a good example of a Sloane Ranger.[1] The term is a humorous combination of "Sloane Square", a location in Chelsea, London, famed for the wealth of its residents and frequenters, and the television character The Lone Ranger.

Social stratum

The term dates from 1975, when aspiring writer Peter York had conversations with Ann Barr (then features editor of UK magazine Harpers & Queen) about what had become a recognisable tribe of young people living in Chelsea and parts of Kensington. This led to an article for the magazine, defining the characteristics of this slice of English society.

Female Sloanes, especially those involved in equestrian activities, were often seen in the 1970s around London wearing Hermès or Liberty silk head scarves distinctively tied between the tip of the chin and the bottom lip, masking the lower part of the face, which furthered the "Lone Ranger" jest.

Several years passed before York and Barr collaborated on the Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, which became a global bestseller in 1982. The innovatory journalistic format and techniques from the 1975 article had by then become well established. Ann Barr and her editorial team at Harpers & Queen spent much time working on the original draft of the 1975 article. The potential of the piece, to become a talking point and to define a new form of social comment, was seen from the start. Barr and the sub-editors at the magazine devised many of the 'attributes' of a Sloane, added as boxes to the main text, in what became a widely imitated format. These delineated the habits and customs of the social group in question, from clothes, to shopping, to holiday venues, to choice of marital partner.

The Sloane Ranger proposal came from Martina (Tina) Margetts,[2] a sub-editor on Harpers & Queen who worked (with fellow sub-editor Laura Pank) on the 1975 article.[3] In her early twenties she had found herself amongst this social group while undertaking a course on fine art at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Initially the term "Sloane Ranger" was used mostly in reference to women, a particular archetype being Diana, Princess of Wales. However, the term now usually includes men. A male Sloane has also been referred to as a "Rah" and by the older term "Hooray Henry".[4] The term Sloane Ranger has equivalent terms in other countries: in France they are called 'BCBG' (bon chic bon genre), while a near analogue in the United States is the preppy subculture.

The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook
Cover of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. Lady Diana Spencer is pictured in centre.

Sloane Ranger, a commonplace term in 1980s London, was originally popularised by the British writers Peter York and Ann Barr in the book Style Wars (1980), followed by The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook (1982) and its companion The Official Sloane Ranger Diary. The books were published by the British society-watcher magazine Harpers & Queen, for whom Peter York was Style Editor and "was responsible for identifying the cult phenomena of "Sloane Rangers" and "Foodies".[5]

The exemplar female Sloane Ranger was considered to be Lady Diana Spencer before marrying the Prince of Wales, when she was a member of the aristocratic Spencer family. However, most Sloanes were not aristocrats as Lady Diana was. Considered typical of SRs was patriotism and traditionalism, and a belief in the values of upper class and upper-middle class culture, confidence in themselves and their given places in the world, a fondness for life in the countryside, country sports in particular, and in some cases philistinism. The title of the Sloane Ranger handbook lists the subheading "the problem of Hampstead", in reference to the stereotypical Sloane Ranger's supposed antipathy to the champagne socialist stereotype of the Hampstead liberal.

Sloane territory

Although Sloanes are nowadays supposedly more widely spread and amorphous than in the past, they are still perceived to socialise in the expensive areas of west London, most notably King's Road,[6] Fulham Road, Kensington High Street, and other areas of Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham. The pubs and nightclubs in these areas are popular with Sloanes, in particular the White Horse pub, known as the "Sloaney Pony" in Fulham, and the Admiral Codrington, known as "The Cod", in Chelsea.[6]

Sloanes are associated with being educated at top-tier elite schools, known as public schools in England. The most well-known schools for Sloane Ranger boys are Eton, Radley, Harrow, Westminster, St Paul's, and Sherborne. For girls it's St George's School, Ascot, Wycombe Abbey, Downe House, St Mary's School, Calne, St Paul's Girls' School, Francis Holland School, and Benenden School. For co-educated boys and girls it's Stowe School, Marlborough College, Wellington College, Bradfield College and Ampleforth College. An expectation of a Sloane is that they also attended prep school.

Sloane careers involve the country (farming/landowning, chartered surveyorship), the law, the city (finance/banking, consultancy), or the services (certain regiments of the British Army, the Foreign Office) for men and auctioning (art), property, business-owning, or journalism/writing for women, although many for men and women are very much interchangeable.

In 2015, Peter York argued that the Sloane population has been winnowed and that Sloanes were more likely to be leading the British trend to downward social mobility.[7]

Notable Sloanes

Diana, Princess of Wales was considered the archetypal Sloane Ranger of the 1980s (“the 1980s Super-sloane”) by The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook.

The following people have been considered by some to be Sloanes:

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See also

References
  1. "Peter York: How To Spot A Sloane Ranger" – via www.youtube.com.
  2. Jardine, Cassandra. "Ann Barr: The woman who invented Sloanes".
  3. Bayley, Stephen (3 December 2006). "The battle for Sloane Square" – via The Guardian.
  4. "On the trail of London's Sloane Rangers". The New York Times. 25 March 1984.
  5. "Harpers & Queen Timeline", The National Magazine Company, 2006. Archived August 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Slot, Owen (2 January 1994). "Same Sloanes, new Range: Ten years after their handbook was a bestseller, Owen Slot finds Caroline and Henry are still doing OK, Yah". The Independent. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  7. "The fall of the Sloane Rangers - Prospect Magazine".
  8. Armstrong, Lisa (19 January 2007). "Just don't say yah... OK?". Times Newspapers Ltd. pp. Section 2 pp4-5. Retrieved 19 January 2006.
  9. "Sloane Rangers adapt to survive". Telegraph. 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  10. "Hooray, Henry, the Sloane tribe is back". theage.com.au. 2002-10-07. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  11. "Kate Middleton and the rise of the Sloane Ranger". Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  12. Mount, Harry (2010-05-23). "Sarah Ferguson: the Sloane that time forgot – Telegraph Blogs". Blogs.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
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