Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the social élite.

1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 89: He is one of the upper-ten of darky-dom, sir!
1849		N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 62: There is a Yankee [...] who has married a verry fine rich Spanish lady [...] considered one of the ‘upper ten.’.
1855		Broadway Belle (NY) 1 Jan. n.p.: The very clever author of ‘The Upper Ten and Lower Twenty’.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 40: The Drive is all a-whirl with the gay equipages of the Upper Ten and the Shoddy Twenty.
1866		Sportsman 25 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] [T]he theatre was to be open only to the ‘upper ten’ of the Russian capital.
1871		Punch 8 July 3/2: And the British Working men, / As the lounging Upper Ten, / Shall as little be impelled to keep St Monday.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 116: We, the swells, the upper ten.
1879		London Life 24 May 2/1: To judge from the garb and jewellery the youngsters wore, they certainly belonged to the upper ten.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 290: I have seen quite as good manners in my time, though I know little of your ‘upper ten.’.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Feb. 4/3: As a rule, the ‘upper ten’ […] have it pretty much their own way; in fact, it would be a brave ‘super’ who […] ventured to tone down the at all times exuberant spirits of the rough and ready ‘upper ten.’.
1881		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 29 Jan. 193/2: There are three [classes], which may be thus defined: 1. the ice creamers or upper ten [etc.].
1882		E.V. Page ‘’Arry’ 🎵 The ‘Upper Ten’ may jeer and say. / What ‘cads’ the ’Arries are.
1885		L. Emanuel Jottings [...] of a Bengal ‘qui hye’ 75: The Burrah Laidee Mém Sahibs sits, with [...] nous-autres of the ‘upper ten’.
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 11 Sept. 14/2: Galvin has cut loose from all his old associates [...] He is now one of the upper ten and ranks as a hero.
1892		‘Little Crossing-Sweeper’ in ‘F. Anstey’ Mr Punch’s Model Music Hall 84: You tell us you’re toffs, and the real Upper Ten.
1895		Harington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Rich Girl and the Poor 🎵 Just a song of contrasts I'll contrive, / ’Tween the upper ten and lower five.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 26 May 3/1: [headline] Only Gentlemen of the Upper Ten Who Have Plenty of Cash are Admitted to the Sumptuous Apartments of the Queen of Chance.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Dec. 13/2: Lord Gormanston [...] was popular with all classes, though it took the upper ten some time to get used to His Ex’s habit of driving home from church on Sundays, dudeen in mouth.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Deceptive Labels’ Sporting Times 4 Mar. 1/4: [He] hands his card / To her slaveyship, who loves the ‘upper ten.’.
1905		Star (Canterbury, NZ) 27 May 4/4: The ‘upper ten’ in England are devouring one another.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Dec. 15/2: Then, one evening, the nuisance saw a tubby, fashionably-dressed man sauntering along, with a cigar between his lips. Nothing pleased old Whiskers more than tackling one of the Upper Ten.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 600: Early in life the occupant of the throne [...] and the other members of the upper ten and other high personages followed in the footsteps of the head of state.
1929		C.G. Gordon Crooks of the Und. 43: He had all the haughtiness of the upper ten.
1937		P. Morris [trans.] Bernanos Diary of a Country Priest 260: It’s so funny to think of the upper ten imagining they can see themselves in those proud images of the past.
1947		Chicago Daily News 22 Oct. 46/8: Do the members of the ‘upper ten’ in New York City tend strongly to marry exclusively in the ‘upper tens’? [DA].
1987		J. Ciardi Good Words 161: The upper ten is now passé.

2. in fig. use, any superior group.

1891		J.A. Riis How the Other Half Lives 203: The ‘upper ten,’ the young financiers who early take the lead among their fellows, hire them [i.e. street urchins] to work for wages and add a share of their profits to their own.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 25 Feb. 3/8: The goal barber [...] keeps two razors, one for the ‘silver-tails’ or upper ten [i.e. criminal elite], and one for those who are [...] beyond this circle.
1954		R. Fabian London After Dark 15: I was being badgered by the ‘Upper Ten’ at the Yard.