The Most Honourable Order of the
Bath (formerly The Most Honourable Military Order
of the Bath) is a British
order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725.
The name derives from the
medieval ceremony
for creating a
knight, which involved
bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one
of its elements. The knights so created were known as
Knights
of the Bath. George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a
regular Military Order". He did not (as is often stated) revive the
Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an
Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set
of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies
occurred.
The Order consists of the Sovereign (currently
HM Queen Elizabeth II),
the Great Master (currently
HRH
The Prince of Wales), and three Classes of members:
- Knight Grand Cross (GCB)
or Dame Grand Cross (GCB)
- Knight Commander (KCB)
or Dame Commander (DCB)
- Companion (CB)
Members belong to either the Civil or the Military Division. Prior
to 1815, the order had only a single class,
Knights
Companion (KB), which no longer exists. Recipients of the
Order are now usually senior military officers or senior
civil servants. Commonwealth citizens not
subjects of the Queen and foreigners may be made Honorary
Members
The Order of the Bath is the fourth-most senior of the
British Orders
of Chivalry, after
The Most
Noble Order of the Garter,
The
Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and
The Most Illustrious Order of St
Patrick.
The last of the aforementioned Orders, which
relates to Ireland
, still
exists but has been in disuse since the formation of the Irish Free State.
History
Knights of the Bath
In the
Middle Ages, knighthood was often
conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the
knight-to-be taking a bath (possibly symbolic of spiritual
purification) during which he was instructed in the duties of
knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry.
Clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel
where he spent the night in a
vigil. At dawn
he made
confession and attended
Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until
it was fully daylight. He was then brought before the King, who
after instructing two senior knights to buckle the
spurs to the knight-elect's heels, fastened a belt
around his waist, then struck him on the neck (with either a hand
or a sword), thus making him a knight. It was this "
accolade" which was the essential act in creating a
knight, and a simpler ceremony developed, conferring knighthood
merely by striking or touching the knight-to-be on the shoulder
with a sword, or "dubbing" him, as is still done today. In the
early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the
full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent
families.
From the coronation of
Henry IV
in 1399 the full ceremonies were restricted to major royal
occasions such as
coronations, investitures
of the Prince of Wales or royal Dukes, and royal weddings, and the
knights so created became known as
Knights of the Bath.
Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the simpler form of
ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were
created was the coronation of
Charles II in 1661.
From at least 1625, and possibly from the reign of
James I, Knights of the Bath were using
the motto
Tria iuncta in uno (
Latin
for "Three joined in one"), and wearing as a badge three crowns
within a plain gold oval. These were both subsequently adopted by
the Order of the Bath; a similar design of badge is still worn by
members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not
entirely clear.
The 'three joined in one' may be a reference
to the kingdoms of England
, Scotland
and either
France
or Ireland, which were
held (or claimed in the case of France) by British monarchs.
This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge. Another
explanation of the motto is that it refers to the
Holy Trinity. Nicolas quotes a source (although
he is sceptical of it) who claims that prior to James I the motto
was
Tria numina iuncta in uno, (three powers/gods joined
in one), but from the reign of James I the word
numina was
dropped and the motto understood to mean
Tria [regna] iuncta in
uno (three kingdoms joined in one).
Foundation of the Order
The prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was
John Anstis,
Garter King of Arms, England's
highest
heraldic officer. Sir
Anthony Wagner, a recent holder of the office
of Garter, wrote of Anstis's motivations:
It was Martin Leake's opinion that the trouble and
opposition Anstis met with in establishing himself as Garter so
embittered him against the heralds that when
at last in 1718 he succeeded, he made it his prime object to
aggrandise himself and his office at their expense. It is clear at
least that he set out to make himself indispensable to the Earl Marshal, which was not hard, their
political principles being congruous and their friendship already
established, but also to Sir Robert
Walpole and the Whig
ministry, which can by no means have been easy, considering his
known attachment to the Pretender and the
circumstances under which he came into office ... The main object
of Anstis's next move, the revival or institution of the Order of
the Bath was probably that which it in fact secured, of
ingratiating him with the all-powerful Prime Minister Sir Robert
Walpole.
Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime
Minister, who used the Order of the Bath as a source of political
patronage
The use of honours in the early 18th century differed considerably
from the modern
honours
system in which hundreds, if not thousands, of people each year
receive honours on the basis of deserving accomplishments. The only
honours available at that time were hereditary (not life)
peerages and
baronetcies,
knighthoods and the Order of the Garter (or the
Order of the Thistle for Scots), none
of which were awarded in large numbers (the Garter and the Thistle
are limited to 24 and 16 living members respectively.) The
political environment was also significantly different from today:
The Sovereign still exercised a power to be reckoned
with in the eighteenth century. The Court remained the centre of
the political world. The King was limited in that he had to choose
Ministers who could command a majority in Parliament, but the
choice remained his. The leader of an administration still had to
command the King's personal confidence and approval. A strong
following in Parliament depended on being able to supply places,
pensions, and other marks of Royal favour to the government's
supporters.
The attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would
provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political
position. George I having agreed to Walpole's proposal, Anstis was
commissioned to draft statutes for the Order of the Bath. As noted
above, he adopted the motto and badge used by the Knights of the
Bath, as well as the colour of the riband and mantle, and the
ceremony for creating a knight. The rest of the statutes were
mostly based on those of the Order of the Garter, of which he was
an officer (as Garter King of Arms). The Order was founded by
letters patent under the
Great Seal dated 18 May 1725, and
the statutes issued the following week.
The Order initially consisted of the Sovereign, a Prince of the
blood Royal as Principal Knight, a Great Master and thirty-five
Knights Companion. Seven officers (see below) were attached to the
Order. These provided yet another opportunity for political
patronage, as they were to be
sinecures at
the disposal of the Great Master, supported by fees from the
knights. Despite the fact that the Bath was represented as a
military Order, only a few military officers were among the initial
appointments (see
List of
Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath). They may be broken
down into categories as follows (note that some are classified in
more than one category):
- Members of the House of
Commons
: 14
- The Royal Household or
sinecures: 11
- Diplomats: 4
- The Walpole family, including the Prime Minister: 3
- Naval and Army Officers: 3
- Irish Peers: 2
- Country gentlemen with Court Appointments: 2
The majority of the new Knights Companion were knighted by the King
and invested with their ribands and badges on 27 May 1725. Although
the statutes set out the full medieval ceremony which was to be
used for creating knights, this was not performed, and indeed was
possibly never intended to be, as the original statutes contained a
provision allowing the Great Master to dispense Knights Companion
from these requirements.
The original knights were dispensed from all
the medieval ceremonies with the exception of the Installation,
which was performed in the Order's Chapel, the Henry VII Chapel in
Westminster
Abbey
, on June 17. This precedent was followed
until 1812, after which the Installation was also dispensed with,
until its revival in the twentieth century. The ceremonies however
remained part of the Statutes until 1847.
Although the initial appointments to the Order were largely
political, from the 1770s appointments to the Order were
increasingly made for naval, military or diplomatic achievements.
This is partly due to the conflicts Britain was engaged in over
this period. The
Peninsular War
resulted in so many deserving candidates for the Bath that a
statute was issued allowing the appointment of
Extra
Knights in time of war, who were to be additional to the
numerical limits imposed by the statutes, and whose number was not
subject to any restrictions. Another statute, this one issued some
80 years earlier, had also added a military note to the Order. Each
knight was required, under certain circumstances, to supply and
support four men-at-arms for a period not exceeding 42 days in any
year, to serve in any part of Great Britain. This company was to be
captained by the Great Master, who had to supply four trumpeters,
and was also to appoint eight officers for this body, however the
statute was never invoked.
Restructuring in 1815
In 1815, with the end of the
Napoleonic
Wars, the Prince Regent (later
George
IV) expanded the Order of the Bath "to the end that those
Officers who have had the opportunities of signalising themselves
by eminent services during the late war may share in the honours of
the said Order, and that their names may be delivered down to
remote posterity, accompanied by the marks of distinction which
they have so nobly earned."
The Order was now to consist of three classes: Knights Grand Cross,
Knights Commander, and Companions. The existing Knights Companion
(of which there were 60) became Knight Grand Cross; this class was
limited to 72 members, of which twelve could be appointed for civil
or diplomatic services. The military members had to be of the rank
of at least Major-General or Rear Admiral. The Knights Commander
were limited to 180, exclusive of foreign nationals holding British
commissions, up to ten of whom could be appointed as honorary
Knights Commander. They had to be of the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel
or
Post-Captain. The number of
Companions was not specified, but they had to have received a medal
or been mentioned in despatches since the start of the war in 1803.
A list of about 500 names was subsequently published. Two further
officers were appointed, an "Officer of arms attendant on the
Knights Commanders and Companions", and a "Secretary appertaining
to the Knights Commanders and Companions" The large increase in
numbers caused some complaints that such an expansion would reduce
the prestige of the Order.
The Victorian era
In 1847
Queen Victoria issued new
statutes eliminating all references to an exclusively military
Order. As well as removing the word 'Military' from the full name
of the Order, this opened up the grades of Knight Commander and
Companion to civil appointments, and the Military and Civil
Divisions of the Order were established. New numerical limits were
imposed, and the opportunity also taken to regularise the 1815
expansion of the Order. The 1847 statutes also abolished all the
medieval ritual, however they did introduce a formal Investiture
ceremony, conducted by the Sovereign wearing the Mantle and
insignia of the Order, attended by the Officers and as many GCBs as
possible, in their Mantles.
In 1859 a further edition of the Statutes was issued; the changes
related mainly to the costs associated with the Order. Prior to
this date it had been the policy that the insignia (which were
provided by the Crown) were to be returned on the death of the
holder; the exception had been foreigners who had been awarded
honorary membership. In addition foreigners had usually been
provided with stars made of silver and diamonds, whereas ordinary
members had only embroidered stars. The decision was made to award
silver stars to all members, and only require the return of the
Collar. The Crown had also been paying the fees due to the officers
of the Order for members who had been appointed for the services in
the recent war. The fees were abolished and replaced with a salary
of approximately the same average value. The offices of Genealogist
and Messenger were abolished, and those of Registrar and Secretary
combined.
The 20th century
In 1910, after his accession to the throne,
George V ordered the revival
of the Installation ceremony, perhaps prompted by the first
Installation ceremony of the more junior
Order of St Michael and St
George, held a few years earlier, and the building of a new
chapel for the Order of the Thistle in 1911.
The Installation ceremony took place on 22 July 1913 in the Henry
VII Chapel, and Installations have been held at regular intervals
since.
Prior to the 1913 Installation it was necessary to adapt the chapel
to accommodate the larger number of members. An appeal was made to
the members of the Order, and following the Installation a surplus
remained. A Committee was formed from the Officers to administer
the 'Bath Chapel Fund', and over time this committee has come to
consider other matters than purely financial ones.
Another revision of the statutes of the Order was undertaken in
1925, to consolidate the 41 additional statutes which had been
issued since the 1859 revision.
Women were admitted to the Order in 1971. In 1975,
Princess Alice, Duchess of
Gloucester, an aunt of
Elizabeth II, became the
first to reach the highest rank, Dame Grand Cross. Princess Alice
(whose maiden name was Lady Alice Douglas-Montagu-Scott) was a
direct descendant of the Order's first Great Master, and her
husband, who had died the previous year, had also held that
office.
Senior civil servants, such as permanent secretaries, and senior
members of the armed forces, such as generals, are often appointed
to the order.
Civil servants associated with the Foreign Office
, including ambassadors, are usually appointed to
the Order of St
Michael and St George.
Composition
Sovereign
The
British Sovereign is the
Sovereign of the Order of the Bath.As with all honours except those
in the Sovereign's personal gift, the Sovereign makes all
appointments to the Order on the advice of the Government.
Great Master
The next-most senior member of the Order is the Great Master, of
which there have been nine:
Originally a Prince of the Blood Royal, as the Principal Knight
Companion, ranked next after the sovereign. This position was
joined to that of the Great Master in the statutes of 1847. The
Great Master and Principal Knight is now either a descendant of
George I or "some other exalted personage"; the holder of the
office has custody of the seal of the order and is responsible for
enforcing the statutes.
Members
The statutes also provide for the following:
- 120 Knights or Dames Grand Cross (GCB) (of whom the Great
Master is the First and Principal)
- 355 Knights Commander (KCB) or Dames Commander (DCB)
- 1,925 Companions (CB)
Regular membership is limited to citizens of the United Kingdom and
of other Commonwealth countries of which the Queen is
Sovereign.Members appointed to the Civil Division must "by their
personal services to [the] crown or by the performance of public
duties have merited ... royal favour." Appointments to the Military
Division are restricted by the rank of the individual. GCBs must
hold the rank of
Rear Admiral,
Major General or
Air Vice Marshal. KCBs must hold the rank
of
Captain in the Royal Navy,
Colonel in the Army or
Royal Marines, or
Group Captain in the
Royal Air Force. CBs must be of the rank of
Lieutenant Commander,
Major or
Squadron Leader, and in addition must have
been mentioned in despatches for distinction in a command position
in a combat situation. Non-line officers (e.g. engineers, medics)
may be appointed only for meritorious service in war time.
Commonwealth citizens not subjects of the Queen and foreigners may
be made Honorary Members. Queen Elizabeth II has established the
custom of awarding an honorary GCB to visiting heads of state, for
example
Gustav Heinemann (in 1972),
Ronald Reagan (in 1989),
Lech Wałęsa (in 1991),
Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
George H. W. Bush (in
1993), Nicolas Sarkozy in March
2008, Turkish President Abdullah
Gül, Slovenian
President Dr Danilo
Türk and most recently Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Foreign
generals are also often given honorary appointments to the Order,
for example
Georgy Zhukov,
Dwight D. Eisenhower and
Douglas MacArthur during
World War II, and
Norman Schwarzkopf and
Colin Powell after the
Gulf
War. A more controversial member of the Order was
Robert Mugabe, whose honour was stripped by
the Queen, on the advice of Foreign Secretary,
David Miliband, on 25 June 2008 as "as a mark
of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for
the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has
presided."
Honorary members do not count towards the numerical limits in each
class. In addition the statutes allow the Sovereign to exceed the
limits in time of war or other exceptional circumstances.
Officers
The Order of the Bath now has six officers:
The office of Dean is held by the
Dean of Westminster.
The King of Arms,
responsible for heraldry, is known as the
Bath King of Arms; he is not, however, a member of the College of
Arms
, like many heralds. The Order's Usher is
known as the Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod; he does not,
unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent (the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod) perform any
duties in the House of
Lords
.
There were originally seven officers, each of whom was to receive
fees from the Knights Companion both on appointment and annually
thereafter. The office of Messenger was abolished in 1859. The
office of Genealogist was abolished at the same time, but revived
in 1913. The offices of Registrar and Secretary were formally
merged in 1859, although the two positions had been held
concurrently for the previous century. An Officer of Arms and a
Secretary for the Knights Commander and Companions were established
in 1815, but abolished in 1847. The office of Deputy Secretary was
created in 1925.
Under the Hanoverian kings certain of the officers also held
heraldic office. The office of Blanc Coursier Herald of Arms was
attached to that of the Genealogist, Brunswick Herald of Arms to
the Gentleman Usher, and Bath King of Arms was also made Gloucester
King of Arms with heraldic jurisdiction over Wales. This was the
result of a move by Anstis to give the holders of these sinecures
greater security; the offices of the Order of the Bath were held at
the pleasure of the Great Master, while appointments to the
heraldic offices were made by the King under the Great Seal and
were for life.
Vestments and accoutrements
_badge.jpg/180px-GCB_(civil)_badge.jpg)
Representation of the star of the
Order (civil division).
The insignia of a Knight Grand Cross
of the civil division of the order.
Mantle of the Order.
The insignia of a Knight Grand Cross
of the military division of the order.
Members of the Order wear elaborate costumes on important occasions
(such as its quadrennial installation ceremonies and
coronations), which vary
by rank:
The
mantle, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is
made of crimson
satin lined with white
taffeta. On the left side is a
representation of the star (see below). The mantle is bound with
two large tassels.
The
hat, worn only by Knights and Dames
Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commander, is made of black
velvet; it includes an upright plume of
feathers.
The
collar, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is
made of
gold and weighs 30
troy ounces (933 g). It consists of depictions of
nine imperial crowns and eight sets of flowers (
roses for England,
thistles for
Scotland and
shamrocks for Ireland),
connected by seventeen silver knots.
On lesser occasions, simpler insignia are used:The
star is
used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames
Commander. Its style varies by rank and division; it is worn pinned
to the left breast:
The star for
military Knights and Dames Grand Cross
consists of a
Maltese Cross
on top of an eight-pointed silver star; the star for
military
Knights and Dames Commander is an eight-pointed silver cross
pattée. Each bears in the centre three crowns surrounded by a red
ring bearing the motto of the Order in gold letters. The circle is
flanked by two laurel branches and is above a scroll bearing the
words
Ich dien (older
German for "I serve") in gold letters.
The star for
civil Knights and Dames Grand Cross consists
of an eight-pointed silver star,
without the Maltese
cross; the star for
civil Knights and Dames Commander is
an eight-pointed silver cross pattée. The design of each is the
same as the design of the military stars, except that the laurel
branches and the words
Ich dien are excluded.
The
badge varies in design, size and manner of wearing by
rank and division. The Knight and Dame Grand Cross' badge is larger
than the Knight and Dame Commander's badge, which is in turn larger
than the Companion's badge; however, these are all suspended on a
crimson ribbon. Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear the badge on a
riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip.
Knights Commander and male Companions wear the badge from a ribbon
worn around the neck. Dames Commander and female Companions wear
the badge from a bow on the left side:
The
military badge is a gold Maltese Cross of eight
points, enamelled in white. Each point of the cross is decorated by
a small gold ball; each angle has a small figure of a lion. The
centre of the cross bears three crowns on the obverse side, and a
rose, a
thistle and a
shamrock, emanating from a
sceptre on the reverse side. Both emblems are
surrounded by a red circular ring bearing the motto of the Order,
which are in turn flanked by two laurel branches, above a scroll
bearing the words
Ich dien in gold letters.
The
civil badge is a plain gold oval, bearing three crowns
on the obverse side, and a rose, a
thistle
and a
shamrock, emanating from a
sceptre on the reverse side; both emblems are
surrounded by a ring bearing the motto of the Order.
On certain "collar days" designated by the Sovereign, members
attending formal events may wear the Order's collar over their
military uniform or eveningwear. When collars are worn (either on
collar days or on formal occasions such as coronations), the badge
is suspended from the collar.
The collars and badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross are
returned to the
Central Chancery of
the Orders of Knighthood upon the decease of their owners. All
other insignia may be retained by their owners.
Chapel
The
Chapel of the Order is Henry VII Lady Chapel
in Westminster Abbey. Every four years, an installation ceremony,
presided over by the Great Master, and a religious service are held
in the Chapel; the Sovereign attends every alternate ceremony. The
last such service was in May 2006 and was attended by the
Sovereign. The Sovereign and each knight who has been installed is
allotted a stall in the
choir of
the chapel. Since there are a limited number of stalls in the
Chapel, only the most senior Knights and Dames Grand Cross are
installed. A stall made vacant by the death of a military Knight
Grand Cross is offered to the next most senior uninstalled military
GCB, and similarly for vacancies among civil GCBs. Waits between
admission to the Order and installation may be very long; for
instance,
Marshal of
the Air Force Lord Craig of Radley was created a Knight Grand
Cross in 1984, but was not installed until 2006.
Above each stall, the occupant's heraldic devices are displayed.
Perched on the pinnacle of a knight's stall is his helm, decorated
with a mantling and topped by his crest. Under English heraldic
law, women other than monarchs do not bear helms or crests;
instead, the
coronet appropriate to the
dame's rank (if she is a peer or member of the Royal family) is
used.
Above the crest or coronet, the knight's or dame's heraldic
banner is hung, emblazoned with his or her
coat of arms. At a considerably smaller
scale, to the back of the stall is affixed a piece of
brass (a "stall plate") displaying its occupant's
name, arms and date of admission into the Order.
Upon the death of a Knight, the banner, helm, mantling and crest
(or coronet or crown) are taken down. The stall plates, however,
are not removed; rather, they remain permanently affixed somewhere
about the stall, so that the stalls of the chapel are festooned
with a colourful record of the Order's Knights (and now Dames)
throughout history.
When the grade of Knight Commander was established in 1815 the
regulations specified that they too should have a banner and stall
plate affixed in the chapel. This was never implemented (despite
some of the KCBs paying the appropriate fees) primarily due to lack
of space, although the 1847 statutes allow all three classes to
request the erection of a plate in the chapel bearing the member's
name, date of nomination, and (for the two higher classes)
optionally the coat of arms.
Precedence and privileges
Members of the Order of the Bath are assigned positions in the
order of precedence. Wives of male members also feature on the
order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of
Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of female
members, however, are not assigned any special precedence.
Generally, individuals can derive precedence from their fathers or
husbands, but not from their mothers or wives. (See
order of precedence in
England and Wales for the exact positions.)
Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix "Sir," and Dames
Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix "Dame," to their forenames.
Wives of Knights may prefix "Lady" to their surnames, but no
equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Dames. Such forms are
not used by peers and princes, except when the names of the former
are written out in their fullest forms. Furthermore, honorary
members and clergymen do not receive the accolade of
knighthood.
Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the
post-nominal "GCB"; Knights
Commander use "KCB"; Dames Commander use "DCB"; Companions use
"CB".
Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to receive heraldic
supporters. Furthermore, they may encircle their arms with a
depiction of the circlet (a red circle bearing the motto) with the
badge pendant thereto and the collar; the former is shown either
outside or on top of the latter.
Knights and Dames Commander and Companions may display the circlet,
but not the collar, around their arms. The badge is depicted
suspended from the collar or circlet. Members of the Military
division may encompass the circlet with "two laurel branches
issuant from an escrol azure inscribed
Ich dien", as
appears on the badge.
Revocation
It is possible for membership in the Order to be revoked. Under the
1725 statutes the grounds for this were heresy, high treason, or
fleeing from battle out of cowardice. Knights Companion could in
such cases be degraded at the next Chapter meeting. It was then the
duty of the Gentleman Usher to "pluck down the escocheon [i.e.
stallplate] of such knight and spurn it out of the chapel" with
"all the usual marks of infamy".Only two people were ever degraded
—
Lord
Cochrane in 1813 and
General Sir
Eyre Coote in 1816, both for political reasons, rather than any
of the grounds given in the statute. Lord Cochrane was subsequently
reinstated, but Coote died a few years after his degradation.
Under Queen Victoria's 1847 statutes a member "convicted of
treason, cowardice, felony, or any infamous crime derogatory to his
honour as a knight or gentleman, or accused and does not submit to
trial in a reasonable time, shall be degraded from the Order by a
special ordinance signed by the sovereign". The Sovereign was to be
the sole judge, and also had the power to restore such
members.
The situation today is that membership may be cancelled or
annulled, and the entry in the register erased, by an ordinance
signed by the Sovereign and sealed with the seal of the Order, on
the recommendation of the appropriate Minister. Such cancellations
may be subsequently reversed.
William Pottinger, a senior civil
servant, lost both his Companionship of the Order of the Bath and
CVO in 1975 when he was gaoled
for corruptly receiving gifts from the architect
John Poulson.
Romanian president Nicolae Ceauşescu was stripped of his
honorary GCB by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 December 1989.
Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe
, was stripped of his honorary GCB by the Queen, on
the advice of Foreign Secretary, David
Miliband, on 25 June 2008 as "as a mark of revulsion at the
abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic
process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has
presided."
See also
For people who have been appointed to the Order of the Bath, see
the following categories:
Notes
- The word 'Military' was removed from the name by Queen Victoria
in 1847. Letters Patent dated 14 April 1847, quoted in
Statutes 1847
- Statutes 1725, although Risk says 11 May
- Anstis, Observations, p4
- Letters patent dated 18 May 1725, quoted in Statutes
1725
- Wagner, Heralds of England, p 357, referring to John
Anstis, who proposed the Order, says: "He had the happy inspiration
of reviving this ancient name and chivalric associations, but
attaching it, as it never had been before, to an Order or company
of knights."
- Perkins, The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, p1 "It
can scarcely be claimed that a properly constituted Order existed
at any time during the preceding centuries [prior to the reign of
Charles II]"
- Statutes 1925, article 2
- Statutes 1925, article 5
- Statutes 1925, articles 8–12
- See, for example, the
order of wear for orders and decorations, the Royal Warrant
defining precedence in Scotland ( ) or the discussion of precedence
at http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/order_precedence.htm
- Risk, History of the Order of the Bath, p6
- The Manner of making Knights after the custom of England in
time of peace and at the Coronation, that is Knights of the
Bath, quoted in Perkins, pp 5–14
- According to Anstis (Observations, p73) such knights
were sometimes known as Knights of the Sword or
Knights of the Carpet
- Anstis, p66
- Risk, p114
- Nicolas, History of the orders of knighthood of the British
empire, p38–9
- The later usage by the Order of the Bath does not make things
any clearer. The presence of the rose, thistle and shamrock
(symbols of England, Scotland and Ireland respectively) in the
Collar supports the above claim. The shamrocks however were not
added until the 19th century, probably as a result of a suggestion
of Sir Joseph
Banks, who in his proposal observed that the presence of the
shamrock would "greatly augment the meaning of the motto" (Risk, p
115). A further explanation for the crowns is provided in the 1725
statutes of the Order. The coat of arms which was to appear on the Order's
seal (Azure three imperial crowns Or, that is, three gold
imperial crowns on a blue background) was described as being
anciently attributed to King Arthur.
- Nicolas, p 38, quoting Bishop Kennet Register and Chronicle
Ecclesiastical and Civil from the Restoration of King Charles II
faithfully taken from the manuscripts of the Lord Bishop of
Peterborough, (1728) p410
- Garter King of Arms from 1754 to 1773, and an officer of arms for
some 25 years before that
- Wagner, pp348, 357
- Risk, p2
- In the words of his son, Horace Walpole, "The Revival of the
Order of the Bath was a measure of Sir Robert Walpole, and was an
artful bank of favours in lieu of places. He meant to stave off the
demand for Garters, and intended that the Red [i.e. the Order of
the Bath] should be a step to the Blue [the Order of the
Garter]; and accordingly took one of the former for himself."
Horace Walpole, Reminiscences (1788)
- Nicolas, p237–8, Footnote
- Risk, p4
- Statutes 1725
- Statutes 1725, article 2
- Risk, p15,16
- Risk, p16
- Statutes 1725, article 6, the same article which state
"[the Great Master shall] take especial care that ... the antient
Rituals belonging to this Knighthood be observed with the greatest
Exactness"
- No Installation had been held between 1812 and the coronation
of George IV in 1821, by which time the number of knights exceeded
the number of stalls in the chapel. To allow the knights to wear
their collars at the coronation (which they could not do until
installed) they were dispensed from the Installation, and this
precedent was subsequently followed. (Risk, p43)
- Risk, p10
- Risk, p20
- Statute dated 8 May 1812, quoted in Statutes 1847
- Statute dated 20 April 1727, quoted in Statutes
1847
- The Times, 10 January 1815, p3
- Letters Patent dated 14 April 1847
- The document by which the Prince Regent modified the structure
of the Order in 1815 was a Warrant under the Royal
sign-manual. This is of lesser authority than Letters Patent
under the Great Seal, by which the Order and its Statutes were
originally established. It had been questioned on a number of
occasions whether the Statutes of the Order could be modified by
anything less than such Letters Patent. The 1847 Letters Patent
retroactively confirmed the validity of the 1815 document and the
subsequent appointments to the Order
- Risk, p61
- Risk, p70
- Risk, p89
- Perkins, p122
- Risk, p92
- Perkins, p124–131
- Risk, p95–6
- 16 in Queen Victoria's reign, 6 in Edward VII's and 19 in George V's. (Risk,
p97)
- Risk, p102
- The Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Order of
Merit and the Royal Victorian Order
- Nicolas, Appendix p. lxx gives the first four Great Masters,
although he considers the latter three to have only been acting
Great Masters
- Prince Albert was appointed acting Great Master sometime in
1843, and the appointment was made substantive by the 1847
Statutes, article 4. Risk says that he was appointed acting Great
Master on March 31, 1843, however The Times, reporting the
death of the Duke of Sussex (22 April 1843, pp4–5) says that the
office of acting Great Master became vacant on his death. At any
rate when the executors of the Duke of Sussex delivered his
insignia together with the seal and statutes to the Queen on 20
June (The Times, 21 June 1843, p6) Prince Albert was then
acting Great Master.
- The Times, 22 June 1897, p10
- The Times, 25 February 1942, p7
- Statutes 1725, article 4
- Letters Patent dated 14 April 1847, quoted in Statutes
1847
- Statutes 1925, article 9
- Statutes 1925, article 8
- Statutes 1925, article 10
- Statutes 1925, article 12
- Statutes 1925, article 15
- The Times, 25 October 1972, p21
- The Times, 1 December 1993, p24
- The Times, Issue 50193; 13 July 1945; pg. 4; col
A
- The Times, 27 May 1943, p4
- The Times, 21 May 1991
- Statutes 1925, article 18
- "In the event of any future wars or of any action or services
civil or military meriting peculiar honour and reward...to increase
the numbers in any of the said classes and in any of the said
divisions". Statutes 1925, article 17
- Court Circular, 17 May 2006
- Court Circular, 13 June 2006
- Risk, p93
- Risk, pp13, 70
- Statutes 1847, article 15
- Statute dated 17 January 1726 (according to Risk, p14). Both
the 1812 and 1847 editions of the Statutes give the date as 17
January 1725, but this is most probably a misprint since the Order
was not founded until May 1725, and the additional statute also
specified the office holders by name.
- Risk, p14
- Statutes 1925, article 23
- The hat was formerly of white satin (Statutes 1725,
article 8), but was changed to black velvet at the command of
George IV for his coronation (Nicolas, p198). The hat is not
explicitly specified in the 1847 or 1925 statutes
- Statutes 1925, articles 23,24,25
- Statutes 1925, article 21
- Risk, p40
- Statutes 1847, article 18
- Statutes 1925, article 22
- Statutes 1925, article 20
- www.honours.gov.uk summary of the Orders of
Chivalry. The post-nominal letters are not mentioned in the
Statutes of the Order
- Statutes 1925, article 28
- Statutes 1725 art 3
- Risk, p30
- Statutes 1847, article 26
- Statutes 1925, article 30
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