British honours system

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The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement or service to the United Kingdom. The system consists of three types of award: honours, decorations and medals.

  • Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement and service;
  • Medals are used to recognise bravery, long and/or valuable service and/or good conduct; and
  • Decorations tend to be used to recognise specific deeds.

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Brief history

Although the Anglo-Saxon kings are known to have rewarded their loyal subjects with rings and other symbols of favour, it was the Normans who introduced knighthoods as part of their feudal government. The first English order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter was created in 1348 by Edward III. Since then the system has evolved to address the changing need to recognise other forms of service to the United Kingdom. Various orders of knighthood were created as well as awards for military service, bravery, merit and achievement.

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Modern honours

As the head of state, the Sovereign remains the "fount of honour", but the system for identifying and recognising candidates to honour has changed considerably over time. Various orders of knighthood have been created (see below) as well as awards for military service, bravery, merit and achievement which take the form of decorations or medals. The means of selection depends upon the type of award being made.

Most medals are not graded. Each one recognises specific service and as such there are normally set criteria which must be met. These criteria may include a period of time and will often delimit a particular geographic region. Medals are not normally presented by the Sovereign. A full list is printed in the "order of wear", published infrequently by the London Gazette.

Honours are split into classes ("orders") and are graded to distinguish different degrees of achievement or service. There are no criteria to determine these levels; various honours committees meet to discuss the candidates and decide which ones deserve which type of award and at what level. Since their decisions are inevitably subjective, the twice-yearly honours lists often provoke criticism from those who feel strongly about particular cases. Candidates are identified by public or private bodies, by government departments or are nominated by members of the public. Depending on their roles, those people selected by committee are submitted either to the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary or Defence Secretary for their approval before being sent to the Sovereign for final approval. Certain honours are awarded solely at the Sovereign's discretion.

A complete list of approximately 1350 names is published twice a year, at New Year and on the date of the Sovereign's (official) birthday. The awards are then presented by the Sovereign or the Prince of Wales at investiture ceremonies.

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Refusal or forfeiture

A small number of people have also refused the offer of an award, usually for personal reasons. (See List of people who have declined a British honour for an incomplete list.) Honours are sometimes removed (forfeited) if a recipient is convicted of a criminal offence.

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Current orders of chivalry

See also: Chivalric order

The current system is made up of ten orders of chivalry. Each has different grades and some have associated medals, as explained on the pages linked:

The statutes of each order specify matters such as the size of the order, the use of post-nominal letters and insignia design and display.

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Old orders of chivalry

Orders were created for particular reasons at particular times. In some cases these reasons have ceased to have any validity and orders have fallen into abeyance, primarily due to the decline of the British Empire during the twentieth century. Reforms of the system have sometimes made other changes. For example the medal of the Order of the British Empire ceased to be awarded in the UK in 1993, as was the companion level award of the Imperial Service Order (although its medal is still used). These changes were made because it was believed they perpetuated "class" differences.

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The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick

Founded in 1783, this single-class order fell into disuse following Irish independence. The last surviving knight, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, died in 1974.

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The Royal Guelphic Order

Also known as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, this three-class honour was founded in 1815 and awards were made in two divisions (civil and military). In the UK it was used only briefly until 1837 when the death of William IV ended the personal union with Hanover.

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Indian Orders

These orders, relating to the British Raj (the British control of India), are also defunct. The senior order, the Order of the Star of India, was divided into three grades, Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander and Companion, of which the first and highest was conferred upon the Princes and Chiefs of Indian states and upon important British civil servants working in India. Women were not eligible to receive the award. The junior order, the Order of the Indian Empire, was divided into the same ranks and also excluded women. The third order, the Order of the Crown of India, was used exclusively to honour women. Its members, all sharing a single grade, consisted of the wives and close female relatives of Indian Princes or Chiefs; the Viceroy or Governor-General; the Governors of Bombay, Madras and Bengal; the Principal Secretary of State for India; and the Commander-in-Chief in India. Upon Indian independence in 1947, appointments to all these orders ceased.

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Other honours and appointments

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Hereditary peerage

There are five ranks of hereditary peerage: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. Until the 19th century, all peerages were hereditary and, until the end of the 20th century, all English, British and UK peerages (except, until recent times, those for the time being held by women) carried the right to a seat in the House of Lords.

Hereditary peerages are now normally only given to members of the Royal Family. The most recent was the grant to the Queen's youngest son, the Earl of Wessex, on his marriage in 1999. No hereditary peerages were granted to commoners after the Labour Party came to power in 1964, until Margaret Thatcher tentatively reintroduced them by two grants to men with no sons in 1983, namely the Speaker of the House of Commons George Thomas and her trusted deputy Willie Whitelaw. Both these titles died with their holders. She followed this with an Earldom in 1984 for the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan not long before his death, reviving a traditional honour for former Prime Ministers. But no hereditary peerages have been created since, and her own title is a life peerage.

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Life peerage

Life peerages were introduced under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 following a test case (the Wensleydale Peerage Case) which established that non-statutory life peers would not have the right to sit in the House of Lords. At that time, life peerages were intended only for law Lords, there being a desire to introduce legal expertise into the chamber in order to assist in its appellate law work, without conferring rights on future generations of these early working peers.

Subsequently, under the Life Peerages Act 1958, life peerages became the norm for all new grants outside the Royal Family, this being seen as a modest reform of the nature of the second legislative chamber. However, its effects were gradual because hereditary peers, and their successors, retained until recently their rights to attend and vote with the life peers. Many hereditary peers have now lost their rights to sit in the second chamber. All life peers hold the rank of Baron and automatically have the right to sit in the House of Lords. The title exists only for the duration of their own lifetime and is not passed to their heirs (although the children even of life peers enjoy courtesy titles). Some life peerages are created as an honour for achievement, some for the specific purpose of introducing legislators from the various political parties (known as working peers) and some, under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, with a view to judicial work. However, all life peers have the same rights, regardless of the particular reason for their creation.

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Baronetcy

A hereditary honour carrying the title Sir. Baronetcies are not peerages, but are usually considered a species of knighthood. As with hereditary peerages, baronetcies ceased to be granted after the Labour Party came to power in 1964.

The sole subsequent exception was a baronetcy created for the husband of Margaret Thatcher, Sir Denis Thatcher, in 1991, which was inherited by her son, Mark Thatcher, after his father's death.

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Knighthood

Descended from mediaeval chivalry, knights exist within the orders of chivalry and of class known as Knights Bachelor. Regular recipients include High Court judges and senior civil servants. Knighthood carries the title Sir; the female equivalent Dame only exists within the orders of chivalry.

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Order of St John

Members of the Royal Order of Chivalry the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem (founded 1888) may wear the Order's insignia but the ranks within the Order of St. John do not confer official rank on the order of precedence and, likewise, the abbreviations or postnominal initials associated with the various grades of membership in the Order of St. John do not indicate precedence.

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Other orders

Other orders, decorations and medals which do not carry titles but entitle the holder to place post-nominal letters after his or her name also exist, as do a small number of Royal Family Orders.

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Honorary awards

Citizens of countries which do not recognise the Queen as head of state sometimes have honours conferred upon them, in which case the awards are "honorary" - the holders are entitled to place initials behind their name but not style themselves "Sir ...". Examples of foreigners with honorary knighthoods are Bill Gates, Bob Geldof, and Rudolph Giuliani, while Arsène Wenger and Gérard Houllier are honorary OBEs. Recipients of honorary awards who later become subjects of Her Majesty may apply to convert their awards to substantive awards. An example of this is Yehudi Menuhin, the American-born violinist and conductor, who was granted an honorary knighthood while still an American citizen, and converted it to a substantive award after he assumed British citizenship. He was only then entitled to be known as Sir Yehudi Menuhin. He later accepted a life peerage as Lord Menuhin. Tony O'Reilly, who holds both British and Irish citizenship, uses the style "Sir", but has also gained approval from the Irish Government to accept the award as is necessary under the Irish Constitution.

Irish-born Sir Terry Wogan was initially awarded an honorary knighthood, but by the time he collected the accolade from the Queen in December 2005, he had obtained dual-citizenship and the award was upgraded to a substantive knighthood..

There is no law in the UK preventing foreigners from holding a peerage, though only Commonwealth and Irish citizens can sit in the House of Lords. However, some other states such as the United States have laws restricting the acceptances of awards by foreign powers; and in Canada, where the Canadian House of Commons has opposed the granting of titular honours with its Nickle Resolution, the prime minister Jean Chrétien was able to advise the Queen not to grant Conrad Black a titular honour while he remained a Canadian citizen.

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Precedence

Knights and Ladies of the Garter, Thistle and St Patrick precede recipients of other orders regardless of grade. Amongst the remaining orders, individuals of a higher rank precede those of a lower rank. For instance, a Knight Grand Cross always precedes a Knight Commander. For those of equal rank, members of the higher-ranked Order take precedence. Within the same Order, precedence is accorded to that individual who received the honour earlier. Knights Bachelor come after Knights of all of the other orders, but before those with the rank of Commander or lower. The Orders of Merit (founded 1902), Companions of Honour (1917), St John (1888) and the Crown of India (1878) accord no special precedence.

Wives of Knights of a certain rank will come directly after all Dames of that rank. For instance, the wife of the most senior Knight Grand Cross of the Bath ranks directly below the most junior Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire.

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Style

For peers, see Forms of Address in the United Kingdom.

For baronets, the style Sir John Smith, Bt. is used. Their wives are styled simply Lady Smith. The rare baronetess is styled Dame Jane Smith, Btss.

For knights, the style Sir John Smith, [ postnominals ] is used, attaching the proper postnominal letters depending on rank and order (for knights bachelor, no postnominal letters are used). Their wives are styled Lady Smith, with no postnominal letters. A dame is styled Dame Jane Smith, [postnominals].

Wives of knights and baronets are officially styled Dame Jane Smith, but this style is very rarely used nowadays.

Recipients of orders, decorations and medals receive no styling of Sir or Dame, but they may attach the according postnominal letters to their name, e.g. John Smith, VC.

Knights and Dames of the Order of St. John do not receive any special styling.

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Reform

Reforms of the system occur from time to time. In the last century notable changes to the system have included a Royal Commission in 1925 following the scandal in which Prime Minister Lloyd George was found to be selling honours, and a review in 1993 when Prime Minister John Major created the public nominations system.

In July 2004, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) of the House of Commons and, concurrently, Sir Hayden Phillips, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Constitutional Affairs, both concluded reviews of the system. The PASC recommended some radical changes; Sir Hayden concentrated on issues of procedure and transparency. In February 2005 the Government responded to both reviews by issuing a Command paper detailing which of the proposed changes it had accepted. These included diversifying and opening up the system of honours selection committees for the Prime Minister's list and also the introduction of a miniature badge.

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Honours for political donations

It has been revealed recently by the Sunday Times newspaper that every donor who has given £1 Million or more to the Labour Party since 1997 has been given a Knighthood or a Peerage. On top of this, the government has given honours to 12 of the 14 individuals who have given Labour more than £200,000 and of the 22 who donated more than £100,000, 17 received honours. Eighty percent of the money raised by individuals for the Labour Party is from those who have received honours.

Corruption and honours had always gone hand in hand from the very beginning and there are those who believe that the two are virtually indivisible by the very nature of the patronage process. When Lloyd George was Prime Minister he actually sold honours for cash and used the money for his personal political fundraising. In 1964 the Harold Wilson era was mired by a similar controversy which became known as The Lavender List.


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See also

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External links

ru:Британская система наград

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