With a background in transport and having held wartime posts including Director-General of Military Railways and Director General of Transportation in France, at the time of being awarded the G.B.E. On the rectangular panel are depicted an oak tree with the Royal Arms hanging from a branch, and a mounted knight in armour.Īchievement of arms of Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, one of the first nineteen people to be appointed G.B.E., on 4 June 1917. The badge of the Order is a rectangular panel inside an oval bearing the Order's motto, IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR, the whole surmounted by an Imperial Crown. Pendent from his shield is the badge of the Order of the Companions of Honour, of which he was made a member in 1974. Members of the most senior rank (G.B.E.) are also entitled to wear the mantle and collar on ceremonial occasions, and to be granted heraldic supporters.Īrms of Viscount 'Willie' Whitelaw of Penrith, the Conservative politician who served under several Prime Ministers and whose appointments included Chief Whip (1964-70), Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1972-73), Home Secretary (1979-1983), and Leader of the House of Lords (1983-1987).
Members of the top two ranks of the Order of the British Empire may wear the star on important occasions the top three can encircle their shield of arms with a circlet bearing the Order's motto. Members of both orders are entitled to wear the badge of their order on ceremonial occasions, and to have that badge depicted with their coat of arms. In this year's New Year's Honours List six persons were made Companions of Honour, including:Sir Roger Bannister, the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes the famous percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Sir Alec Jeffreys, the geneticist who developed DNA profiling. Members are entitled to use the initials C.H. It is a single-class honour, so has no ranks, and carries with it neither title nor precedence, but is extremely prestigious. Membership is restricted to the Monarch and sixty-five members from within the British Commonwealth. It was subsequently awarded for outstanding achievements in other arenas. The Order of the Companions of Honour was instituted as a way to honour those who rendered conspicuous service of national importance during the First World War. The ranks, in order of precedence, and postnominal letters, are: Holders would be entitled to bear letters after their names. Also like it, there were few restrictions on the overall number of members of the order.
Conferral of the first two ranks brought with it the title of 'Sir' for a man the title of 'Dame' for a woman was an innovation of the Order of the British Empire. In some respects the new Order was modelled on the Royal Guelphic Order, which ceased to be conferred in Britain in 1837 with the death of the last Hanoverian monarch. A military division was introduced in December 1918. It was agreed that the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire should consist of five ranks, like the French Legion of Honour, the original 5-grade order. Reporting both to the King and the Government, and with various complex matters of precedence to take into consideration, it took around 18 months from the committee being founded for the first awards to be made.
In July 1916 this became two committees, with some alterations and additions to their composition, and now including Sir Henry Farnham Burke, Norroy King of Arms. A small committee was founded in early 1916 to discuss these matters and make recommendations. Moreover, women were eligible only for membership of a small number of the orders, there was very little that could be awarded to foreigners, and nothing specifically to recognise charitable work or, for example, contribution to the arts or science.īoth new orders had their origins in the First World War, when it was acknowledged that the current honours system was inadequate to recognise the contribution to the war effort of huge numbers of people in all walks of life, both on the field and off. Until then, orders of chivalry were restricted both in terms of the number of awards which could be made, and the people to whom they were awarded, these being generally peers, high-ranking military personnel, members of the civil service, and those who had served the royal family. Two new British orders of chivalry were instituted 100 years ago this year, in June 1917: the Order of the British Empire, and the Order of the Companions of Honour.