Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor

The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor was formed in 1908 in the United Kingdom and received royal recognition in 1912. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II until her death in 2022. It is a registered charity and seeks to uphold and advise on the dignity and rights of Knights Bachelor and knighthood, and to register every duly authenticated knighthood.

Heraldic badge of members of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor.

Its charitable objectives include the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, support for hospitals, the elderly, and the needy. A particular objective is to assist Knights Bachelor to encourage and develop understanding and cooperation between the citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations.

In 1962, the society established its own chapel in the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, London. In 2005, the chapel was moved to St Martin's Chapel in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.^[1] The society's badge may be worn in the form of a brooch by wives and daughters of knights.

Publications

Periodically, the Society published lists of living recipients of awards, with the subtitle A list of the existing recipients of the honour of Knighthood together with a short account of the origin, objects and work of ... the society.^[2][3]

The editions published by the Society included the Order of General Precedence extant in England at the time, so that the 1939–1946 edition (20th edition), and the subsequent 1949–1950 (21st edition), indicated pre-war and post-war precedence.

List of knights principal

1. The Rt Hon Sir Bargrave Deane (1908–1911)
2. Major-General Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, CVO (1911–1923)
3. The Rt Hon Sir William Bull, Bt, MP (1923–1931)
4. Commander Sir Arthur Trevor Dawson, Bt (1931)
5. Sir Gerald Wollaston, KCB, KCVO (1931–1957)
6. The Hon Sir George Bellew, KCB, KCVO, KStJ (1957–1962)
7. Sir Anthony Wagner, KCB, KCVO (1962–1983)
8. Sir Colin Cole, KCB, KCVO, TD (1983–1995)
9. Sir Conrad Swan, KCVO (1995–2000)
10. Sir Richard Gaskell (2000–2006)
11. The Lord Lingfield, DL (2006–2012)
12. Sir Colin Berry (2012–2019)
13. The Rt. Hon Sir Gary Hickinbottom (2019–present)

List of registrars

1. Sir William Bull, Bt (1907–1920)
2. Sir Harry North (1920–1921)
3. Sir Park Goff, Bt, KC (1921–1939)
4. Sir Malcolm Fraser, Bt, GBE (1939–1941)
5. Sir Edwin Lutyens, OM, KCIE (1941–1944)
6. Sir Thomas Lumley-Smith, DSO (1944–1960)
7. Sir John Russell (1960–1978)
8. Sir Arthur Driver (1978–1986)
9. Sir Roger Falk, OBE (1986–1991)
10. Sir Kenneth Newman, GBE, KStJ, QPM (1991–1998)
11. Sir Robert Balchin, DL (1998–2006)
12. Alderman Sir Paul Judge (2006–2012)
13. His Honour Sir Gavyn Arthur (2012–2016)
14. Sir Jeremy Elwes, CBE OStJ FRSA (2016–2017)
15. Sir Michael Hirst (2017–present)

Arms

Coat of arms of Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor

Notes Granted 8 March 1971[4] Crest On a chapeau Gules turned up Or in front of a sun in splendour Gules the rays Or a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown Or mantled gules doubled Or. Escutcheon Gules a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown between in chief two spurs Or. Supporters Dexter a female figure proper robed Argent purfled Azure holding in the exterior hand a palm branch Vert, sinister the figure of a knight armed in mail Proper the long surcoat Argent doubled Azure drawing his sword Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or pendent by a guige Vert on the exterior arm a shield Gules charged with a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown between in chief two spurs Or. Motto Trouthe and Honour

See also

• Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom
• Heraldry

Notes

1. "The Chapels - St Paul's Cathedral".
2. Wollaston, Gerald Woods Sir (1948), Knights Bachelor, 1939–1946: a list of the existing recipients of the honour of knighthood, together with a short account of the origin, objects, and work of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor (20th ed.), G. Gibbons, retrieved 15 September 2013
3. Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor; Wollaston, Gerald Woods (1950), Knights Bachelor 1949–1950: a list of the existing recipients of the honour of knighthood, together with a short account of the origin, objects, and work of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor (21st ed.), G. Gibbons, retrieved 15 September 2013
4. "Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 3 February 2021.

External links

• Official website