The Most Honourable Order of the BathThe word 'Military' was removed from the name by Queen Victoria in 1847. Letters Patent dated 14 April 1847, quoted in Statutes 1847. is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725.Statutes 1725, although Risk says 11 May Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch bestows it on the advice of His Majesty's Government.Statutes 1925, articles 8–12. The name derives from an elaborate medieval ceremony for preparing a candidate to receive his knighthood, of which ritual bathing (as a symbol of purification) was an element. While not all knights went through such an elaborate ceremony, knights so created were known as "knights of the Bath".Anstis, Observations, p. 4.
George I constituted the Knights of the Bath as a regular military order.Letters patent dated 18 May 1725, quoted in Statutes 1725. He did not revive the order,The purely legendary pre-history was associated with Henry IV. which did not previously exist, in the sense of a body of knights governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred.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, p. 1: "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]".
The Order consists of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom (currently King Charles III), the Great Master (currently William, Prince of Wales), and three Classes of members:Statutes 1925, article 2. Knight Grand Cross (GCB) or Dame Grand Cross (GCB); Knight Commander (KCB) or Dame Commander (DCB); and Companion (CB). Members belong to either the Civil Division or the Military Division.Statutes 1925, article 5. Knight Companion (KB), the order's only class prior to 1815, is no longer an option. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the British monarch and foreign nationals may be made honorary members.
Appointments are announced in The Gazette.
The Order of the Bath is the fourth most senior of the British orders of chivalry, after the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, and the (dormant) Order of St Patrick.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
History Knights of the Bath
In the Middle Ages, a knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the knight-to-be taking a bath (possibly symbolic of spiritual purification),Risk, History of the Order of the Bath, p. 6. 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.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. 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,According to Anstis (Observations, p. 73) such knights were sometimes known as Knights of the Sword or Knights of the Carpet 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,Anstis, p. 66. 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,Risk, p. 114. and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria juncta in uno (Latin for 'Three joined in one'), and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval.Nicolas, History of the orders of knighthood of the British empire, p. 38–39. 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 English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge.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. 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 juncta 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] juncta in uno (three kingdoms joined in one).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) p. 410.
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. Robert Walpole, the de facto head of His Majesty's government, was also eager to have the Order created to reduce the Duke of Montagu's financial claims on the government for a failed attempt at colonial expansion. Thus, allowing Montagu to become the Order's first Great Master, would encourage him to lay aside, or at least modify, his immense financial claim on the government. Sir Anthony Wagner, a more recent holder of the office of Garter King of Arms (1961–1978), wrote of Anstis's motivations: It was Martin Leake'sGarter King of Arms from 1754 to 1773, and an officer of arms for some 25 years before that opinion that the trouble and opposition Anstis met with in establishing himself as Garter [King of Arms] 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.Wagner, pp. 348, 357.
The use of honours in the early eighteenth 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 bestowed in large numbers (the Garter and the Thistle are limited to twenty-four and sixteen 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.Risk, p. 2.
The attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political position. He made sure that most of the 36 new honorees were peers and MPs who would provide him with useful connections. Crucially, roughly half of the founder-knights were descendants of 17th century knights of the bath.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) George I having agreed to Walpole's proposal, Anstis was commissioned to draft statutes for the Order of the Bath. Early proposals for admit any man were dropped and Anstis included the traditional definition of a gentlemen for non-noble knights was included in the statutes, proof of ‘noble ancestry’ by which was meant armigerous birth of at least three generations on both paternal and maternal sides. 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).Nicolas, p. 237–238, footnote. The Order was founded by letters patent under the Great Seal dated , and the statutes issued the following week.Risk, p. 4.Statutes 1725.
The Order initially consisted of the Sovereign, a Prince of the blood Royal as Principal Knight, a Great Master, and thirty-five Knights Companion.Statutes 1725, article 2. 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 (some are classified in more than one category):Risk, p. 15, 16. Members of the House of Commons: 14 The Royal Household or sinecures: 11 Diplomats: 4