The New Year Honours 1956 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 2 January 1956 to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1956.United Kingdom list: Australia list: New Zealand list: Ceylon list: Pakistan list:
The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged by honour, with classes (Knight, Knight Grand Cross, etc.) and then divisions (Military, Civil, etc.) as appropriate.
United Kingdom and Commonwealth
Baron Colonel John Jacob Astor, . For public services. Sir (Francis) Raymond Evershed, Master of the Rolls. Cyril Forster Garbett, . Lord Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan. Sir Frederick Godber, chairman, Shell Transport & Trading Co. Ltd.
Baronet Sir Hubert Stanley Houldsworth, , chairman, National Coal Board. Colonel James Riley Holt Hutchison, , Member of Parliament for Glasgow Central, 1945–1950, and for the Scotstoun Division of Glasgow since October 1950; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary, War Office, 1951–1954. For political and public services. Colonel Charles Edward Ponsonby, , Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks, 1935–1950. Chairman, Royal Empire Society. For political and public services.
Knight Bachelor Eric Ashby, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast. John Garnett Banks, , Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Major Arthur Harold Bibby, . For political and public services in Lancashire and Cheshire. Major Reginald Bullin, , chairman, Portsmouth Local Employment Committee and Disablement Advisory Committee. Vice-president of the Magistrates' Association. Charles Connell, chairman, Charles Connell and Company Ltd, Glasgow. Judge Edgar Thorniley Dale, County Court Judge. Henry Dalton, , Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Force. Colonel Alan Gomme Gomme-Duncan, , Member of Parliament for Perth and Kinross, 1945–1950, and for Perth and East Perthshire since 1950. For political and public services. Colonel Bartle Mordaunt Marsham Edwards, , chairman, Norfolk County Council. Lieutenant-Colonel Fordham Flower, , chairman, Executive Council, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon. Leslie Ewart Ford, , General Manager, Port of London Authority. Alderman Harry Hardy. For political and public services in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Ralph George Hawtrey, . For services to the study of economics. Frank Higginson, , Secretary, Imperial War Graves Commission. Eric John Francis James, High Master, Manchester Grammar School. Henry Frank Harding Jones, , deputy chairman, Gas Council. Brigadier Alexander Herbert Killick, , Secretary, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Hersch Lauterpacht, , lately Whewell Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge. William Lyons, chairman and managing director, Jaguar Cars Ltd, Coventry. George Matthew McNaughton, , Chief Engineer, Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Walter Mercer, , Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Edinburgh. President, Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Victor Ewings Negus, , , Consulting Surgeon, Ear, Nose & Throat Department, King's College Hospital. George North, , Registrar General. Tom O'Brien, , Member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. General Secretary, National Association of Theatrical and Kine Employees. Alfred Grenville Pugsley, , Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol. Brigadier Ralph Herbert Rayner, Member of Parliament for Totnes, 1935–1955. For political and public services. William Walker Frederick Shepherd. For political and public services in Cheshire. Brigadier Eric Ommanney Skaife, . For political and public services in Wales. Colonel Frederick Claude Stern, . For services to Horticulture. John Stewart, , Chairman of Wages Councils. Arthur Reginald Astley Weston, , Legal Adviser and Solicitor, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Professor Solly Zuckerman, , deputy chairman, Advisory Council on Scientific Policy.
State of South Australia George Coutts Ligertwood, a Judge of the Supreme Court, State of South Australia.
State of Victoria Francis Palmer Selleck, , Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, State of Victoria. Samuel McMahon Wadham, Professor of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, State of Victoria. For public services.
Overseas Territories Kamil Mohamed Ariff bin Kadir Mustan, . For public services in Penang, Federation of Malaya. Paul Boffa, . For public services in Malta. John Edward Doston Carberry, Chief Justice, Jamaica. Joseph Henri Maxime de Comarmond, Chief Justice of the High Courts of Lagos and the Southern Cameroons. Gordon Hadow, , Deputy Governor, Gold Coast. Joseph Burtt Hutchinson, , Director, Empire Cotton Growing Corporation's Cotton Research Station, Namulonge, Uganda. Ragnar Hyne, Chief Justice, Fiji. Thomas Percy Fergus McNeice, , Chairman of the Committee on Local Government, Singapore. Samuel Layinka Ayodeji Manuwa, , Chief Medical Adviser to the Federal Government, Nigeria.
Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) Military Division Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Edward Embry, , Royal Air Force.
Civil Division Sir Harold Corti Emmerson, , Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works. (Permanent Secretary designate, Ministry of Labour and National Service.)
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) Military Division
Royal Navy Vice-Admiral William Wellclose Davis, . Vice-Admiral Maurice Herbert Elliott, .
Army Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Wogan Festing, , (611), late Infantry. Colonel, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. Lieutenant-General Richard Amyatt Hull, , (36442), late Royal Armoured Corps. Colonel, 17th/21st Lancers.
Royal Air Force Acting Air Marshal Lawrence Darvall, , Royal Air Force. Air Vice-Marshal Douglas Macfadyen, , Royal Air Force.
Civil Division Sir Frederick Brundrett, , chairman, Defence Research Policy Committee and Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence. Sir (John) Gilbert Laithwaite, , Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Commonwealth Relations Office. Air Marshal Sir Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby, , Vice-chairman, Council of Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Associations.
Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) Military Division Royal Navy Rear-Admiral Alexander Noel Campbell Bingley, . Rear-Admiral Wilfred Geoffrey Brittain, . Rear-Admiral Harry Philip Currey, . Rear-Admiral Norman Eric Dalton, . Instructor Captain Henry Stewart Gracie. Surgeon Rear-Admiral Robert Cyril May, . Major-General James Louis Moulton, . Rear-Admiral Arthur Reid Pedder. Rear-Admiral Guy Bouchier Sayer, . Rear-Admiral Peter Skelton.
Army Major-General Victor David Graham Campbell, , (30818), late Infantry. Major-General William Reginald Cox, , (31910), late Infantry. Major-General Brian Daunt, , (17649), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. Major-General Frederick Cavendish Hilton-Sergeant, , (26337), late Royal Army Medical Corps. Major-General Reginald Geoffrey Stirling Hobbs, , (40387), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. Major-General Edward Stewart Lindsay, , (39464), late Royal Regiment of Artillery. Major-General David John Muil, , (23169), late Royal Army Dental Corps. Major-General Francis Joseph O'Meara, , (26774), late Royal Army Medical Corps. Major-General Herbert MacGregor Paterson, , (24859) late Royal Regiment of Artillery. Major-General John Christopher Temple Willis, , (19240), late Corps of Royal Engineers.
Royal Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Denis Hensley Fulton Barnett, . Air Vice-Marshal Alfred Earle, . Air Vice-Marshal William Mary Laurence MacDonald, . Acting Air Vice-Marshal Walter Joseph Martin Akerman, . Air Commodore Guy Bearne. Air Commodore Gerard John Christopher Paul, . Acting Air Commodore Robert Alfred Copsey Carter, . Group Captain James Michael Birkin, , Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
Civil Division George Herbert Andrew, Second Secretary, Board of Trade. Walter Cawood, , Principal Director of Scientific Research (Air), Ministry of Supply. William Charles Milford Couch, , deputy director of Electrical Engineering, Admiralty. Harold Haydn Davies, , chairman, Welsh Board of Health. Colonel Stanley Howe Fisher, , chairman, County of London Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association. Bruce Donald Fraser, Under-Secretary, HM Treasury. Henry Hardman, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Herbert Harry Hobbs, Assistant Under-secretary of State, War Office. Roger Henry Hollis, , attached War Office. Frederick Richard Howard, , Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Air Ministry. Air Commodore William Edward George Mann, , Director General of Navigational Services (Civil Aviation), Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. Edward Rowland Alworth Merewether, , Senior Medical Inspector of Factories, Ministry of Labour and National Service. William John Richards, , Director, Radar Research Establishment, Ministry of Supply. Gilbert Milner Williams, , Under-Secretary, Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) Sir Frederick Robert Hoyer Millar, , Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Bonn.
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) Sir Charles John Lowe, Senior Judge of the Supreme Court, State of Victoria. Theodore Ouseley Pike, , Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Somaliland. Roland Evelyn Turnbull, , Governor and Commander-in-Chief, North Borneo. Charles Empson, , Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Santiago. John Walter Nicholls, , Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Tel Aviv. Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry, , Director of Communications, Foreign Office. Francis Brian Anthony Rundall, , Her Majesty's Consul-General at New York.
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) John Angus Beckett, Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Fuel and Power. Gordon Bowen, Senior Trade Commissioner, Ottawa, Board of Trade. John Lenox Fisher, Adviser to the Bank of England. For services to Colonial Governments. Richard Turner, Assistant Chief Architect, Ministry of Works. John Archibald Venn, President of Queen's College, University of Cambridge, lately Chairman of the Colonial Studies Committee. Kenneth Southwold Weston, , Assistant Secretary, HM Treasury. Edgar Riley Wilkinson, Commercial Manager, Central Electricity Authority. Cornelius Ewen MacLean Greenfield, , Secretary to the Treasury, Southern Rhodesia. Professor Stephen Henry Roberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, State of New South Wales. Thomas Vaisey Scrivenor, Deputy High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland. Colonel Allan Spowers, . For public services in the State of Victoria. Geofroy William Tory, Deputy High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in the Commonwealth of Australia. James Godfrey Colquhoun Allen, Senior Resident, Eastern Region, Nigeria. Arthur John Grattan-Bellew, , Attorney General and Member for Legal Affairs, Tanganyika. William Leycester Rouse Carbonell. Commissioner of Police, Federation of Malaya. George Barrington Cartland, Minister of Social Services, Uganda. Frank Simon Collier, , Forestry Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Brigadier Edward John Gibbons, , Commissioner of the Cameroons, Federation of Nigeria. Alan Forbes Bourne Glennie, Resident Commissioner, Barotseland Protectorate, Northern Rhodesia. John Henry Ingham, , lately Secretary to the Royal Commission on East Africa. Francis Derek Jakeway, , Chief Secretary, British Guiana. Thomas Boughton Bovell-Jones, Senior Resident, Western Region, Nigeria.