Back Badorde Afrikaans وسام الحمام Arabic "Qüdrətli hamam" ordeni Azerbaijani Ордэн Лазні Byelorussian Орден на банята Bulgarian Orde del Bany Catalan Řád lázně Czech Urdd y Baddon Welsh Order of the Bath Danish Order of the Bath German

Order of the Bath

Most Honourable Order of the Bath
Civil Knight Grand Cross Star of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath: 'Rays of silver issuing from a centre and charged with three Imperial Crowns, one and two, within a circle gules whereon inscribed the motto of the Order in gold'[1]
Most Honourable Order of the Bath breast star of a Knight / Dame Grand Cross (Civil Division)
Awarded by

the monarch of the United Kingdom
TypeOrder of chivalry
Established18 May 1725 (1725-05-18)
CountryUnited Kingdom
MottoTria juncta in uno ('Three joined in one') (Civil Division)
Ich dien (Military Division)
Awarded forService to the Crown
StatusCurrently constituted
FounderGeorge I
SovereignCharles III
Great MasterWilliam, Prince of Wales
GradesKnight/Dame Grand Cross (GCB)
Knight/Dame Commander (KCB/DCB)
Companion (CB)
Former gradesKnight Companion (KB)
Precedence
Next (higher)Order of St Patrick
Next (lower)Order of the Star of India

Order of the Bath ribbon bar

Coat of arms of the British monarch as sovereign of the Order of the Bath.

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath[2] is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725.[3] Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His Majesty's Government.[4][5] 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".[6]

George I constituted the Knights of the Bath as a regular military order.[7] He did not revive the order,[8] 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.[9][10]

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:[11]

  • 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.[12] Knight Companion (KB), the order's only class prior to 1815, is no longer an option.[13] Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the British monarch and foreign nationals may be made honorary members.[14]

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.[15]

  1. ^ Montague-Smith, P.W., ed. (1968). Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage. Kingston-upon-Thames: Kelly's Directories Ltd. p. 896.
  2. ^ The word 'Military' was removed from the name by Queen Victoria in 1847. Letters Patent dated 14 April 1847, quoted in Statutes 1847.
  3. ^ Statutes 1725, although Risk says 11 May
  4. ^ "Order of the Bath". Royal.gov.uk. Official website of the British monarchy. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  5. ^ Statutes 1925, articles 8–12.
  6. ^ Anstis, Observations, p. 4.
  7. ^ Letters patent dated 18 May 1725, quoted in Statutes 1725.
  8. ^ The purely legendary pre-history was associated with Henry IV.
  9. ^ 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."
  10. ^ 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]".
  11. ^ Statutes 1925, article 2.
  12. ^ Statutes 1925, article 5.
  13. ^ "No. 16972". The London Gazette. 4 January 1815. pp. 17–20.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Honorary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ See, for example, the order of wear for orders and decorations Archived 28 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine, the Royal Warrant defining precedence in Scotland ("No. 27774". The London Gazette. 14 March 1905. pp. 2012–2014.), or the discussion of precedence at http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/order_precedence.htm

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