Page:Dod's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage etc. of Great Britain and Ireland.djvu/662

 610 THE STANDING COUNCIL OF THE BARONETAGE Baronets of England, of Ireland, of Scotland, of Great Britain, and of the United Kingdom, and to their wives. In a similar way, invitations were issued to the subsequent Coronation Services at St. Paul's Cathe- dral, and to attend the funeral of King EdwsiTd VII at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. For many years no difference was made in the lists recording Baronets and Knights who attended the Drawing-Rooms and Levees held during the reign of Queen Victoria, but owing to the repre- .sentations of the Standing Council, a separate list of Baronets attending Courts and Levees is now issued from the Lord Chamberlain's Office. A considerable time before the formation of the Standing Council and its predecessor, invitations to Court were issued to many persons describing them as Baronets merely on their own pei'sonal descriptions as such, and persons were gazetted e'en to commissions in the Army and Nax-y as Bar- onets without any proof having been required as to their right to so designate themselves. Owing, however, to representations made to the Lord Chamberlain, much gi'eater care is now exercised in tliis direction. As the result of a Petition to King Edward VII, a Committee, presided over by the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, was appointed November 3, 1905, by Mr. Akers- Douglas, then Home Secretarj'. to inquire whether any, and if so what steps should be taken to safeguard the status of the Baronet- age. The Committee took evidence from Garter, Lyon, and Ulster Kings of Arms, from baronets and other representatives of the Standing Council of the Baronetage, including Admiral Sir Lambton Loraine, Baronet, the then Chairman of the Executive Committee of this Association, and Mr. Francis W. Pixley, F.S.A., Author of the History of the Baronetage, the Registrar, as well as from Baronets who desired to be heard independently, and from others interested in or having a special acquaintance with the matters referred to. This Committee issued its Report on December 12, 190C, and amongst other suggestions recommended the formation of a Roll to be in the custodj' of an Official of the Home Office, and on February 8, 1910, a Royal Warrant was issued under the late King's Sign Manual, prescribing that an Official Roll of Baronets should be prepared, in consultation with the Garter, Lyon, and LTlster Kings of Arms, and kept in the Home Office, and that no person whose name is not entered therein shall be received as a Baronet, or be addressed or mentioned by that title in any Civil or Military Commission, Letters Patent, or other official document. Subsequently Sir W. P. Byrne, K.C.V.O., Assistant Under Secretary Home Office, was appointed Registrar of the Baronetage and was succeeded by Mr. Harry Butler Simpson, C.B., the present Registrar. Mr. R. F. Reynard, I.S.O., also of the Home Office, is Deputy Registrar. The preparation of the draft of the first Roll was entrusted to Mr. F. W. Pixley, and this draft Roll was, in 1910, lodged with the Secretary of State for the Home Department. After being under the consideration of the Home Office Officials in consultation with the three Kings of Arms (Garter, Lyon, or Ulster), according to their respective heraldic jurisdiction, in regard to the validity of the Baronetcies named therein for upwards of three years the first Roll was issued as a supplement to the London (lazette of February 20, 1914, on February 23. The Royal Warrant also prescribed that the Roll shall be revised and corrected from time to time and shall be submitted to the reigning iMonarch once in each year, and shall be joublished annually in the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Gazettes and placed on sale. A Committee of the Privy Council was subsequently appointed by order in Council of March 5, 1910. to hear appeals from any persons excluded from the Roll, and the following are the present Members of such Committee : The Lord President, The Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England, The Earl Beauchamp. The Earl of Granard, The Lord Chamberlain, The Viscount St. Aldwyn, The Lord Balfour of Burleigh, The Lord Rathmore, The Lord Dunedin, Tlie Secretary of State'for the Home Department, The Right Hon. Sir Frank C. Lascelles, The Right Hon. C. B. Stuart- Wortley, The Right Hon. Sir John H. Kennawav, Bt.. The Right Hon. Sir Herbert E. Jlaxwell, Bt., The Right Hon. Sir Robert Romer, The Right Hon. Sir James Stirling, The Earl of Desart. The Right Hon. The Lord Strathclyde, and The Right Hon. Sir Henry Primrose. Several Petitions were heard by the Committee before the first Roll was issued and one since. Although several claimants to Baronetcies have announced their intention of formally applying to be placed on the Roll there are not at present any claims waiting to be dealt with. All communications relating to the Standing Council of the Baronetage should be addressed to the Registrar, Mr. Francis Pixley, F.S.A., who will be pleased to supply any further particulars that may be desired.