Page:Dod's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage etc. of Great Britain and Ireland.djvu/962

 912 THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF KNIGHTS BACHELOR To many it will doubtless be a surprise to learn that from December 28, 1902, until the for- mation of the Society, there was no ofScial Roll or Record of Knights Bachelor, and it was the first work of the Society to supply this want. In the Middle Ages individual Heralds made occasional notes of the dubbings of Knights, but such notes are known and admitted to be most incomplete. In the seventeenth century a Register of Knighthood was instituted by King James the First. This register is preserved at the College of Arms, and extends down to the year 1902, but it is not in itself, and does not claim to be, a com- plete record of all Knights dubbed within this period. There was a strong feeling among Knights Bachelor that a properly authenticated and officially recognized Roll of Knights should be brought into existence and continuously kept up to date ; this duty of establishing a permanent record the Society has taken in hand. In addition to its own Roll of Knighthood, the Society has made arrangements to register at the College of Arms every duly authenticated Knighthood. A question which has been put forward by many Knights Bachelor is one relating to an application to the Sovereign for the restoration of the badge or insignia to be worn on State or grand occasions. Henry VIII decreed for Knights Bachelor the collar of SS, and ordered its use to be restricted to the degree of a Knight. The collar, as modified by the Tudor Sovereigns, was to consist of a series of the letter S, alternating with the portcullis, either linked together or set in close order on a blue-and-white libbon, and having for a pendant or jewel a Tudor Rose. The above-mentioned decree occurs in Act 24, Henry il, cap. 13, which was made for the reformation of apparel. This Act was in its entirety repealed by James I, and so, probably accidentally, but no less surely, was extinguished the right of Knights Bachelor to wear the Tudor Rose, ribbon and collar. In the year 1027 King Charles I was moved that the Baronets and the Knights Bachelor might be allowed a distinctive riband and badge. The matter was referred to and favourably reported upon by the College of Arms, and the Attorney-General (Sir Robert Heath) received a command from the King concerning it. From the troubles, however, which shortly afterwards arose in the kingdom. His Majesty's intentions do not appear to have been carried into effect. It is proposed, as soon as the membership of the Society shows that it thoroughly represents the Knights Bachelor of the Empire, to present a petition to His Majesty, praying him to graciously con- sider the question above referred to, so that they may be permitted to wear a badge or insignia as they did in ancient days : but the Council feel that the membership of the Society (although already over 500, and representing the existing majority of those upon whom the honour has been conferred) must still be largely increased before any application is formally made. The present absence of any distinctive badge to be worn at State or public functions is greatly felt by Knights Bachelor, particu- larly so in India, where liigh officials have to attend numerous State ceremonies. It is, therefore, evident that the attainment of the more impo;-tant of the objects which the Council has under consideration is dependent upon the Society receiving the support of the great majority of those on whom the honour of Knighthood has been conferred, and the Council trust that they may see a great number of the Knights who are not yet members of the Society entered in the Roll and registered at the College of Aians before the end of the present year. The Registry and Library of the Society are at Cliffords Inn, London, E.G., and any of the Officers wiU be pleased to advise on questions relating to Heraldry, grants of Arms, etc.