Kentucky Colonel applies to jurisdiction Kentucky
Civilian honorary officers
While some early colonels served military roles in the state, colonel in Kentucky was a well-known civilian honorific title belonging to attorneys, judges, county commissioners, large land owners and sheriffs well into 1860. Henry Clay of Fayette County and Cassius Clay of Madison County were both Kentucky colonels. In the latter part of the 19th century, Commonwealth colonelcy took on a more ceremonial function with governors. Colonels in uniform attended functions at the Governor's mansion and stood as symbolic guards at state events. By the late 19th century, the title had become more of an honorary one assigning colonelcy duties to the ceremonial guard and recognizing civilians for their promotion of the prosperity of the state by commuting the Honorable title as an honorary colonel. In 1895, Governor William O'Connell Bradley commissioned the first honorary Kentucky colonels as an award of merit bestowed upon citizens for their individual contributions to the state, good deeds, and noteworthy actions. Bradley could not resist officially designating the title as "Colonel"; he had been called "colonel" since his youth himself, having adopted the moniker in his community of Somerset, Kentucky after unsuccessfully attempting to become a soldier in the Civil War for the Union twice in 1861.
In 1890 Opie Read published a book called A Kentucky Colonel which evolved a new public perception of what a Kentucky colonel was, posing himself more as a refined, well-mannered southern gentleman, rather than a figure in the Kentucky militia. This view was expanded by Zoe Anderson Norris with a series of twelve stories published in The Sun (New York) in 1905 describing scenes and incidents in a Kentucky Colonel's life in the South.Kentucky colonels became definitively idealized in the Commonwealth in 1889 with the rest of America when the Louisville Post published an article "Kentucky Colonels: How It Happens They are so Numerous In the Blue Grass State" in September 1889, the article was published by more than 80 regional city newspapers defining the Kentucky Colonel. While this may be one of the reasons Governor Bradley made it an official honorific form of address for civilians, it is not close to the end of the history of Kentucky colonelcy.At the beginning of the 20th century into early 1930s, Kentucky colonels began to come together to form sociopolitical, charitable, and fraternal organizations. Newspaper reports from the time show that more than 20 organizations had formed with some organizations having sub-groups.During this time Kentucky colonelcy gained considerable attention as a desirable honorific title that was even being awarded to women, until being harshly ridiculed and called a hollow title by Marsh Henry also known as Col. Henry Watterson, who had been a Kentucky Colonel for over 30 years already in 1920. In 1931 in Las Vegas a well-read story about Kentucky colonels emerged, "Thousand New Kunnels, Suh, In 25 Years". Prior to 1932, only about 1,000 people had received official "Honorable" commissions as Kentucky colonels from Kentucky's governors. Governor Ruby Laffoon, in office from 1931 to 1935, dramatically increased the number of colonels by issuing more than 10,000 commissions in 1933 and 1934; among his motives was officializing the Kentucky colonel to identify with the Commonwealth, taxing the title of colonel, and boosting his own political support. One of his most famous colonelships was granted to restaurateur Harland Sanders, who was commissioned by Laffoon in 1935. Laffoon, alongside his aide Colonel Anna Bell Ward, selected many notable members of Kentucky society as well as Shirley Temple, Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus. Laffoon's helped connect the idea of the Kentucky Colonel to the state and the Kentucky Derby and helped bring  prominence to the Kentucky Derby by inviting celebrities and heads of state.When Governor Albert Benjamin Chandler (better known as Happy Chandler) took office in 1935, he took a very different view on the distinction of a Kentucky colonel commission and only issued about a dozen new commissions annually, on Derby Day. Governor Keen Johnson followed Governor Chandler's lead during his time in office from 1939 to 1943, commissioning only those select individuals who were deemed to have exhibited exceptionally noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The subsequent governors, however, have typically been much more liberal in issuing Kentucky colonel commissions.Talking about their known history in 1941 the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels stated, "A.O. Stanley, then Governor, commissioned 110 honorary colonels; Gov. E.P. Morrow added 243; Gov. W. Fields, 183; Gov. Flem Sampson, 677; Gov. Ruby Laffoon, 10,450; and Gov. A.B. Chandler, 85. In 1934, at a meeting of Kentucky Colonels a social organization of colonels was affected. Then on March 28, 1936, the Attorney General of Kentucky voided all of these commissions, but a month later they were revived by the Acting Governor, James. E. Wise."