Most Honourable Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725.The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremonyfor appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as "Knights of the Bath".George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order". He did not (as is commonly believed
) revive the Order of the Bath,since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred.