Order of Merit

The Order of Merit () is an award, for notable work in various fields such as, armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. The order was set up in 1902, by Edward VII. Membership of the order is a personal gift of its Sovereign (the monarch does not take advice from politicians about who should be a member). The sovereign of the order is the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms. The award is limited to 24 living recipients at any one time from these countries, plus a small number of honorary members. 

Whilst all members can use the post-nominal letters OM and a medallion for life, the Order of Merit's precedence, amongst other honours, differs between Commonwealth realms.

History
The award filled a gap in the honour system under Queen Victoria. It was only possible to reward people who held official positions. So, for example, T.H. Huxley could be rewarded because he had sat on Royal Commissions, but Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace held no official positions. Without question their work was as important as Huxley's, or more so. This kind of problem was known by Edward VII, and when he eventually became king, he drew up this new award which had no such limitations. The idea had been discussed before.

The first mention of a possible Order of Merit was made after the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805. It was discussed in letters between the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Barham and Prime Minister William Pitt. Nothing came from the idea. Later, Queen Victoria, her courtiers, and politicians, all thought that a new order, based on the Prussian order Pour le Mérite, would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside of public service, in realms such as art, music, literature, industry, and science. Victoria's husband, Albert, Prince Consort, took an interest in the matter; he wrote in his diary that he met on 16 January 1844 with Robert Peel to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil Order of Merit" and three days later he talked with the Queen on the subject. The concept did not wither and, on 5 January 1888, British prime minister the Marquess of Salisbury submitted to the Queen a draft constitution for an Order of Merit in Science and Art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the Order of Scientific Merit - for Knights of Merit in Science, with the post-nominal letters KMS and the Order of Artistic Merit - for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters KMA. However, Sir Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process.

It was Victoria's son, Edward VII, who eventually founded the Order of Merit, on 26 June 1902 the date for which his coronation had been originally planned as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards the advancement of Art, Literature and Science"; all modern aspects of the order were established under his direction, including the division for military figures. From the outset, prime ministers attempted to propose candidates or lobbied to influence the monarch's decision on appointments, but the Royal Household adamantly guarded information about potential names. After 1931, when the Commonwealth of Nations came into being and the former Dominions of the British Empire became independent states, equal in status to the UK, the Order of Merit remained an honour open to all the King's realms; thus, as with the monarch who conferred it, the order ceased to be purely British.

From the start, the order has been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907. Several people have not taken the honour, such as Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Housman, and George Bernard Shaw. To date, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, remains the youngest person ever inducted into the Order of Merit, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II, in 1968, when he was 47 years of age.

Eligibility and appointment
All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are able to be given the Order of Merit. There can only be 24 living people in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by the reigning monarch of the 16 realms, presently Queen Elizabeth II, with the help of her private secretaries; the order has thus been described as "quite possibly, the most prestigious honour one can receive on the planet Earth."  Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia; though it has not been abolished, it is currently unused, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma having been the last person so honoured. Honorary members form another group, to which there is no limit, though such appointments are rare; individuals from countries in the Commonwealth of Nations that are not headed by Elizabeth II are considered foreigners, and thus are granted only honorary admissions, such as Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Mother Teresa (India).

On admission into the Order of Merit, members can use the post-nominal letters OM, and have the badge of the order, consisting of a golden crown from which is suspended a red enamelled cross, itself centred by a disk of blue enamel, surrounded by a gold laurel wreath, and bearing in gold lettering the words FOR MERIT; the insignia for the military grouping has a pair of crossed swords behind the central disk. The ribbon of the Order of Merit is divided into two stripes of red and blue; men wear their badges on a neck ribbon, while women carry theirs on a ribbon bow pinned to the left shoulder, and aides-de-camp may wear the insignia on their aiguillettes. Since 1991, the insignia is to be given back upon the recipient's death.

Current members
Sovereign: King Charles III

Members

 The Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM appointed 25 November 1997 
 Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS appointed 9 May 2000 
 Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL appointed 9 May 2000 
 The Lord Rothschild OM GBE CVO appointed 28 October 2002 
 Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FSA appointed 10 June 2005 
 The Lord Eames OM appointed 13 June 2007 
 Sir Tim Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS FREng appointed 13 June 2007 
 The Lord Rees of Ludlow OM FRS FMedSci FREng appointed 13 June 2007
 Jean Chrétien OM CC PC QC appointed 13 July 2009 
 Neil MacGregor OM AO FSA appointed 4 November 2010 
 David Hockney OM CH appointed 1 January 2012 
 John Howard OM AC appointed 1 January 2012 
 Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE appointed 1 January 2014 
 Sir Magdi Yacoub OM FRS appointed 1 January 2014 
 The Lord Darzi of Denham OM KBE PC FRS FMedSci FRCS FREng appointed 31 December 2015 
 Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FRS FREng appointed 31 December 2015 
 Sir James Dyson OM CBE FRS FREng appointed 31 December 2015 
 Sir David Adjaye OM OBE appointed 11 November 2022
 Dame Elizabeth Anionwu OM DBE appointed 11 November 2022
 The Baroness Benjamin OM DBE appointed 11 November 2022
 Margaret MacMillan OM CC CH appointed 11 November 2022
 Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS appointed 11 November 2022
 Venkatraman Ramakrishnan OM FRS appointed 11 November 2022
Vacant

Honorary members
(none)

Precedence in each realm
As the Order of Merit is open to the citizens of sixteen different countries, each with their own system of orders, decorations, and medals, the order's place of precedence varies from country to country. While in the United Kingdom, members rank below Knights and Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, it has been claimed by Stanley Martin, in his book The Order of Merit 1902-2002: One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour, that the Order of Merit is actually the pinnacle of the British honours system. Similarly, though it was not listed in the Canadian order of precedence for honours, decorations, and medals until December 2010, except relating to those who were appointed to the order prior to 1 June 1972, both Christopher McCreery, an expert on Canadian honours and secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, an editor of Burke's Peerage,  stated that the Order of Merit was the highest civilian award for merit a Canadian could receive.

Some orders of precedence are as follows:

 Country  Preceding  Following  AustraliaOrder of precedence  Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (GCB)  Knight/Dame of the Order of Australia (AK/AD)  CanadaOrder of precedence  Cross of Valour (CV)  Companion of the Order of Canada (CC)  New ZealandOrder of precedence  Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (GCB)  Member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ)  United Kingdom   andOrder of precedence  Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (GCB)  Knight/Dame Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB/DCB) 

Past members
Substantive members
  Countries  Name  Date of appointment  Date of death 1.    The Earl Roberts  26 June 1902  14 November 1914 2.    The Viscount Wolseley 26 June 1902  25 March 1913 3.    The Earl Kitchener  26 June 1902  5 June 1916 4.    The Lord Rayleigh  26 June 1902  30 June 1919 5.    The Lord Kelvin  26 June 1902  17 December 1907 6.    The Lord Lister  26 June 1902  10 February 1912 7.    Sir Henry Keppel 26 June 1902  17 January 1904 8.    The Viscount Morley of Blackburn 26 June 1902  23 September 1923 9.    William Edward Hartpole Lecky 26 June 1902  22 October 1903 10.    Sir Edward Hobart Seymour 26 June 1902  2 March 1929 11.    Sir William Huggins  26 June 1902  12 May 1910 12.    George Frederic Watts 26 June 1902  1 July 1904 13.    Sir George Stuart White 30 June 1905  24 June 1912 14.    The Lord Fisher 30 June 1905  10 July 1920 15.    Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb 30 June 1905  9 December 1905 16.    Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 30 June 1905  25 June 1912 17.    George Meredith  30 June 1905  18 May 1909 18.    William Holman Hunt  30 June 1905  7 September 1910 22.    The Earl of Cromer 29 June 1906  29 January 1917 23.    The Viscount Bryce 11 February 1907  22 January 1922 24.    Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker  30 June 1907  10 December 1911 25.    Florence Nightingale  12 May 1907  13 August 1910 26.    Henry Jackson 26 June 1908  25 September 1921 27.    Alfred Russel Wallace  26 June 1908  7 November 1913 28.    Sir William Crookes 8 July 1910  4 April 1919 29.    Thomas Hardy  8 July 1910  11 January 1928 30.    Sir George Otto Trevelyan 19 June 1911  17 August 1928 31.    Sir Edward William Elgar  19 June 1911  23 February 1934 32.    Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson 8 March 1912  25 May 1921 33.    Sir Joseph John Thomson  15 March 1912  30 August 1940 34.    Sir Archibald Geikie 1 January 1914  10 November 1924 35.    The Earl of Ypres 3 December 1914  22 May 1925 36.    The Viscount Haldane 26 May 1915  19 August 1928 37.    Henry James  1 January 1916  28 February 1916 38.    The Earl Jellicoe 31 May 1916  20 November 1935 39.    The Earl of Balfour  3 June 1916  19 March 1930 41.    The Earl Beatty 3 June 1919  11 March 1936 42.    The Earl Haig  3 June 1919  29 January 1928 44.    The Earl Lloyd-George  5 August 1919  26 March 1945 45.    Sir James Matthew Barrie  2 January 1922  19 June 1937 46.    Francis Herbert Bradley 3 June 1924  18 September 1924 47.    Sir Charles Scott Sherrington  3 June 1924  4 March 1952 48.    Sir James George Frazer 1 January 1925  7 May 1941 49.  /  The Lord Rutherford of Nelson  1 January 1925  19 October 1937 50.    Sir Charles Algernon Parsons 3 June 1927  11 February 1931 51.    Sir George Abraham Grierson 4 June 1928  9 March 1941 52.    Robert Seymour Bridges 3 June 1929  21 April 1930 53.    John Galsworthy 3 June 1929  31 January 1933 54.  /  Samuel Alexander 3 June 1930  13 September 1938 55.    Montague Rhodes James 3 June 1930  12 June 1936 56.    George Macaulay Trevelyan 3 June 1930  21 July 1962 57.    Sir Charles Edward Madden 1 January 1931   5 June 1935 58.    Philip Wilson Steer 1 January 1931  18 March 1942 59.    Sir William Henry Bragg  3 June 1931  10 March 1942 60.    John William Mackail 1 January 1935  13 December 1945 61.    John Edward Masefield 3 June 1935  12 May 1967 62.    Ralph Vaughan Williams  3 June 1935  26 August 1958 63.    Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins  3 June 1935  16 May 1947 64.    The Lord Chetwode 1 January 1936  6 July 1950 65.    Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher 1 February 1937  18 April 1940 66.    The Lord Baden-Powell  11 May 1937  8 January 1941 67.    Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington 9 June 1938  22 November 1944 68.    The Lord Chatfield 2 January 1939  15 November 1967 69.    Sir James Hopwood Jeans 2 January 1939  16 September 1946 70.    The Lord Newall 29 October 1940  30 November 1963 71.  /  George Gilbert Aimé Murray 1 January 1941  20 May 1957 72.    Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens 1 January 1942  1 January 1944 73.    Augustus Edwin John 11 June 1942  31 October 1961 74.    The Lord Adrian  11 June 1942  4 August 1977 75.    Sir William Searle Holdsworth 1 January 1943  2 January 1944 76.    Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound 3 September 1943  21 October 1943 77.    The Lord Passfield 8 June 1944  13 October 1947 78.    Sir Henry Hallett Dale  8 June 1944  23 July 1968 79.    Sir Giles Gilbert Scott 8 June 1944  8 February 1960 80.  /  Alfred North Whitehead  1 January 1945  30 December 1947 82.    Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill  1 January 1946  24 January 1965 83.    The Viscount Portal of Hungerford 1 January 1946  22 April 1971 84.    The Viscount Alanbrooke 13 June 1946  17 June 1963 85.    The Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope 13 June 1946  12 June 1963 86.    The Earl of Halifax 13 June 1946  23 December 1959 87.    Jan Christiaan Smuts  1 January 1947  11 September 1950 89.    William Lyon Mackenzie King  17 November 1947  22 July 1950 90.    Thomas Stearns Eliot  1 January 1948  4 January 1965 91.    Sir Robert Robinson 9 June 1949  8 February 1975 92.    The Earl Russell  9 June 1949  2 February 1970 93.    Sir Alexander George Montagu Cadogan 1 January 1951  9 July 1968 94.    The Viscount Trenchard  1 January 1951  10 February 1956 95.    George Edward Moore 7 June 1951  24 October 1958 96.    The Earl Attlee  5 November 1951  8 October 1967 97.    Wilder Graves Penfield 1 January 1953  5 April 1976 98.    Walter John de la Mare 1 June 1953  22 June 1956 100.    The Lord Hailey 31 May 1956  1 June 1969 101.    Sir John Douglas Cockcroft 1 January 1957  18 September 1967 102.    The Viscount Waverley 8 December 1957  4 January 1958 103.    Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet  12 June 1958  31 August 1985 104.    The Viscount Samuel 21 November 1958  2 February 1963 105.    The Earl Alexander of Tunis 23 April 1960  16 June 1969 106.    Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood 23 April 1960  9 October 1967 107.    Graham Sutherland 23 April 1960  17 February 1980 108.    Sir Geoffrey de Havilland 23 November 1962  21 May 1965 109.    Sir Basil Urwin Spence 23 November 1962  19 November 1976 110.    Sir Owen Dixon 29 May 1963  7 July 1972 112.    George Peabody Gooch 16 August 1963  31 August 1968 113.    Henry Spencer Moore  16 August 1963  31 August 1986 114.    The Lord Britten  23 March 1965  4 December 1976 115.    Dorothy Mary Hodgkin  23 March 1965  29 July 1994 116.    The Earl Mountbatten of Burma  15 July 1965  27 August 1979 117.  / The Lord Florey 15 July 1965  21 February 1968 118.    The Lord Blackett 20 November 1967  13 July 1974 119.    Sir William Turner Walton  20 November 1967  8 March 1983 120.    Benjamin Lauder Nicholson 23 April 1968  6 February 1982 121.  /  The Lord Zuckerman 23 April 1968  1 April 1993 123.    Edward Morgan Forster  1 January 1969  7 June 1970 124.    Malcolm John MacDonald 14 July 1969  11 January 1981 125.    The Lord Penney 14 July 1969  3 March 1991 126.    Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor 14 July 1969  27 June 1975 127.    Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood 14 July 1969  9 March 1997 128.    John Cawte Beaglehole 21 March 1970  10 October 1971 129.    Lester Bowles Pearson  20 May 1971  27 December 1972 130.    Sir Isaiah Berlin  20 May 1971  5 November 1997 131.    Sir George Robert Freeman Edwards 20 May 1971  2 March 2003 132.    Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin  17 April 1973  20 December 1998 133.    Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac  17 April 1973  20 October 1984 134.    The Earl of Stockton  2 April 1976  29 December 1986 135.    The Lord Hinton of Bankside 2 April 1976  22 June 1983 136.    The Lord Clark 2 April 1976  21 May 1983 137.  / Sir Ronald Syme 2 April 1976  4 September 1989 138.    The Lord Todd 24 October 1977  10 January 1997 139.    The Lord Franks 24 October 1977  15 October 1992 140.    Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton  24 October 1977  18 October 1988 141.    John Boynton Priestley  24 October 1977  14 August 1984 142.    The Lord Olivier  6 February 1981  11 July 1989 143.    Sir Peter Brian Medawar  6 February 1981  2 October 1987 144.    The Lord Cheshire 6 February 1981  31 July 1992 147.    Sir Sidney Robert Nolan  11 November 1983  28 November 1992 148.    Sir Michael Kemp Tippett  11 November 1983  8 January 1998 150.    Henry Graham Greene  11 February 1986  3 April 1991 152.    Sir Frank Whittle 11 February 1986  9 August 1996 153.    The Lord Menuhin  25 February 1987  12 March 1999 154.    Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich 15 February 1988  3 November 2001 155.    Max Ferdinand Perutz  15 February 1988  6 February 2002 156.    Dame Cicely Mary Saunders 30 November 1989  14 July 2005 157.    The Lord Porter of Luddenham 30 November 1989  31 August 2002158.Margaret Thatcher7 December 19908 April 2013 159.    Dame Joan Alston Sutherland  29 November 1991  10 October 2010 160.  / Francis Harry Compton Crick  27 November 1991  28 July 2004 161.    Dame Ninette de Valois  17 November 1992  8 March 2001 163.    The Lord Jenkins of Hillhead  6 December 1993  5 January 2003 167.    Sir Arthur John Gielgud  9 December 1996  21 May 2000 168.    The Lord Denning 25 November 1997  5 March 1999 170.    Sir Denis Eric Rooke 25 November 1997  2 September 2008 171.    Edward James Hughes  10 August 1998  28 October 1998 172.    George Basil Hume  25 May 1999  17 June 1999 173.    Sir James Whyte Black  9 May 2000  22 March 2010

Honorary members

  Countries  Name  Date of appointment  Date of death 19.    Prince Yamagata Aritomo  21 February 1906  1 February 1922 20.    Prince Ōyama Iwao 21 February 1906  10 December 1916 21.    Marquess Tōgō Heihachirō  21 February 1906  30 May 1934 40.    Ferdinand Foch 29 November 1918  20 March 1929 43.    Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre 26 June 1919  3 January 1931 81.    Dwight David Eisenhower  12 June 1945  28 March 1969 88.    John Gilbert Winant 1 January 1947  3 November 1947 99.    Albert Schweitzer  25 February 1955  4 September 1965 111.    Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan  12 June 1963 17 April 1975 149.  /  Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu  18 November 1983  5 September 1997

Notes

References

References


Category:Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom
Category:Orders, decorations, and medals of Australia
Category:1902 establishments