Order of the Companions of Honour

Order of the Companions of Honour
Riband and badge of the "Companions of Honour"
Awarded by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms
Type	Order
Motto	In Action Faithful and in Honour Clear
Awarded for	Nationally important service
Status	Currently constituted
Sovereign	Queen Elizabeth II
Grades (w/ post-nominals)	Companion (CH)
Established	1917
Ribbon bar of the order

Lord Tweedsmuir, as Governor General of Canada, wearing the Companion of Honour badge around his neck as part of his ceremonial Windsor uniform

The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded in June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements and is "conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seems to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour disassociated either from the acceptance of title or the classification of merit."^[1]

Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire,^[1] it is sometimes regarded as the junior order to the Order of Merit.^[2] Now described as "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time",^[3] the first recipients, were all decorated for "services in connection with the war" and were listed in the London Gazette in August 1917 with the award taking effect from 4 June 1917.^[4]

Composition

The order consists of the Sovereign plus no more than 65 members. Additionally, foreigners from outside the realms may be added as honorary members. Membership confers no title or precedence, but those inducted into the single-class order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH. Appointments can be made on the advice of Commonwealth realm prime ministers.^[2] For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials.^[5]

Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two each for New Zealand and South Africa, and 9 for India, Burma, and the colonies. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, 7 for Australia, 2 for New Zealand, and 9 for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding 2 places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the 9 for the other countries to 7.^[6]

While able to nominate candidates to the Order, New Zealand and Australia have effectively stopped the allocation of this award to their citizens in preference to their national awards. Up to this point in time, those countries have nominated only politicians who have served as Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister.

Insignia

The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by an imperial crown, and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on the left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR, Alexander Pope's description (in iambic pentameter) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs, later used on Craggs' monument in Westminster Abbey. Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at the left shoulder.

Current Companions

• Sovereign
  • Queen Elizabeth II

Member number[n 1]	Name	Post-nominals	Known for	Date of appointment	Age
01 (237)	Sir Michael Somare	GCL, GCMG, CH, PC, MP	Former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea	3 June 1978	80
02 (246)	Doug Anthony	AC, CH, PC	Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia	31 December 1981	86
03 (249)	The Lord Carrington	KG, GCMG, CH, MC, PC, DL	Politician	11 June 1983	97
04 (265)	Sydney Brenner	CH, FRS, FMedSci	Biologist	31 December 1986	89
05 (267)	The Lord Tebbit	CH, PC	Politician	31 July 1987	85
06 (269)	Stephen Hawking	CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA	Physicist	17 June 1989	74
07 (270)	The Lord Baker of Dorking	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	82
08 (271)	The Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	82
09 (278)	The Lord King of Bridgwater	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	83
10 (282)	Dame Janet Baker	CH, DBE	Opera singer	31 December 1993	83
11 (287)	The Lord Owen	CH, PC	Politician	11 June 1994	78
12 (289)	Sir David Attenborough	OM, CH, CVO, CBE	Broadcaster and naturalist	30 December 1995	90
13 (291)	The Lord Hurd of Westwell	CH, CBE, PC	Politician	30 December 1995	86
14 (294)	David Hockney	OM, CH	Artist	14 June 1997	79
15 (296)	The Lord Heseltine	CH, PC	Politician	2 August 1997	83
16 (297)	The Lord Patten of Barnes	CH, PC	Politician and former Governor of Hong Kong	31 December 1997	72
17 (298)	Peter Brook	CH, CBE	Theatre director	13 June 1998	91
18 (299)	Sir John Major	KG, CH, PC	Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	31 December 1998	73
19 (300)	Bridget Riley	CH, CBE	Artist	31 December 1998	85
20 (305)	John de Chastelain	CC, CMM, CD, CH	Canadian general and diplomat	31 December 1998	79
21 (311)	Sir Harrison Birtwistle	CH	Composer	30 December 2000	82
22 (312)	Sir Michael Howard	OM, CH, CBE, MC, FBA	Historian	15 June 2002	94
23 (313)	Sir Howard Hodgkin	CH, CBE	Artist	31 December 2002	84
24 (316)	James Lovelock	CH, CBE, FRS	Scientist and environmentalist	31 December 2002	97
25 (317)	Dan McKenzie	CH, FRS	Geophysicist	14 June 2003	74
26 (318)	The Lord Hannay of Chiswick	GCMG, CH	Diplomat	14 June 2003	71
27 (320)	Dame Judi Dench	CH, DBE	Actress	11 June 2005	82
28 (321)	Sir Ian McKellen	CH, CBE	Actor	31 December 2007	77
29 (322)	The Lord Rogers of Riverside	CH	Architect	14 June 2008	83
30 (323)	The Lord Howard of Lympne	CH, QC, PC	Politician	11 June 2011	75
31 (324)	The Lord Young of Cookham	Bt, CH, PC	Politician	20 September 2012	75
32 (325)	The Lord Coe	CH, KBE	Athlete, politician, organiser of 2012 Olympics	29 December 2012	60
33 (326)	Peter Higgs	CH, FRS	Physicist	29 December 2012	87
34 (327)	The Lord Strathclyde	CH, PC	Politician	7 January 2013	56
35 (328)	The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem	CH, CBE, PC, QC	Politician	15 June 2013	75
36 (329)	Sir Nicholas Serota	CH	Museum curator	15 June 2013	70
37 (331)	The Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve	CH, CBE, FBA, FRS, FMedSci	Philosopher	31 December 2013	75
38 (332)	Dame Maggie Smith	CH, DBE	Actress	14 June 2014	81
39 (333)	Kenneth Clarke	CH, QC, PC, MP	Politician	22 July 2014	76
40 (334)	The Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon	GCMG, CH, KBE, PC	Politician	1 January 2015	75
41 (336)	Dame Mary Peters	CH, DBE	Athlete	1 January 2015	77
42 (337)	The Lord Young of Graffham	CH, PC, DL	Politician	1 January 2015	84
43 (339)	The Lord Woolf	CH, PC, FBA, FMedSci	Judge	12 June 2015	83
44 (341)	Sir Roy Strong	CH, FRSL	Art historian, museum director	1 January 2016	81
45 (342)	Dame Vera Lynn	CH, DBE	Singer	11 June 2016	99
46 (343)	The Lord Smith of Kelvin	KT, CH	Businessman	11 June 2016	72
47 (344)	The Baroness Amos	CH, PC	Politician and diplomat	11 June 2016	62
48 (345)	George Osborne	CH, PC, MP	Politician	4 August 2016	45

Honorary Companions

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Known for	Date of appointment	Age
1 (261)	Amartya Sen	CH	Economist	11 May 2000	83
2 (304)	Bernard Haitink	CH, KBE	Conductor	12 June 2002	87
3 (340)	Desmond Tutu	CH	Social rights activist and clergyman	30 November 2015	85

See also

• List of Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour
• List of honorary British Knights
• List of people who have declined a British honour

Notes

References

Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada
Awards of valour	Victoria Cross Cross of Valour
National orders	Order of Canada Order of Military Merit Order of Merit of the Police Forces
Dynastic orders	Order of Merit Royal Victorian Order Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Provincial orders	Alberta Order of Excellence Order of British Columbia Order of Manitoba Order of New Brunswick Order of Newfoundland and Labrador Order of Nova Scotia Order of Nunavut Order of Ontario Order of Prince Edward Island National Order of Quebec Saskatchewan Order of Merit Yukon Territory Order of Polaris
Other decorations and medals	Royal Victorian Chain Decorations War and operational service medals Special service medals United Nations medals NATO medals International mission medals Commemorative medals Long service and good conduct medals Exemplary service medals Special Medals