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Civil Order of the Bath Commander (K.C.B) 1 Classe Gold

Civil Order of the Bath Commander (K.C.B) 1 Classe Gold

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Civil Order of the Bath Commander (K.C.B) 1 Classe Gold

Number of awards:	112
manufactured:	_________

Product Code:

16_BT_5

Grade:

Commander’s (K.C.B) Civil

Constitutor:

König Heinrich IV

Foundation date:

1399

Year award:

1902

Fabricator:

R. S. Garrard C. London

Origin / Provenance:

Arthur Hamilton Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham

Material:

Silber +Gold + Emaille

Weight in (g).

81,6 / 26,2

Size in (mm).

75 x 75

38 x 57

Condition:

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (formerly the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath) is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediaeval ceremony for creating 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.

The Order consists of the Sovereign (currently Queen Elizabeth II), the Great Master (currently The Prince of Wales), and three Classes of members:

• Knight Grand Cross (GCB) or Dame Grand Cross (GCB)

• Knight Commander (KCB) or Dame Commander (DCB)

• Companion (CB)

Members belong to either the Civil or the Military Division. Prior to 1815, the order had only a single class, Knight Companion (KB), which no longer exists. Recipients of the Order are now usually senior military officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens not subjects of the Queen and foreigners may be made Honorary Members.

The Order of the Bath is the fourth-most senior of the British Orders of Chivalry, after The Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick (dormant). The last of the aforementioned Orders, which relates to Ireland, still exists but has been in disuse since the formation, in December 1922, of the Irish Free State.

History

Knights of the Bath

In the Middle Ages, knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the knight-to-be taking a bath (possibly symbolic of spiritual purification) during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry. Clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel where he spent the night in a vigil. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until it was fully daylight. He was then brought before the King, who after instructing two senior knights to buckle the spurs to the knight-elect's heels, fastened a belt around his waist, then struck him on the neck (with either a hand or a sword), thus making him a knight. It was this accolade which was the essential act in creating a knight, and a simpler ceremony developed, conferring knighthood merely by striking or touching the knight-to-be on the shoulder with a sword, or "dubbing" him, as is still done today. In the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families.

From the coronation of Henry IV in 1399 the full ceremonies were restricted to major royal occasions such as coronations, investitures of the Prince of Wales or royal Dukes, and royal weddings, and the knights so created became known as Knights of the Bath. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the simpler form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661.

From at least 1625,and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria iuncta in uno (Latin for "Three joined in one"), and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval. These were both subsequently adopted by the Order of the Bath; a similar design of badge is still worn by members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not entirely clear. The 'three joined in one' may be a reference to the kingdoms of England, Scotland and either France or Ireland, which were held (or claimed in the case of France) by English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge. Another explanation of the motto is that it refers to the Holy Trinity.[12] Nicolas quotes a source (although he is sceptical of it) who claims that prior to James I the motto was Tria numina iuncta in uno, (three powers/gods joined in one), but from the reign of James I the word numina was dropped and the motto understood to mean Tria [regna] iuncta in uno (three kingdoms joined in one).

Members

The statutes also provide for the following:

• 120 Knights or Dames Grand Cross (GCB) (of whom the Great Master is the First and Principal)

• 355 Knights Commander (KCB) or Dames Commander (DCB)

• 1,925 Companions (CB)

Arthur Hamilton Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham

Arthur Hamilton Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham, GCB, GCSI, GBE, PC (8 November 1868 – 21 July 1947) was a British soldier, diplomat, politician and patron of the arts. After military postings and an assignment to the British Embassy in Washington, he entered politics and served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and First Lord of the Admiralty following the First World War. He donated his country house, Chequers, to the nation as a retreat for the Prime Minister and founded the Courtauld Institute of Art

Arthur Hamilton Lee was born at The Rectory, Bridport, Dorset, in 1868. His father was rector of St. Mary's Church. He was a grandson of Sir John Theophilus Lee, G.C.H., R.N., who as a midshipman was present at the Battle of the Nile. After attending Cheltenham College, Lee entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, before being commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 17 February 1888. He was promoted lieutenant on 18 February 1891.

He was posted to the Far East China as Adjutant of the Hong Kong Volunteer 1881-1891. He returned to England in 1891, and was stationed on the Isle of Wight for the next two years. On 18 August 1893, at the age of twenty three, Lee became a professor of Strategy and Tactics, at the Royal Military College of Canada, with the local rank of captain. Since only 11 to 30 cadets entered the College in those days, Lee would have come up against only 140 cadets in his five years at the College (1893-1868)cadet numbers 320 to 4575. No. 433, Major General T. V. Anderson, D.S.O., recalls that Lee was known around the Royal Military College as 'The Nipper, which the cadets christened him because he used to sing Grossmith's songs with gusto. He enjoyed riding and walking across the ice to Wolfe Island, and to town. He was a regular attendant at St. George's Cathedral (Kingston, Ontario) to hear Dean Buxton Smith. When Colonel Gerald Kitson, K.R.R.C., became Commandant in 1897, Captain Lee came to live with the Kitsons in the Commandant's residence. in 1894, Lee initiated a Military Survey of the Canadian Frontier and supervised its progress until its completion in 1896. During the summer of 1897 he was a Special Correspondent for the London Daily Chronicle, covering the earlier stages of the Klondike Gold Rush based on his travels to Alaska and the Yukon. In 1900 when Lee resigned as British Military Attaché in Washington, Colonel Kitson resigned as Commandant of RMC to take over the Washington post vacated by Lee.

He did not receive substantive promotion until the completion of his RMC appointment in 18 April 1898. He became the British military attaché with the United States Army in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He received the U.S. campaign medal, he was made an honorary member of the lst U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the famous Roosevelt's "Rough Rider" and met Theodore Roosevelt. On 28 January 1899 Lee, who was still not thirty years old, was appointed military attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel (for the duration of his appointment). Although he would have preferred to have been on active service in South Africa, since the Boer War which had just started, Lee enjoyed the challenging diplomatic assignment.

On 23 December 1899, Lee married Ruth Moore (died 1966), daughter of New York banker John Godfrey Moore. He had first met Ruth Moore at parties in Kingston and Gananoque and had taken her to balls at the Royal Military College, Kingston. Ruth was left a substantial inheritance after her father's death shortly before the wedding. He was promoted brevet major on 8 August 1900, and returned to regimental duty on 22 August 1900, and retired from the army on 12 December 1900.