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UK MEDALS

Introduction

The Order of Merit was instituted in 1902 by King Edward VII. The membership of the order is limited to the sovereign plus 24members. There is no limit on the number offoreign honorary members, although only ten such members have been admitted. The Order of Merit is the sole gift of the sovereign.

The Insignia of the Order of Merit

The badge is an eight-pointed cross of red and blue enamel surmounted by the imperial crown; in the centre, upon blue enamel and surrounded by a laurel wreath, are the words in gold lettering 'For Merit'. The insignia for the military division (when used) is differentiated by crossed swords in the centre of the badge.

Past Members of the Order of Merit

Past British holders of the Order have included

• Florence Nightingale and Lord Lister (medicine)
• Alma Tadema, Holman Hunt, Augustus John and Graham Sutherland (artists)
• Henry Moore (sculptor)
• Sir Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten (composers)
• Thomas Hardy, James Barrie, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, Graham Greene and Ted Hughes (Writers)
• Bertrand Russell (philosopher and mathematician)
• Sir Winston Churchill and Earl Attlee (former Prime Ministers)
• General Baden-Powell (founder of the Scout Movement)
• Field Marshals Roberts, Haig, Kitchener and Earl Alexander of Tunis
• Admirals Jellicoe, Beatty and Earl Mountbatten of Burma
• Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (aircraft designer)
• Cardinal Basil Hume (Roman Catholic Church)

Present Members of the Order of Merit

The present members of the Order of Merit are Queen Elizabeth II (as Sovereign), Nelson Mandela (honorary member) and the 24 listed below.

1. The Duke of Edinburgh, royal consort, appointed 10 June 1968.
2. The Reverend Owen Chadwick, theological historian, appointed 11 November 1983.
3. Sir Andrew Huxley, physiologist, Nobel laureate, and former President of the Royal Society, appointed 11 November 1983.
4. Frederick Sanger, biochemist and double Nobel laureate, appointed 11 February 1986.
5. The Baroness Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, appointed 7 December 1990.
6. Sir Michael Atiyah, mathematician, Fields Medalist, Abel laureate, and former President of the Royal Society, appointed 17 November 1992.
7. Sir Aaron Klug, biophysicist, Nobel laureate, and former President of the Royal Society, appointed 23 October 1995.
8. The Lord Foster of Thames Bank, architect and Pritzker laureate, appointed 25 November 1997.
9. Sir Anthony Caro, sculptor, appointed 9 May 2000.
10. Sir Roger Penrose, mathematical physicist, appointed 9 May 2000.
11. Sir Tom Stoppard, playwright, appointed 9 May 2000.
12. The Prince of Wales, heir to the throne and conservationist, appointed 27 June 2002.
13. The Lord May of Oxford, ecologist and former President of the Royal Society, appointed 28 October 2002.
14. The Lord Rothschild, philanthropist, appointed 28 October 2002.
15. Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster, appointed 10 June 2005.
16. The Lady Boothroyd, first female Speaker of the United Kingdom House of Commons, appointed 10 June 2005.
17. Sir Michael Howard, military historian, appointed 10 June 2005.
18. The Lord Eames, Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, appointed 13 June 2007.
19. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, appointed 13 June 2007.
20. The Lord Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society, appointed 13 June 2007.
21. Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada, appointed 13 July 2009.
22. Neil MacGregor, art historian and Director of the British Museum, appointed 4 November 2010.
23. David Hockney, artist, appointed 1 January 2012.
24. John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, appointed 1 January 2012.