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.
- HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT OM GBE AC QSO PC (1968), Royal Consort
- The Revd Owen Chadwick OM KBE (1983), Theological Historian
- Sir Andrew Huxley OM FRS (1983), Physiologist and Nobel Laureate (Medicine)
- Dr Frederick Sanger OM CH CBE FRS (1986), Biochemist and Double Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)
- The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher LG OM PC FRS (1990), British Prime Minister (1979-1990)
- Dame Joan Sutherland OM AC DBE (1991), Coloratura Soprano
- Sir Michael Atiyah OM FRS (1992), Mathematician, Fields medalist and Abel Laureate
- Lucian Freud OM CH (1993), Painter
- Sir Aaron Klug OM FRS (1995), Biophysicist and Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)
- The Rt Hon. The Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM RA (1997), Architect and Pritzker Laureate
- Sir Denis Rooke OM CBE (1997), Industrial Engineer
- Sir James Black OM FRS (2000), Pharmacologist and Nobel Laureate (Medicine)
- Sir Anthony Caro OM CBE (2000), Sculptor
- Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS (2000), Mathematical physicist
- Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE (2000), Playwright
- HRH The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB OM AK QSO PC ADC (2002), Heir to the Throne
- The Rt Hon. The Lord May of Oxford OM AC FRS (2002), Ecologist
- The Rt Hon. The Lord Rothschild OM GBE (2002), Philanthropist
- Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS (2005), Broadcaster
- The Rt Hon. The Baroness Boothroyd OM PC (2005), First female Speaker of the House of Commons
- Sir Michael Howard OM CH KBE MC (2005), Military historian
- Sir Timothy Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS FREng FRSA (2007), Inventor of World Wide Web
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Rees of Ludlow OM FRS (2007), Astronomer Royal
- The MostRev. The Lord Eames OM (2007), Anglican Primate of All Ireland
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