Declining a British honour

The following is a partial list of people who have declined a British honour, such as a knighthood or other grade of honour.

Methodology

In most cases, the offer of an honour was rejected privately. Nowadays, potential recipients are contacted before any public announcement to confirm in writing that they wish to be put forward for an honour, thereby avoiding friction or controversy. However, some have let it be known that the offer was declined, and there have also been occasional leaks from official sources. A handful of people have accepted and later renounced an honour; these are listed at the end of the article.

In 2003, ''Sunday Times'' published a list of almost 300 people who had declined an honour between 1951 and 1999. In 2020, ''the Guardian'' reported based on a Freedom of Information request, that the number of people refusing an honour in 2020 was 68 out of 2,504 offered, or 2.7%. The number of people rejecting a British honour has doubled in the last decade.

Reasons for rejection

Honours are rejected for a variety of reasons. Some potential recipients have rejected one honour then accepted another (such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock), or have initially refused an honour then accepted it, or have accepted one honour then declined another (such as actor Robert Morley) or refused in the hope of another higher distinction (Roald Dahl refused being decorated as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), allegedly because he wanted a knighthood so that his wife would be entitled to be known as "Lady Dahl").

Sometimes a potential recipient refuses a knighthood or peerage but accepts an honour that does not bestow a title (or precedence), such as the Order of Merit (OM) or the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH). Examples are E. M. Forster, Paul Scofield, Doris Lessing, Harold Pinter (although Pinter's widow, Lady Antonia Fraser, was later appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire or DBE), David Hockney, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Augustus John, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Francis Crick and Paul Dirac.

Some may refuse an honour based on political reasons, relating to the British state or the Royal Family. Nationalists of the constituent countries may prefer awards from their respective nations, such as Welsh nationalists refusing British awards for Welsh awards such as from the Gorsedd or St David Awards. In 2022, when Gareth Bale accepted a MBE, some Welsh football supporters opposed and criticised his decision, describing him as "no longer a Welsh legend" because of his MBE. A columnist at '' The National'', a Welsh-based newspaper, stated "There is a duty to refuse honours from the current British state as a way of rejecting the colonial connotations of the gongs themselves".

Honours declined

Kingdom

*In 1657, Oliver Cromwell, already Head of State and Head of Government as Lord Protector, was offered the crown by Parliament as part of a revised constitutional settlement; he had been "instrumental" in abolishing the monarchy after the English Civil War. Cromwell agonised for six weeks over the offer. In a speech on 13 April 1657, he gave his opinion that the office of monarch, once abolished, should stay so: "I would not seek to set up that which Providence hath destroyed and laid in the dust, and I would not build Jericho again."

Dukedom

*Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister, was offered the Dukedom of London, but declined in order to remain in the House of Commons, and to allow his son Randolph a political career. Randolph died only three years after his father, so the dukedom would have had little time to affect his career as he had already been out of the Commons for ten years.
*Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister (1880); had previously accepted the Earldom of Beaconsfield.
*Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, politician (1857).
*Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister (1886, and 1892 and possibly in 1901) – citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle that dukes were expected to maintain. According to ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1900, "It is true that the Marquis of Salisbury might have been a Duke if he had not regarded his marquisate as a prouder title than a new dukedom could furnish."
*Prince Louis of Battenberg (1917) during the First World War, when he was forced to renounce his German title. Offered a dukedom by George V, but declined as he could not afford the lavish lifestyle expected of a duke; accepted the Marquessate of Milford Haven instead.
*Maria Fitzherbert, mistress and wife (in a marriage never considered valid in England) of George IV; his brother William IV, hearing her story after George's death, asked her to accept a dukedom but she refused, asking only permission to wear widow's weeds, and to dress her servants in royal livery.

Marquessate

* Sir Alexander Cambridge, formerly Prince Alexander of Teck (1917); accepted the Earldom of Athlone instead.
*Henry Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood (1922); he reportedly held the belief that marquessates tended to die out more quickly than earldoms.
*John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (1890s).

Earldom

*Henry Addington (on his retirement as Prime Minister declined the Earldom of Banbury in 1804 as he wished to remain in the Commons; later accepted the Viscountcy of Sidmouth).
*Leo Amery, politician (declined in 1945).
*Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (declined the Earldom of Belmont in 1905 when it was offered to him in a plot to elevate him to the House of Lords and make him an ineffective Prime Minister in the Relugas Compact).
*Arthur Balfour, former Prime Minister (in 1919, accepted the Earldom of Balfour in 1922).
*R. A. Butler, politician (in 1964; accepted life peerage as Baron Butler of Saffron Walden in 1965).
*Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, declined the Earldom of Wiltshire on his death bed in 1596.
*Neville Chamberlain (on his retirement as Prime Minister in 1940, also declined appointment as KG).
*Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, , politician (in 1809).
*Anthony Eden (on his retirement as Prime Minister in 1957; later accepted the Earldom of Avon in 1961).
*William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister (in 1885).
* William Legge, had also declined a knighthood; his son was created Baron Dartmouth instead.
*Harold Macmillan (on his retirement as Prime Minister in 1963; later accepted the Earldom of Stockton in 1984).
*Angus Ogilvy (in 1963, upon his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Kent; later accepted a knighthood in 1988).
*Mark Phillips (in 1973, upon his marriage to Princess Anne; accepted a CVO in 1974).
* R. H. Tawney (twice declined an earldom, in 1920s and 1940s. Replied to Ramsay MacDonald's offer by asking what harm he had ever done the Labour Party, and to the offer from Clement Attlee he averred that he was surprised that Labour was still interested in such baubles).

Viscountcy

* Charles Booth, disenchanted with politics, declined Gladstone's overtures; created a Privy Councillor by Balfour in 1904.
*John Grigg, 2nd Baron Altrincham, writer, historian and politician.
*Arthur Henderson, declined offer of peerage by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931.
*John Henry Whitley, retiring Speaker of the House of Commons (in 1928).

Barony

*George Macaulay Booth, Director of the Bank of England; declined Lloyd George's offer.
* Leonard Elmhirst, philanthropist; declined Clement Attlee's offer in 1946, replying: "My own work, however, as you know, has lain in the main among country people ... in India, the USA and in Devonshire ... acceptance would neither be easy for me to explain nor easy for my friends to comprehend."
* Sir Thomas Holderness, retiring Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, refused in 1920 on financial grounds, although he accepted a baronetcy.
*Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia; declined Lloyd George's offer in 1916.
* Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Offered in 1945 for his services as Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia Command; declined as both Field Marshals Harold Alexander and Bernard Montgomery had accepted viscountcies. He received a viscountcy in the 1946 Birthday Honours, followed by an earldom for his service as the last Viceroy of India in August 1947.
*Sir Alan Lascelles, Private Secretary to the Sovereign; declined in 1953 as he felt titles to be a show of self-importance.
*T. P. O'Connor, journalist and Irish Nationalist MP 1880–1929, declined the offer from Lloyd George.
*Frank Pick, Chief Executive of London Transport in the 1930s.
* Joseph Strutt, soldier and MP, declined all honours, but suggested the offer (of the barony of Rayleigh) be transferred to his wife instead, which was done.

Life peerage (barony)

Life peerages are offered to all former Prime Ministers when they step down as MPs. The last to accept a peerage was Margaret Thatcher in 1992. Her husband Denis was created a baronet. Four of her successors declined a peerage , whilst three (Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss) continue to serve as MPs.
*Sir Edward Heath, former Prime Minister. Preferring to retain seat as an MP, he personally disapproved of political honours while realising their usefulness as a source of political patronage.
* Sir John Major, outgoing Prime Minister (in 2001 as he thought a seat in the Lords was incompatible with retiring from politics; he later accepted appointment as KG).
*Sir Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, stating the House of Lords was "not my sort of thing". In 1999, Blair's government had significantly reduced the size of the House of Lords. He did however accept a knighthood as a Knight of the Garter at the end of 2021.
*Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister, who was an advocate for an elected upper house.
*David Cameron, former Prime Minister, in line with his three predecessors.
*Isaiah Berlin, , philosopher (in 1980).
*Rodney Bickerstaffe, trade union leader and socialist; General Secretary of UNISON. Declined Blair's offer in 2000, reportedly saying that to accept would betray his socialist beliefs.
*Albert Booth, Labour MP and Cabinet Minister 1974-79
*John Cleese, film and television actor, comedian (in 1999; stated that he "did not wish to spend winters in England" and being a peer would be "ridiculous", had previously declined appointment as CBE in 1996).
*Constance Cummings, actress in 1975
*Jean Floud, sociologist, Nuffield College Oxford. Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, declined a peerage (in 1978).
*Michael Foot, former Labour Party Leader.
* John Freeman, Labour MP, journalist, broadcaster, diplomat, and businessman.
* Jim (James) Griffiths Labour MP, first Welsh secretary.
*Geoffrey Goodman, journalist.
*Ray Gunter Labour politician, President of TSSA union; MP for Southwark; Cabinet minister 1964-70, declined offer in 1972,
*Margaret Herbison, Labour politician (in 1976)
* Thomas Jackson, trade union leader, 1979.
* Jack Jones, trade union leader, on several occasions, as he advocated the abolition of the House of Lords.
* Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster (in 2009; reportedly on advice from the Holy See due to concerns that it would compromise the Church's impartiality and a prohibition in canon law on priests holding political office).
*Stan Newens, Labour MP for Harlow; declined a proposed peerage from Michael Foot in 1983.
*Enoch Powell, Conservative and Ulster Unionist MP.
*J. B. Priestley, novelist and playwright (in 1965).
* Joseph Robinson, a South African mining magnate, declined a peerage in 1922 after controversy arose regarding his nomination, which was given in exchange for political contributions.
*Norman Willis, General-Secretary, TUC.
*Tony Woodley, former General Secretary of Unite, initially turned down two offers of a peerage in 2018 and August 2020, before accepting in November 2020.

As a part of the House of Lords reform in 1999, members of the Royal Family who were peers of the first creation were offered life peerages as a pure formality, which would have given them the right to sit in the House of Lords, but nobody seriously expected them to accept, and all declined with the exception of the Earl of Snowdon. These included:
*Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
*Charles, Prince of Wales
*Prince Andrew, Duke of York
*Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

Baronetcy

*Charles Babbage, scientist, declined both a knighthood and baronetcy.
*Hall Caine, novelist and playwright (1917); accepted knighthood in 1918.
*John Grubb Richardson, declined, citing his religious beliefs.
*Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1865 and 1868); accepted peerage in 1884 on William Ewart Gladstone's urging.
*John Lewis More O'Ferrall, lawyer from a family of Irish aristocracy, declined a baronetcy after serving as the first Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
*George Peabody, poet (1795 and 1864); Queen Victoria sent an adoring letter of thanks, enclosing a miniature portrait of herself and offering him a baronetcy or knighthood; Peabody declined both titles.

In addition to these, many offers of baronetcies have technically been declined, since this is a hereditary honour and was one way, until recent times, for the Crown to raise money from landed gentry. When a baronetcy becomes vacant on the death of a holder, the heir may choose not to register the proofs of succession, effectively declining the honour. The baronetcy can be revived at any time on provision of acceptable proofs of succession, by, say, the son of a son who has declined to register the proofs of succession. As of December 2017 some 208 baronetcies are listed as awaiting proofs of succession.

Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter

* Charles Vincent Massey, had to refuse the Garter due to the Government of Canada's policy on peerages and knighthoods. He accepted the Royal Victorian Chain in 1960.
*Neville Chamberlain was offered the Order shortly before his death in 1940, but felt too ill to accept.
*Harold Macmillan declined the Order in March 1964, as he felt it should only be conferred for service during a national crisis, privately remarking that acceptance would have given him "the substance without the shadow."

Knight Companion of the Order of the Thistle

*Ramsay MacDonald declined the Order in 1935 as he felt accepting would go against his principles as a member of the Labour Party.

Knighthood (Knight Bachelor)

*T. S. Ashton, economic historian, Professor of Economic History, University of London (in 1957).
*Frank Auerbach, artist, declined knighthood in 2003.
*Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International; was offered several times, but refused on each occasion, citing human rights abuses in which the British government was complicit.
*Alan Bennett, playwright (in 1996; had previously declined appointment as CBE in 1988).
*Arnold Bennett, novelist, declined knighthood offered for service in running the British government's French propaganda department during World War I.
*Henry Benyon, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, declined knighthood in 1956. Accepted a baronetcy in 1958.
*Ernest Bevin, trade unionist and Foreign Secretary, Labour government 1945 (in 1935)
*David Bowie, musician (in 2003; also declined CBE in 2000).
*Danny Boyle, theatre and film director (in 2013).
*Lester Brain, aviator and airline executive (in late 1960s; later accepted appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1979).
* Alick Buchanan-Smith, Conservative MP in 1974
*Frank Chapple, trade unionist in 1980, accepted a life peerage in 1985.
*Joseph Conrad, novelist
*Francis Crick, physicist, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA; was also offered a CBE in 1963, but did not accept it. Later accepted appointment to the Order of Merit.
*Hugh Cudlipp, newspaper editor (1966). He accepted a life peerage in 1974.
*Henry Rees Davies (in 1935).
*Arthur Deakin, trade unionist (in 1947)
*Bill Deedes, journalist and Conservative politician, declined Kt in 1973 He accepted a life peerage in 1986 and was appointed Knight Commander in 1999.
*Paul Dirac, scientist, declined a knighthood in 1953, reportedly in part due to his dislike of being addressed by his first name, but probably had egalitarian objections to titles; finally accepted an Order of Merit in 1973 as it was not a title.
*Bernie Ecclestone, businessman and Formula One boss. He stated in a 2019 interview that while he was glad if he had done some good, this was not his main intention when setting out in business, so he did not feel he deserved an honour.
*Huw T. Edwards, Welsh trade unionist and Welsh Labour politician. Uncomfortable with honours, Edwards refused a knighthood on at least two occasions in subsequent years. He had previously accepted an MBE, later renouncing it.
*Michael Faraday, scientist, who, for much of his life, eschewed worldly honors, turning down a knighthood and twice refusing to become president of the Royal Society.
*Harry Ferguson, businessman, engineer and inventor; twice offered and declined knighthood in the last ten years of his life; in response to a letter from Winston Churchill offering to submit his name, Ferguson declined on the ground that knighthoods should be reserved for servicemen and statesmen, whose financial rewards were relatively small, and should not be given to businessmen or industrialists with financial wealth.
*Albert Finney, actor (in 2000; had previously declined CBE in 1980).
*E. M. Forster, author and essayist; declined knighthood in 1949, but accepted a Companion of Honour in the 1953 New Year Honours list and an Order of Merit in 1969.
*Michael Frayn, novelist and dramatist; declined a knighthood in the 2003 New Year Honours and a CBE four years previously; Frayn stated: "I haven't done this for reasons of modesty. I like the name 'Michael Frayn'; it's a nice little name to run around with. I've spent 70 years getting used to it and I don't want to change it now."
* John Freeman, politician, journalist, diplomat, business executive. Also declined a peerage.
*John Galsworthy, playwright, declined knighthood in 1918 New Year Honours, but accepted appointment to the Order of Merit in 1929 as it was not a title.
*Graham Greene, novelist
*Lawrence Gowing, artists and academic in 1979
*Calouste Gulbenkian, businessman and philanthropist (in 1951)
*John Winthrop Hackett, Australian newspaper owner (in 1902); turned down a knighthood after it was gazetted in 1902, but accepted it in 1911.
* J.P. Haldane, scientist and academic in 1926
* Herbert Hart, Professor of Jurisprudence Oxford, in 1966 as he believed state honours should only be given for exceptional public service.
* Stanford G. Haughton, sound recordist/musician (in 1952).
* Stephen Hawking , physicist, reportedly turned down a knighthood because he "does not like titles."
*Bill Hayden, Governor-General of Australia.
*Patrick Heron, artist, declined a knighthood allegedly over the education policy of the government in the 1980s.
*Peter Higgs, , physicist, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh; co-discoverer of the Higgs boson in 1999, because he felt honours are used for political purposes by the government. He later accepted appointment to the Order of the Companions of Honour, because he was (wrongly) assured that it was the personal gift of the Queen, in 2013.
* Keith Hill, Labour MP; declined knighthood in 2010 Dissolution Honours, stating: "My fundamental reason is that I have never had the least desire to have a title. I don't want to be discourteous, but I find the whole idea a little embarrassing and too much for me."
*David Hockney, , artist (in 1990; accepted appointment as CH in 1997, and OM in 2012 because they are not titles).
*Edward Lewis Hopkins (aka Ted Hopkins), refused in 1919.
* Anthony Hurd, Conservative politician, in 1956, accepted in 1959
*Marmaduke Hussey, declined knighthood in 1990 but accepted a life peerage in 1996 as Baron Hussey of North Bradley.
*Aldous Huxley, author (in 1959).
*Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan; offered a knighthood in 1925, he replied: "I prefer to be plain Mr Jinnah".
*Augustus John, initially refused an Order of Merit in 1942 and later refused a knighthood.
*Rudyard Kipling, writer, and poet; declined knighthood in 1899 and again in 1903; his wife stated that Kipling felt he could "do his work better without it". Kipling also declined the Order of Merit in 1921 and again in 1924. Kipling expressed his own view on the importance of titles and poetry in his poem "The Last Rhyme of True Thomas".
*T. E. Lawrence, Arabist, archaeologist, soldier; George V offered Lawrence a knighthood on 30 October 1918 at a private audience in Buckingham Palace for his services in the Arab Revolt, but he declined. He was unwilling to accept the honour due to his anger over the Sykes-Picot agreement.
*Essington Lewis, Australian mining magnate.
*Edgar Lobel, Romanian-British classicist and papyrologist; (in 1955).
*L. S. Lowry, artist (in 1968; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1955 and CBE in 1961; later twice declined appointment as CH (1972, 1976); holds the record for the most honours declined).
* Humphrey Lyttleton, jazz musician and broadcaster (in 1995).
*Arthur Mann, editor of the ''Yorkshire Post'', declined two knighthoods in the 1920s on the basis that accepting would interfere with his journalism; upon retirement he became a Companion of Honour.
*Kingsley Martin, journalist and successful editor of the 'New Statesman' reaching its highest circulation in the 1930s and 1940s. He declined the 'honour' in 1965 because he strongly disapproved of the honours system, certainly for journalists.
*John Loudon McAdam, Scottish road builder.
*Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum (in 1999); in 2010 he accepted appointment to the Order of Merit, the personal gift of the British monarch.
* John Mackie, Labour politician in 1980
*Michael Meacher, Labour politician
*James Meade, economist, civil servant, and academic. Economic Adviser to the Treasury 1945–51; Professor of Economics at LSE; Nobel Prize in Economics 1977.
*Henry Moore, sculptor in 1951
*Robert Morley, actor and dramatist. Declined 1975.
*Stanley Morison, typographer (in 1953).
*Robert Neild, economic adviser Labour government 1964–67. Professor of Economics Cambridge University
*Peter O'Toole, film and stage actor.
*William Pember Reeves, New Zealand politician, declined knighthood three times, including GCMG.
* Max Perutz scientist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1962 (in 1970)
*Frank Pick, chief executive of London Transport (also declined a peerage).
*Harold Pinter, playwright
* John Piper, artist, declined a Kt in 1964.
*Anthony Powell, novelist, earlier accepted CBE and later the OM.
*William Poel, actor and Shakespearean director. Declined a knighthood twice.
*J. B. Priestley, playwright and novelist.
*J. Arthur Rank, businessman and film producer (Rank Organisation) in 1949
* Frank Russell, judge (1919); on the grounds that as the son of a peer he outranked a knight bachelor. Accepted a law life peerage as Baron Russell of Killowen in 1929.
*Simon Sainsbury