Medal of the Royal Guelphic Order, detail

The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

(later King George IV). It takes its name from the

House of Guelph The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meus ...

, of which the Hanoverians were a branch. Since Hanover and the United Kingdom shared a monarch until 1837, the order was frequently bestowed upon British subjects.

History

Until 1837 the order was frequently awarded to officers in the British Navy and Army, although it was still classed as a foreign order, with British members of the order not entitled to style themselves as "Sir" unless they were also created

Knights Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are t ...

, as many were. The British link ended in 1837 when Hanover's royal union with Great Britain ended, with Ernest Augustus becoming King of Hanover and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

ascending the British throne. When Hanover was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866, the order continued as a

house order A dynastic order, monarchical order, or house order is an order under royal patronage. Such an order is bestowed by, as a legitimate , a sovereign or the head of a once-sovereign ruling family. These are often considered part of the cultural pat ...

to be awarded by the Royal House of Hanover. Today, its current Sovereign is the Hanoverian head of the house, Ernst August, Prince of Hanover.

Classes

The insignia was based on the white horse on Hanover's arms. The Order includes two divisions, Civil and Military, the latter indicated by crossed swords on both the badge and star. It originally had three classes, but with several reorganisations since 1841, as house order today it has four classes and an additional Cross of Merit. In descending order of seniority the classes are:

1815–1841

* Knight Grand Cross (GCH). Received a

collar Collar may refer to: Human neckwear *Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations *Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck ...

chain and badge, a star worn on the left breast, and a badge worn from sash over the right shoulder. * Knight Commander (KCH). A neck badge worn from a ribbon, with a breast star, smaller than that for the GCH. * Knight (KH). Wore the badge on the left breast. Versions in both gold and silver were awarded. Holders of the respective degrees of the order in Britain were entitled to be post-nominally addressed with the initials, which stand for Knight Grand Cross of Hanover, Knight Commander of Hanover and Knight of Hanover. The initial GCG was also used, and was cited in the original statutes of the order. Gold and silver medals were attached to the order, for award to those not eligible for the order itself, including non commissioned officers and royal servants.

After 1841

*Grand Cross *Commander 1st Class *Commander 2nd Class *Knight *Cross of Merit

The Order

Officers

The Order has six officers: the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Genealogist, and the Secretary.

Officers until 1837

The first six officers were: * Chancellor:

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Ernst Friedrich Herbert von Münster * Vice-Chancellor: Georg Nieper * Secretary:

Ludwig Moeller Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and ...

* King of Arms: Sir George Nayler * Genealogist: August Neubourg * Registrar: Sir William Woods

Officers since 1987

*Chancellor: Ernst August, Prince of Hanover

Members

List of Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order Below is an ''incomplete'' list of Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order from the creation of the order in 1815 until 1837. A Hanoverian order, appointments have not been conferred by the British monarch (in their role as King of Ha ...

List of Knights Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order Below is an ''incomplete'' list of Knights Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order, from the creation of the order in 1815 until 1837. A Hanoverian order, appointments have not been conferred by the British monarch (in their role as King of Hanov ...

* Charles Ashe à Court-Repington * Charles Babbage * Lovell Benjamin Badcock * William Stanhope Badcock *

Henry Bayly (British Army officer, born 1790) Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Bayly (24 April 1790 – 31 January 1867) was a British Army officer. Bayly was born in Bath, Somerset, the son of Zachary and Sarah Bayly of Bideford, Devon, where he began his career as a clerk in 1806.''UK, Arti ...

* Charles Bell * George Frederick Beltz *

William Brereton (British Army officer) Lieutenant-General Sir William Brereton (29 December 1789 – 27 July 1864) was a British Army officer of the nineteenth century who served as colonel-commandant of the 4th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery in the 1860s. Family Brereton was desc ...

* David Brewster *

Samuel Brown (Royal Navy officer) Captain Sir Samuel Brown of Netherbyres KH FRSE (1776 – 13 March 1852) was an early pioneer of chain design and manufacture and of suspension bridge design and construction. He is best known for the Union Bridge of 1820, the first vehicular ...

* George Brown (British Army officer) * Thomas Bunbury (British Army general) * Ryder Burton *

Nicholas Carlisle Sir Nicholas Carlisle, KH, FRS, MRIA, (1771 in York, England – 27 August 1847 in Margate, England) was an English antiquary and librarian. In 1806, he became a candidate for the office of Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, which he o ...

* James Charles Chatterton *

Robert Alexander Chermside Sir Robert Alexander Chermside, KH, FRCP (1792 – 8 September 1860) was a British physician. Chermside was born in Dublin, the son of surgeon Robert Alexander Chermside and Annie Price Pooley.''Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911'' ...

* Thomas Henry Shadwell Clerke *

Abraham Josias Cloëté General Sir Abraham Josias Cloëté KCB (7 August 1794 – 26 October 1886) was an Afrikaner senior officer in the British Army. He was born in Cape Town, the son of Pieter Lourens Cloëté, member of the council of the Cape of Good Hope, and C ...

William Colebrooke Sir William MacBean George Colebrooke, (9 November 1787 – 6 February 1870) was an English career soldier and colonial administrator who became lieutenant governor of New Brunswick in 1841. Life The son of Colonel Paulet Welbore Colebrooke, R ...

John Cowell-Stepney Sir John Stepney Cowell-Stepney, 1st Baronet, Royal Guelphic Order, KH (1791–1877) was a British soldier, landowner and politician. He was the elder of the two sons of General Andrew Cowell (d. 1821), originally of Coleshill, Buckinghamshir ...

* Henry John Cumming * Augustus De Butts *

Edward Cromwell Disbrowe Sir Edward Cromwell Disbrowe GCG (1790–1851) was a British politician and diplomat. Life Sir Edward Disbrowe was born at Walton Hall, Walton-on-Trent, South Derbyshire, the son of Colonel Edward Disbrowe, and his wife Lady Charlotte Ho ...

Wilhelm von Dörnberg Wilhelm Caspar Ferdinand Freiherr von Dörnberg (14 April 1768, Schloss Hausen near Bad Hersfeld - 19 March 1850, Münster) was a German general. He was also known as 'Aufstandsdörnberg' or 'Uprising Dörnberg', for his part in the German cam ...

* William Granville Eliot * William Henry Elliott *

Henry Ellis (librarian) Sir Henry Ellis (29 November 177715 January 1869) was an English librarian and antiquarian, for a long period principal librarian at the British Museum. Early years Born in London, Henry Ellis was educated at the Mercers' School, and at Merch ...

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* Mathias Everard * Arthur Farquhar (Royal Navy officer, born 1772) * Alexander Findlay (British Army officer) *

Charles Augustus FitzRoy Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, (10 June 179616 February 1858) was a British military officer, politician and member of the aristocracy, who held governorships in several British colonies during the 19th century. Family and peerage Charles was b ...

* Charles Fergusson Forbes *

William Forster (British Army officer) General William Frederick Forster KH (17 December 1798 – 8 June 1879) was a senior British Army officer who served as Military Secretary from 1860 to 1871. Military career Brought up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Forster was commissioned into the ...

James Freeth General Sir James Freeth (5 March 1786 – 19 January 1867) was Quartermaster-General to the Forces. Military career Freeth was commissioned into the 98th Regiment of Foot in 1806. He served in the Peninsular War and in France from 1809 to ...

Robert Garrett (British Army officer) Lieutenant General Sir Robert Garrett KCB KH (1794 – 13 June 1869) was Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong. Military career Garrett was born in Ramsgate, Kent, the son of John Garrett of Ellington House, Isle of Thanet, a ...

George Gawler Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler, KH, (21 July 1795 – 7 May 1869) was the second Governor of South Australia, at the same time serving as Resident Commissioner, from 17 October 1838 until 15 May 1841. Biography Early life Gawler, born on 2 ...

* Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler *

Charles Stephen Gore General Sir Charles Stephen Gore (26 December 1793 – 4 September 1869), also styled as the Honorable Charles Gore, was a British general. Early life Gore was a son of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran and, his third wife, the former Elizabet ...

* Gideon Gorrequer * Gottlieb Graf von Haeseler * Andrew Halliday (physician) *

Henry Hanmer Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Hanmer, (23 January 1789 – 2 February 1868) was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1837. Hanmer was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet of Hanmer, Bettisfield Park i ...

Jakob von Hartmann Jakob Freiherr von Hartmann (4 February 1795 – 23 February 1873) was a Bavarian general who served in the Austro-Prussian War and Franco-Prussian War. Early life and French service Hartmann was born the son of Georg Hartmann and Barbara Geith ...

* Graves Haughton *

William Havelock William Havelock, KH (1793–1848) was a cavalry officer in the British Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Life He was the eldest son of William Havelock of Ingress Park, Kent, and brother of Sir Henry Havelock and of Colonel Charl ...

* Andrew Leith Hay *

William Henderson (Royal Navy officer) Rear Admiral William Willmott Henderson, CB, KH (1788–1854) was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief, South East Coast of America Station. Naval career Henderson joined the Royal Navy in May 1799. Promoted to captain on 9 Oct ...

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...

* John Herschel *

Felton Hervey-Bathurst Colonel Sir Felton Elwell Hervey-Bathurst, 1st Baronet, (178224 September 1819), was an officer in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Early life Born Felton Elwell Hervey in 1782, he was a son of Lieutenant Felton Lionel Hervey and hi ...

* John Hindmarsh * William Jackson Hooker * William Hotham (Royal Navy officer, born 1794) *

John Hobart Caradoc, 2nd Baron Howden John Hobart Caradoc, 2nd Baron Howden GCB KH (1799–1873), was Minister Plenipotentiary in the British Embassy at Madrid, Spain, 1850–1858. Family John Hobart Caradoc was the son of General John Cradock, 1st Baron Howden, GCB (11 August 1759 ...

Frederick Irwin Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Chidley Irwin, KH (22 March 1794 – 31 March 1860) was acting Governor of Western Australia from 1847 to 1848. Born in 1794 in Drogheda, Ireland, Frederick Chidley Irwin was the son of Reverend James Irwin. Some ...

James Ivory (mathematician) James Ivory, FRS FRSE KH LLD (17 February 1765 – 21 September 1842) was a British mathematician. He was creator of Ivory's Theorem on confocal conic sections. Life Ivory was born in Dundee, son of James Ivory the renowned watchmaker. The ...

James Jackson (British Army officer) General Sir James Vaughan Jackson, GCB, KH (1790 – 31 December 1871) was an Irish officer in the British Army. Military career He was born the third son of Colonel George Jackson, of Carramore House, Ballina, Co. Mayo, an M.P. for Co. Mayo i ...

William Jervois (British Army officer) General William Jervois KH (1782 – 5 November 1862) was Commander and Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong. Jervois Street in Hong Kong was named after him. Military career Jervois served in the Peninsular War and, having been promoted to L ...

Love Jones-Parry (British Army officer) Lieutenant-General Sir Love Parry Jones-Parry Royal Guelphic Order, KH (28 November 1781 – 23 January 1853) was a British Army officer, politician and later a High Sheriff of Anglesey, High Sheriff. He was the son of Thomas Jones, and after h ...

* Heinrich Kirchweger *

Charles Konig Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig or Karl Dietrich Eberhard König, KH (1774 – 6 September 1851) was a German naturalist. He was born in Brunswick and educated at Göttingen. He came to England at the end of 1800 to organize the collection ...

* Joseph de Courcy Laffan *

Henry John Leeke Admiral Sir Henry John Leeke, KCB, KH, DL (1 September 1792 – 26 February 1870) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Naval Lord, Member of Parliament for Dover and Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire. Career Leeke was born on the I ...

John Leslie (physicist) Sir John Leslie, FRSE KH (10 April 1766 – 3 November 1832) was a Scottish mathematician and physicist best remembered for his research into heat. Leslie gave the first modern account of capillary action in 1802 and froze water using an air ...

* Henry Frederick Lockyer *

Edmund Lodge Edmund Lodge, KH (1756–1839), herald, was a long-serving English officer of arms, a writer on heraldic subjects, and a compiler of short biographies. Life and career Lodge was born in Poland Street, London on 13 June 1756, the son of Edmund Lo ...

Frederick Love General Sir James Frederick Love (1789 – 13 January 1866) was a British Army officer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. Military career Love was commissioned into the 52nd Regiment of Foot in 1804 and took part in the retrea ...

* Alexander Maconochie (penal reformer) *

Frederic Madden Sir Frederic Madden KH (16 February 1801 – 8 March 1873) was an English palaeographer. Biography Born in Portsmouth, he was the son of William John Madden (1757–1833), a Captain in the Royal Marines of Irish origin, and his wife Sarah Carte ...

Charles Menzies (Royal Marines officer) General Sir Charles Menzies, (12 May 1783 – 22 August 1866) was a senior Royal Marines officer. Although he became a respected soldier, fighting with Horatio Nelson in the Napoleonic Wars and later rising to the rank of general before becoming ...

* Samuel Rush Meyrick *

Charles Collier Michell Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Collier Michell, Royal Guelphic Order, KH (29 March 1793 in Exeter – 28 March 1851 in Eltham, London), later known as Charles Cornwallis Michell, was a British soldier, first surveyor-general in the British Cape Colon ...

* William Taylor Money * Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet * George Nayler * Robert Nickle (British Army officer) *

Nicholas Harris Nicolas Sir (Nicholas) Harris Nicolas (10 March 1799 – 3 August 1848) was an English antiquary. Life The fourth son of Commander John Harris Nicolas R.N. (1758–1844) and Margaret née Blake, he was born at Dartmouth. He was the brother of Rear Ad ...

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* George William Paty * John Pennycuick (British Army infantry officer) *

George Dean Pitt Major-General George Dean-Pitt, KH (1781 or 1772 – 8 January 1851) was Lieutenant-Governor of the former New Zealand Province of New Ulster from 14 February 1848 to his death on 8 January 1851. Early life He was born George Dean, the illegit ...

* Henry Riddell *

John Robison (inventor) Sir John Robison KH FRSE FRSSA (11 June 1778 – 7 March 1843) was a Scottish inventor and writer on scientific subjects. He was the son of the physicist and mathematician, Professor John Robison. Life He was born in Edinburgh on 11 June 177 ...

* John Robyns * Sir David Scott, 2nd Baronet *

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Charles Hamilton Smith Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith, KH, KW, FRS, FLS, (26 December 1776 in East Flanders, in the United Provinces of the Netherlands – 21 September 1859 in Plymouth) was an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldie ...

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* John Spink * Thomas Staunton St Clair * Joseph Thackwell * Edward Thomason * Walter Tremenheere * George Tyler (Royal Navy officer) *

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* George Wetherall *

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Charles Wilkins Sir Charles Wilkins (1749 – 13 May 1836) was an English typographer and Orientalist, and founding member of The Asiatic Society. He is notable as the first translator of ''Bhagavad Gita'' into English, He supervised Panchanan Karmakar to c ...

* Frederick von Wissell *

William Woods (officer of arms) Sir William Woods KH FSA (17 August 1785 - 25 July 1842) was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Woods was a bastard of unknown paternity. He used the name and arms of George Woods, a London tailor, but was said to be the son ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Royal Guelphic Order Guelphic Order 1815 establishments in the Kingdom of Hanover Awards established in 1815 Orders, decorations, and medals of Hanover