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
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' published a list of almost 300 people who had declined an honour between 1951 and 1999. In 2020, ''
the Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' reported based on a
Freedom of Information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...
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
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, of ...
) or refused in the hope of another higher distinction (
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
refused being decorated as Officer of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(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
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Be ...
but accepts an honour that does not bestow a title (or
precedence
Precedence may refer to:
* Message precedence of military communications traffic
* Order of precedence, the ceremonial hierarchy within a nation or state
* Order of operations, in mathematics and computer programming
* Precedence Entertainment, ...
), such as the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
(OM) or the
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
(CH). Examples are
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...
,
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
,
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
,
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
(although Pinter's widow, Lady
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...
, was later appointed a
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
or DBE),
David Hockney
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
,
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
,
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...
,
V. S. Srinivasa Sastri
Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri (22 September 1869 – 17 April 1946) was an Indian politician, administrator, educator, orator and Indian independence activist. He was acclaimed for his oratory and command over the English langua ...
,
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical stru ...
and
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Univer ...
.
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
A gorsedd (, plural ''gorseddau'') is a community or meeting of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is spelled gorsedh in Cornish and goursez in Breton.
When the term is used without qualification, it usually ...
or
St David Awards
The Saint David Awards (Welsh: ''Gwobrau Dewi Sant'') are an annual government awards scheme which recognizes exceptional achievements by Welsh citizens within Wales, the UK and globally. They are the highest accolades that the Welsh Governme ...
. In 2022, when
Gareth Bale
Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...
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
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
, already Head of State and Head of Government as
Lord Protector
Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...
, 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
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
. 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
Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...
again."
Dukedom
*Sir
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
, was offered the Dukedom of London, but declined in order to remain in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, 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
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, (2 July 178031 January 1863), known as Lord Henry Petty from 1784 to 1809, was a British statesman. In a ministerial career spanning nearly half a century, he notably served as Home Secretary ...
, politician (1857).
*
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen ...
, 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
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 185411 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related by marriage to the British ...
(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
Maria Anne Fitzherbert (''née'' Smythe, previously Weld; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837) was a longtime companion of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom). In 1785, they secretly contracted a marriage that was ...
, mistress and wife (in a marriage never considered valid in England) of
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
; his brother
William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
, 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.
Earldom of Athlone
The title of Earl of Athlone has been created three times.
History
It was created first in the Peerage of Ireland in 1692 by King William III for General Baron van Reede, Lord of Ginkel, a Dutch nobleman, to honour him for his successful ba ...
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
John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, KG, KP, PC (27 October 1835 – 13 August 1910), known as Viscount Althorp from 1845 to 1857 (and also known as the "Red Earl" because of his distinctive long red beard), was a British Liberal Party poli ...
(1890s).
Earldom
*
Henry Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.
Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, a ...
(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
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. He served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 19 ...
(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
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
, former Prime Minister (in 1919, accepted the Earldom of Balfour in 1922).
*
R. A. Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary ...
, politician (in 1964; accepted
life peerage
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...
as Baron Butler of Saffron Walden in 1965).
*
Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon
Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon KG PC (4 March 1526 – 23 July 1596), was an English nobleman and courtier. He was the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, William Shakespeare's playing company. The son of Mary Boleyn, he was a cousin of E ...
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeaseme ...
(on his retirement as Prime Minister in 1940, also declined appointment as KG).
*
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18t ...
, , politician (in 1809).
*
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957.
Achieving rapid promo ...
(on his retirement as Prime Minister in 1957; later accepted the Earldom of Avon in 1961).
*
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
, Prime Minister (in 1885).
* William Legge, had also declined a knighthood; his son was created Baron Dartmouth instead.
*
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...
(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
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Alexandra were first cousins through their fathers, King George V ...
; later accepted a knighthood in 1988).
*
Mark Phillips
Captain Mark Anthony Peter Phillips (born 22 September 1948) is an English Olympic gold medal-winning horseman for Great Britain and the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal, with whom he has two children. He remains a leading figure in Briti ...
(in 1973, upon his marriage to
Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...
; accepted a CVO in 1974).
* R. H. Tawney (twice declined an earldom, in 1920s and 1940s. Replied to
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
's offer by asking what harm he had ever done the Labour Party, and to the offer from
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
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
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
by Balfour in 1904.
*
John Grigg, 2nd Baron Altrincham
John Edward Poynder Grigg (15 April 1924 – 31 December 2001) was a British writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title under the Peerage Act on the day it received Royal Assent ...
, writer, historian and politician.
*
Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of t ...
, declined offer of peerage by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931.
*
John Henry Whitley
John Henry Whitley (8 February 1866 – 3 February 1935), often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist. He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928.
Family ...
George Macaulay Booth
George Macaulay Booth (22 September 1877 - 10 March 1971) was a British businessman, and a director of the Bank of England.
George Macaulay Booth was born on 22 September 1877 in London, the son of the social reformer Charles Booth and his wife M ...
, Director of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
; declined Lloyd George's offer.
*
Leonard Elmhirst
Leonard Knight Elmhirst (6 June 1893 – 16 April 1974) was a British philanthropist and agronomist who worked extensively in India. He co-founded with his wife, Dorothy, the Dartington Hall project in progressive education and rural reconstru ...
, philanthropist; declined
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
'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
This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1858 and 1937 for India(and Burma by extension), and for India and Burma from 1937 ...
, refused in 1920 on financial grounds, although he accepted a baronetcy.
*
Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
, 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
South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War.
History Organisation
The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir A ...
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...
had accepted viscountcies. He received a viscountcy in the
1946 Birthday Honours
The 1946 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 13 June 1946 for the United Kingdom and British Empire.
The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new h ...
, followed by an earldom for his service as the last Viceroy of India in August 1947.
*Sir
Alan Lascelles
Sir Alan Frederick "Tommy" Lascelles, (; 11 April 1887 – 10 August 1981) was a British courtier and civil servant who held several positions in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in his position as Private Secretary to both ...
, 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
Frank Pick Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway, before moving to the Underground Electric Railways Compan ...
, 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
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
. Four of her successors declined a peerage , whilst three (
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
,
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
,
Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped dow ...
) continue to serve as MPs.
*
Sir Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. 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
Lords may refer to:
* The plural of Lord
Places
*Lords Creek, a stream in New Hanover County, North Carolina
*Lord's, English Cricket Ground and home of Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club
People
*Traci Lords (born 19 ...
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
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...
at the end of 2021.
*
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
, former Prime Minister, who was an advocate for an elected upper house.
*
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, former Prime Minister, in line with his three predecessors.
*
Isaiah Berlin
Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...
, , philosopher (in 1980).
*
Rodney Bickerstaffe
Rodney Kevan Bickerstaffe (6 April 1945 – 3 October 2017) was a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Public Employees (1982–1993) and UNISON (1996–2001), Britain's largest trade union at the time. He l ...
, trade union leader and socialist; General Secretary of
UNISON
In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm.
Definition
Unison or per ...
. Declined Blair's offer in 2000, reportedly saying that to accept would betray his socialist beliefs.
*
Albert Booth
Albert Edward Booth (28 May 1928 – 6 February 2010) was a British left-wing Labour Party politician and cabinet minister.
Early life
Booth was educated at Marine School, South Shields and Rutherford College of Technology (Northumbria Unive ...
, Labour MP and Cabinet Minister 1974-79
*
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
, 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
Constance Cummings CBE (May 15, 1910 – November 23, 2005) was an American-British actress with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life
Cummings was born in Seattle, Washington, the only daughter and younger child of Kate Logan (née C ...
, actress in 1975
*
Jean Floud
Jean Esther Floud (''née'' McDonald; 3 November 1915 – 28 March 2013) was a prominent educational sociologist and later an academic. She was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1972 to 1983.
Early life
She was born Jean Esther McDon ...
, sociologist, Nuffield College Oxford. Principal of
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millic ...
, declined a peerage (in 1978).
*
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
, former Labour Party Leader.
* John Freeman, Labour MP, journalist, broadcaster, diplomat, and businessman.
* Jim (James) Griffiths Labour MP, first Welsh secretary.
*
Geoffrey Goodman
Geoffrey George Goodman (2 July 1922 – 5 September 2013Mike Molloy"Obituary: Geoffrey Goodman" theguardian.com, 6 September 2013.) was a British journalist, broadcaster and writer. Following periods on the ''News Chronicle'' and the '' Daily He ...
, journalist.
*
Ray Gunter
Raymond Jones Gunter (30 August 1909 – 12 April 1977) was a British Labour Party politician. He was born in Wales and had a background in the railway industry and the British trade union movement – specifically his union, the Transport Sala ...
Labour politician, President of TSSA union; MP for Southwark; Cabinet minister 1964-70, declined offer in 1972,
*
Margaret Herbison
Margaret McCrorie Herbison (11 March 1907 – 29 December 1996) was a Scottish Labour politician who was Minister of Social Security from 1964 to 1967.
Early life
Herbison was born on 11 March 1907 in Shotts, Lanarkshire to Maria Jane McCro ...
, Labour politician (in 1976)
* Thomas Jackson, trade union leader, 1979.
*
Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
*Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer
*Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971)
*Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...
, 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
Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999.
Bor ...
, Labour MP for Harlow; declined a proposed peerage from Michael Foot in 1983.
*
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...
,
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and
Ulster Unionist
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
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
Norman David Willis (21 January 1933 – 7 June 2014) was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1993, and President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from 1991 to 1993.
Li ...
, General-Secretary, TUC.
* Tony Woodley, former General Secretary of
Unite
Unite may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London
* ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993
* ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005
Songs ...
, 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
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
reform in 1999, members of the
Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...
who were peers of the first creation were offered
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
ages 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
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
*
Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
*
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Princ ...
*
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar, (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964) is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibl ...
Baronetcy
*
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
, scientist, declined both a knighthood and baronetcy.
*
Hall Caine
Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during ...
, novelist and playwright (1917); accepted knighthood in 1918.
*
John Grubb Richardson
John Grubb Richardson (13 November 1813 – 1891) was an Irish linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry in 1845, in what is now Northern Ireland. Five years later he founded a major ...
, declined, citing his religious beliefs.
*
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, poet (1865 and 1868); accepted peerage in 1884 on
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
'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
George Peabody ( ; February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philanthropy.
Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody went into business in dry g ...
, 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
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
cies 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.
Garter
A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...
due to the Government of Canada's
policy
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...
on peerages and knighthoods. He accepted the
Royal Victorian Chain
The Royal Victorian Chain is a decoration instituted in 1902 by King Edward VII as a personal award of the monarch (i.e. not an award made on the advice of any Commonwealth realm government). It ranks above the Royal Victorian Order, with which it ...
in 1960.
*
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeaseme ...
was offered the Order shortly before his death in 1940, but felt too ill to accept.
*
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...
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
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
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
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
(in 1957).
*
Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...
, artist, declined knighthood in 2003.
*
Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 31 July 1921 – 25 February 2005) was a British barrister, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International (AI). He refused all honours for most of his life ...
, founder of
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
; was offered several times, but refused on each occasion, citing
human rights abuses
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of h ...
in which the British government was complicit.
*
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...
, playwright (in 1996; had previously declined appointment as CBE in 1988).
*
Arnold Bennett
Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...
, novelist, declined knighthood offered for service in running the British government's French propaganda department during World War I.
*
Henry Benyon
Sir Henry Arthur Benyon, 1st Baronet JP (9 December 1884 – 15 June 1959) was the immediate post- War Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire.
Born Henry Arthur Fellowes in Chelsea, London, the son of James Herbert Fellowes of Kingston Maurward House nea ...
, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, declined knighthood in 1956. Accepted a baronetcy in 1958.
*
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in th ...
, trade unionist and Foreign Secretary, Labour government 1945 (in 1935)
*
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
, musician (in 2003; also declined CBE in 2000).
*
Danny Boyle
Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including '' Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel '' T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', ''28 Days Later'', '' S ...
, theatre and film director (in 2013).
*
Lester Brain
Lester Joseph Brain, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO, Air Force Cross (United Kingdom), AFC (27 February 1903 – 30 June 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Roya ...
, aviator and airline executive (in late 1960s; later accepted appointment as an
Officer of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
Frank Chapple
Frank Chapple, Baron Chapple (8 August 1921 – 19 October 2004) was general secretary of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), a leading British trade union.
Frank Chapple was born in the slum area of ...
, trade unionist in 1980, accepted a life peerage in 1985.
*
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not spe ...
, novelist
*
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical stru ...
, 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
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
.
*
Hugh Cudlipp
Hubert Kinsman Cudlipp, Baron Cudlipp, OBE (28 August 1913 – 17 May 1998), was a Welsh journalist and newspaper editor noted for his work on the ''Daily Mirror'' in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as chairman of the Mirror Group group of ...
, newspaper editor (1966). He accepted a life peerage in 1974.
*Henry Rees Davies (in 1935).
*
Arthur Deakin
Arthur Deakin (11 November 1890 – 1 May 1955) was a prominent British trade unionist who was acting general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1940 and then general secretary from 1945 to 1955.
Background
Arthur ...
, 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
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Univer ...
, 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
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
in 1973 as it was not a title.
*
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns D ...
, businessman and
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
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
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
, 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
Henry George "Harry" Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was a British mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three point linkage system, for being the first person ...
, 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
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
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
Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with '' The Entertainer'' (1960 ...
, actor (in 2000; had previously declined CBE in 1980).
*
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...
, author and essayist; declined knighthood in 1949, but accepted a
Companion of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
in the
1953 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1953 for the United Kingdom were announced on 30 December 1952, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1953. This was the first New Year Honours since the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. The ''Honours list'' i ...
list and an
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
in 1969.
*
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...
, novelist and dramatist; declined a knighthood in the
2003 New Year Honours
The 2003 New Year's Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British monarch's honours system, where 1 January is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of ot ...
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
John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include '' The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize ...
, playwright, declined knighthood in
1918 New Year Honours
The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...
, but accepted appointment to the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
in 1929 as it was not a title.
*
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, novelist
*
Lawrence Gowing
Sir Lawrence Burnett Gowing (21 April 1918 – 5 February 1991) was an English artist, writer, curator and teacher. Initially recognised as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and eventuall ...
, artists and academic in 1979
*
Calouste Gulbenkian
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (, Western hy, Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955), nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petrole ...
, 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
JP may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell
* ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine
* ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper
* Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band
* ''Jurassic Par ...
, 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
William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...
,
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
allegedly over the education policy of the government in the 1980s.
*
Peter Higgs
Peter Ware Higgs (born 29 May 1929) is a British theoretical physicist, Emeritus Professor in the University of Edinburgh,Griggs, Jessica (Summer 2008The Missing Piece ''Edit'' the University of Edinburgh Alumni Magazine, p. 17 and Nobel Prize ...
, , physicist, Professor of Theoretical Physics,
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
; co-discoverer of the
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field,
one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Stan ...
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
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
, 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
The 2010 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 28 May 2010 at the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The list was gazetted on 15 June.
Life Peerages
Conservative
* Timothy Eric Boswell - former Whip and Parliamentary secret ...
, 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
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
, , 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
Anthony Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd (2 May 1901 – 12 February 1966) was a British politician and former Conservative Member of Parliament for Newbury.
Parliamentary career
Hurd was first elected to the Newbury constituency in the 1945 gene ...
, Conservative politician, in 1956, accepted in 1959
*
Marmaduke Hussey
Marmaduke James Hussey, Baron Hussey of North Bradley (29 August 1923 – 27 December 2006), known as Duke Hussey, was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1986 to 1996, serving two terms in that role.
Education and career
The so ...
, declined knighthood in 1990 but accepted a life peerage in 1996 as Baron Hussey of North Bradley.
*
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
, author (in 1959).
*
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
, founder of Pakistan; offered a knighthood in 1925, he replied: "I prefer to be plain Mr Jinnah".
*
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...
, initially refused an Order of Merit in 1942 and later refused a knighthood.
*
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
, 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
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
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
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother ...
offered Lawrence a knighthood on 30 October 1918 at a private audience in
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
for his services in the
Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...
, 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
Edgar Lobel (24 December 1888 – 7 July 1982) was a Romanian-British classicist and papyrologist who is best known for his four decades overseeing the publication of the literary texts among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri and for his edition of Sappho an ...
, Romanian-British classicist and papyrologist; (in 1955).
*
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
, 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
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family.
Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
, 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
Basil Kingsley Martin (28 July 1897 – 16 February 1969) usually known as Kingsley Martin, was a British journalist who edited the left-leaning political magazine the ''New Statesman'' from 1930 to 1960.
Early life
He was the son of (Dav ...
, 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
John Loudon McAdam (23 September 1756 – 26 November 1836) was a Scottish civil engineer and road-builder. He invented a new process, " macadamisation", for building roads with a smooth hard surface, using controlled materials of m ...
, Scottish road builder.
* Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum (in 1999); in 2010 he accepted appointment to the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
, the personal gift of the British monarch.
* John Mackie, Labour politician in 1980
*
Michael Meacher
Michael Hugh Meacher (4 November 1939 – 21 October 2015) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for ...
, 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
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...
, sculptor in 1951
*
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, of ...
, actor and dramatist. Declined 1975.
*
Stanley Morison
Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces o ...
, typographer (in 1953).
* Robert Neild, economic adviser Labour government 1964–67. Professor of Economics Cambridge University
*
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old V ...
, film and stage actor.
*
William Pember Reeves
William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 – 16 May 1932) was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who promoted social reform.
Early life and career
Reeves's parents were William Reeves, who was a journalist and politician ...
, New Zealand politician, declined knighthood three times, including
GCMG
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.
It is named in honour ...
.
* Max Perutz scientist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1962 (in 1970)
*
Frank Pick
Frank Pick Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway, before moving to the Underground Electric Railways Compan ...
, chief executive of London Transport (also declined a peerage).
*
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
, playwright
* John Piper, artist, declined a Kt in 1964.
*
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English.
Powell' ...
, novelist, earlier accepted CBE and later the OM.
*
William Poel
William Poel (1852-1934) was an English actor, theatrical manager and dramatist best known for his presentations of Shakespeare.
Life and career
A son of William Pole, he grew up among Pre-raphaelite painters and reportedly sat for William Holm ...
, 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
Simon David Davan Sainsbury (1 March 1930 – 27 September 2006) was a British businessman, philanthropist and art collector.
Early life
Sainsbury was born in London,Frank Sanger
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curre ...
scientist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1958 and 1980
*
B. A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Demo ...
, Australian Catholic social campaigner.
*
Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...
, economist and Nobel Prize winner.
*
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, playwright, critic, and socialist; also declined OM.
*
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
, actor, declined offer three times: in 1968, 1974, and 1987.
*
Quentin Skinner
Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner (born 26 November 1940) is a British intellectual historian. He is regarded as one of the founders of the Cambridge School of the history of political thought. He has won numerous prizes for his work, including t ...
, historian; Regius Professor of Modern History,
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
; republican (in 1996).
*
Wilson Steer
Philip Wilson Steer (28 December 1860 – 18 March 1942) was a British painter of landscapes, seascapes plus portraits and figure studies. He was also an influential art teacher. His sea and landscape paintings made him a leading figure in ...
, artist in 1930
* A.J.P. Taylor, historian, probably due to anti-Establishment views, e.g. "The Establishment draws its recruits from outside as soon as they are ready to conform to its standards and become respectable. There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment - and nothing so corrupting."
* Ian Taylor, oil company executive.
*
Graham Wallas
Graham Wallas (31 May 1858 – 9 August 1932) was an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, a leader of the Fabian Society and a co-founder of the London School of Economics.
Biography
Born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, Wall ...
, social scientist (in 1930)
*
Glanville Williams
Glanville Llewelyn Williams (15 February 1911 – 10 April 1997) was a Welsh legal scholar who was the Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1978 and the Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University ...
(in 1980), Welsh legal scholar.
*
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
, composer; accepted Order of Merit in 1935.
* J. Steven Watson, historian, declined offer of knighthood twice, in 1960 while at Oxford, and after becoming Principal of St. Andrews University 1966
*
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...
, Australian writer, Nobel Prize for Literature (1970).
*
John Walpole Willis
John Walpole Willis (4 January 1793 – 10 September 1877) was a British judge of Upper Canada, British Guiana (as acting Chief Justice), the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and resident judge at Port Phillip, Melbourne.
Early life
The ...
, colonial judge, barrister and author, refused a knighthood at least twice.
*
John Henry Whitley
John Henry Whitley (8 February 1866 – 3 February 1935), often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist. He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928.
Family ...
, Liberal MP and Speaker of the House of Commons
*
Norman Willis
Norman David Willis (21 January 1933 – 7 June 2014) was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1993, and President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from 1991 to 1993.
Li ...
, general secretary of the
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...
; "turned down a knighthood offered to him by
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
, just as he had turned aside a proposal from the Labour leader John Smith that he might consider going into the House of Lords".
*
George Woodcock
George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...
General Secretary TUC, in 1965
* Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer; turned down offer of a knighthood for services to cricket in 1934, but accepted OBE for services to education in 1963 which he saw as more important work than playing cricket.
*
John Zachary Young
John Zachary Young FRS (18 March 1907 – 4 July 1997), generally known as "JZ" or "JZY", was an English zoologist and neurophysiologist, described as "one of the most influential biologists of the 20th century".
Biography
Young went to schoo ...
, neurophysiologist
* George Doughty, trade union leader, in 1975
Appointment to the Order of the Bath
As Knight Companion (KB)
*
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...
George Cranfield Berkeley in 1812, expecting a peerage; he later settled for the KCB in 1813; elevated to GCB in 1815.
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
.
* A. E. Housman, poet and classical scholar (in 1929).
*
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, playwright, critic, and polemicist (in 1946; Shaw replied that "merit" in authorship could only be determined by the posthumous verdict of history). Shaw had wanted to decline the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, but accepted it at his wife's behest as honouring Ireland. He did not reject the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of Swedish books into English.
* H. G. Wells, writer.
Appointment to the Order of the Star of India
As Knight Commander (KCSI)
*
V. S. Srinivasa Sastri
Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri (22 September 1869 – 17 April 1946) was an Indian politician, administrator, educator, orator and Indian independence activist. He was acclaimed for his oratory and command over the English langua ...
(in 1928; accepted appointment as a Companion of Honour (CH) in 1930).
*
V. P. Menon
Rao Bahadur Vappala Pangunni Menon, CSI, CIE (30 September 1893 – 31 December 1965) was an Indian civil servant who served as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of the States, under Sardar Patel.
By appointment fr ...
(in 1948; official reason for declining was that with Indian independence, he had entered the service of the new Indian government. According to his grandson, however, his actual reason for declining was that he could not accept a knighthood for having caused the partition of his country).
Appointment to the Order of St Michael and St George
As Knight Grand Cross Commander (GCMG)
*
Faimalaga Luka
Faimalaga Luka OBE (April 15, 1940 – August 19, 2005) was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Nukufetau in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He served as Governor-General and the Prime Minister of T ...
, Governor-General and Prime Minister of Tuvalu.
As Knight Commander (KCMG)
*
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
, future Prime Minister of Australia (1887).
*
Philip Fysh
Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...
, Tasmanian politician (1891). Later accepted the title in 1896.
*
George Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne
George Morgan Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne (né George Garro-Jones; 14 September 1894 – 27 September 1960), was a Welsh Liberal Party (UK), Liberal and later Labour Party (UK), Labour politician, barrister, businessman and editor of the ...
, politician (1951).
As Companion (CMG)
*
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu ( ta, பாக்கியசோதி சரவணமுத்து, si, පාකියසොති සර්වනමූත්තු; 26 October 1892 – 28 May 1950; also known as P. Sara) was a Ceylonese civ ...
, Ceylonese civil servant (1946).
Appointment to the Order of the Indian Empire
As a Companion (CIE)
*
Narayan Malhar Joshi
Narayan Malhar Joshi (5 June 1879 – 30 May 1955) was an Indian trade union leader and follower of Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Joshi became involved in labour issues and started the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 along with Lala Lajpat Rai. ...
(1879–1955), Member of the Bombay Corporation (1919–1922) and Indian Legislative Assembly; delegate to the ILO and Round Table Conferences (refused in 1921, on the grounds he was too poor for the honour).
Appointment to the Royal Victorian Order
As a Commander (CVO)
*
Craig Murray
Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during w ...
, former United Kingdom Ambassador to
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
(had previously declined appointments as LVO and OBE), in 1999, for reasons of Scottish nationalism and republicanism.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, artist (in 1977; previously declined appointment as CBE in 1960).
*
Leonard Cheshire
Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a highly decorated Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and group captain during the Second World War, and a philanthropist.
Among the honours Cheshire received as ...
, war hero and charity administrator, declined CH in 1975, later accepted a life peerage in 1991.
*
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
, poet and novelist (in 1984; had previously declined appointment as CBE in 1957).
*
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
Conservative politician and Prime Minister 1970-74 (declined CH in 1975)
*
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
, artist (in 1972 and 1976; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1955 and CBE in 1961 and a knighthood in 1968; holds the record for the most honours declined).
*
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Background and training
Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...
, artist (in 1965). He accepted the Order of Merit in 1968.
*
Philip Noel-Baker
Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, (1 November 1889 – 8 October 1982), born Philip John Baker, was a British politician, diplomat, academic, athlete, and renowned campaigner for disarmament. He carried the British team flag and won a ...
, former
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations was a British Cabinet minister responsible for dealing with the United Kingdom's relations with members of the Commonwealth of Nations (its former colonies). The minister's department was the Commo ...
, 1965 New Year Honours (accepted a life peerage in 1977).
*
Michael Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of ...
, political philosopher
* J. B. Priestley, writer (in 1969) also refused a knighthood and a peerage (accepted OM in 1977).
*
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born ...
, writer. 'I don't take honours' (''Diary'' 6 April 1933). She also declined honorary degrees and other awards ('all that humbug'), but accepted a few literary prizes.
*
Leonard Woolf
Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own wo ...
, writer/publisher (in 1966).
Appointment to the Order of the British Empire
As a Knight Grand Cross (GBE)
*
Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran
Charles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, MC, PRCP (10 November 1882 – 12 April 1977) was personal doctor to Winston Churchill from 1940 until the latter's death in 1965. His book ''The Struggle for Survival'' revealed much about Churchill's ...
(in 1962) – offered for services as chairman of a government committee but declined, commenting it was "the sort of thing given to civil servants".
*Sir Harry Shackleton (in the 1951 Birthday Honours List).
As a Knight Commander (KBE)
* T. E. Lawrence, Arabist, archaeologist, soldier, aircraftsman, writer (in October 1918).
*
Calouste Gulbenkian
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (, Western hy, Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955), nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petrole ...
, philanthropist (in
1951 New Year Honours
The 1951 New Years Honours were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1951 for the Brit ...
).
*
John Hubert Penson
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Seco ...
,
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
.
*
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
.
As a Dame Commander (DBE)
*
Dorothy Hodgkin
Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
, scientist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1964 (later accepted OM).
*
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...
, actress and politician.
*
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
, , author (declined DBE in 1992, stating it was in the name of a non-existent Empire; also declined appointment as OBE in 1977; accepted appointment as CH as it is does not carry a title, in 2000). Nobel Prize for Literature.
*
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
, actress (accepted CBE in 1967; declined damehood in 1999, but accepted it in 2022).
*
Geraldine McEwan
Geraldine McEwan (born Geraldine McKeown; 9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015) was an English actress, who had a long career in film, theatre and television. Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with ...
, actress (in 2002; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1986).
*
Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Florence Rathbone (12 May 1872 – 2 January 1946) was an independent British Member of Parliament (MP) and long-term campaigner for family allowance and for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool.
...
, politician and social reformer (in 1949)
*
Bridget Riley
Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France.
Early life and education
Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in Norwood, Londo ...
, artist (accepted CH and CBE).
*
Dorothy Wedderburn
Dorothy Enid Wedderburn (née Barnard, formerly Cole; 18 September 1925 – 20 September 2012)Richard Ithamar Aaron, philosopher, Professor of Philosophy,
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
, mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all
, established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'')
, former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth
, type = Public
, endowment = ...
(in 1962 Birthday Honours).
*
Ian Albery Ian Bronson Albery (born 21 September 1936) is an English theatre consultant, manager, and producer. He is a former chief executive of Sadler's Wells Theatre (1994-2002), and was in charge of the Donmar Warehouse from 1961 to 1989.
, theatre producer.
*
W. Godfrey Allen
W. Godfrey Allen (1891–1986), full name Walter Godfrey Allen, was an architect in the twentieth century. He was Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral from 1931 to 1956. He devised the St. Paul's Heights policy in 1937, a policy to stop ...
, architect; Surveyor of the Fabric of
Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to ...
(in 1957).
*
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir ' ...
, novelist.
* Nick Anstee, former Lord Mayor of London (in 2010).
*
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, artist (in 1960;. later declined appointment as CH in 1977).
* J. G. Ballard, author (in 2003) "the honours system is a
Ruritania
Ruritania is a fictional country, originally located in central Europe as a setting for novels by Anthony Hope, such as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1894). Nowadays the term connotes a quaint minor European country, or is used as a placeholder name f ...
n charade that helps to prop up the top-heavy monarchy.").
*
Julian Barnes
Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', '' England, England'', and ''Art ...
, novelist.
*
Jim Baty
James Gilroy Baty (1 February 1896''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 5 April 1959) was a British trade unionist.
Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he began working on the railways, and joined the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and ...
. trade unionist, General Secretary of
ASLEF
The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing train drivers. It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of ...
1946–1952 (in 1952).
*
Wilfred Beard
Wilfred Blackwell Beard (18 January 1891 – 14 December 1967) was a British trade unionist.
Born in Manchester, Beard worked as a patternmaker and became active in the United Patternmakers Association, first as a local organiser, then as se ...
Clive Bell
Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 September 1881 – 17 September 1964) was an English art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group. He developed the art theory known as significant form.
Biography Origins
Bell was born in East S ...
, art critic (in 1953).
*
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...
, playwright (in 1988; later declined a knighthood in 1996).
*
Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 58. (1962 ...
, actress (in 2002; she was a republican).
*
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
, musician (in 2000; later declined a knighthood in 2003).
*Francis Boyd, ''
Guardian
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...
'' journalist, in 1967; accepted a knighthood in 1976.
* John Carey, academic and literary critic.
* Robert Carvel political journalist in 1982
*
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...
, film actress.
*
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
, actor/comedian (in 1996; he reportedly thought it was "silly", and later declined a life peerage).
* Prunella Clough, painter (in 1979;. previously declined OBE in 1968).
* John Cole, journalist, latterly BBC Political Editor (in 1993).
* David Cornwell (uses John le Carré as
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
), author.
*
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical stru ...
, scientist, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (in 1963; later also refused a knighthood, but finally accepted appointment as OM in 1991).
* Andrew Davies, Welsh writer of
screenplays
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
and
novels
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...
A Very Peculiar Practice
''A Very Peculiar Practice'' is a surreal black-comedy drama set in the health centre of a British university, produced by the BBC, which ran for two series in 1986 and 1988. The two series were followed by a 90-minute made-for-television film, ...
'', and his adaptations of ''
Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Literature
* Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan
* ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray
* ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
'', ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'', ''
Middlemarch
''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, ...
'', ''
Bleak House
''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...
Elwyn Davies
Elwyn Davies (20 September 1908 – 18 September 1986) was a Welsh university and cultural administrator, civil servant, writer and academic.
Born on 20 September 1908,"Dr Elwyn Davies", '' The Times'' (London), 23 September 1986, p. 14. . Davie ...
, Welsh university and cultural administrator, civil servant, writer and academic.
*
Alastair Dunnett
Sir Alastair MacTavish Dunnett (26 December 1908 – 2 September 1998) was a Scottish journalist and newspaper editor. He edited '' The Daily Record'' newspaper for nine years and ''The Scotsman'' newspaper from 1956 to 1972. In 1975 he b ...
, journalist and businessman (in 1979) He accepted a Knighthood in 1995.
*
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns D ...
, owner of
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
commercial rights (in 1996).
*
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...
, musician (in 2007).
*Owen Ellis Evans (Reverend), sponsor of New Testament bible in Welsh (in 1976).
*
Peter Finch
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.
Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...
, film and stage actor.
*
Albert Finney
Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with '' The Entertainer'' (1960 ...
, actor (in 1980; also declined a knighthood in 2000).
*
Philippa Foot
Philippa Ruth Foot (; née Bosanquet; 3 October 1920 – 3 October 2010) was an English philosopher and one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, who was inspired by the ethics of Aristotle. Along with Judith Jarvis Thomson, she is c ...
, philosopher (in 1994)
* C. S. Forester, novelist (in 1953).
*
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...
novelist and dramatist (in 1989; later declined a knighthood in 2003).
*
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...
, film director.
*
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
, poet and novelist (in 1957; later declined appointment as CH in 1984).
*
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, author (in 1956) (later accepted appointment as CH and OM, neither of which are titles granting rank or
precedence
Precedence may refer to:
* Message precedence of military communications traffic
* Order of precedence, the ceremonial hierarchy within a nation or state
* Order of operations, in mathematics and computer programming
* Precedence Entertainment, ...
John Gross
John Gross FRSL (12 March 1935 – 10 January 2011) was an eminent English man of letters. A leading intellectual, writer, anthologist, and critic, '' The Guardian'' (in a tribute titled "My Hero") and ''The Spectator'' were among several pu ...
, author, literary critic and journalist.
*
R. Geraint Gruffydd
Robert Geraint Gruffydd FLSW FBA (9 June 1928 – 24 March 2015) was a scholar of Welsh language and literature. From 1970 to 1979, he was Professor of Welsh Language and Literature at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was made Emeritus ...
Queen's Remembrancer
The King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer) is an ancient judicial post in the legal system of England and Wales. Since the Lord Chancellor no longer sits as a judge, the Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in continual existence ...
(in 1964).
*
Jocelyn Herbert
Jocelyn Herbert RDI (22 February 1917 – 6 May 2003) was a British stage designer.
Early life
Born in London the second of the four children of playwright, novelist, humorist and parliamentarian A. P. Herbert (1890–1971), through her fathe ...
,
stage designer
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trai ...
(in 1981).
*
Trevor Howard
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
, film and stage actor in 1982.
*
Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth (born 4 November 1935), is an English conductor, composer and trumpeter.
Biography
Howarth was born at Cannock, Staffordshire. He was educated in the 1950s at Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music (the ...
, conductor and composer.
*
John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
, composer (in 1959).
* Gus John, writer and education campaigner (in 2000).
*
Susan Elan Jones
Susan Elan Jones (born 1 June 1968) is a former British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd South, replacing the previous Labour MP Martyn Jones after his retire ...
, former Labour MP (in 2020), in protest at honours awarded by
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
's administration.https://www.linkedin.com/analytics/post-summary/urn:li:activity:6946852273780105216/
* Leon Kossoff, painter.
* Walter Lassally, cinematographer.
* T. E. Lawrence, World War I British Army officer, archaeologist, Arabist, RAF aircraftsman, and writer, popularly known as "Lawrence of Arabia"; later declined a knighthood.
* F.R. Leavis,
literary critic
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...
. Refused in 1966; but later accepted appointment as CH.
*
James Lees-Milne
(George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...
, writer and expert on English country houses and long-time associate of the National Trust (in 1993).
*
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...
, author, theologian, Oxford professor (in 1951, declined in order to avoid association with any political issues).
*
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office ...
, former
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current m ...
, due to be honoured for his services to the 2012 Olympics (turned down an honour in the 2013 New Years Honours due to his belief that politicians should not get such awards).
*
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
, artist (in 1961; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1955; declined a knighthood in 1968, and later appointment as CH in 1972 and 1976; holds the record for the most honours declined).
*
Philip MacDonald
Philip MacDonald (5 November 1900 – 10 December 1980) was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.
Life and work
MacDonald was born in London, the son of author Ronald MacDonald and actress Constance Roberts ...
, author (in 1952); he thought the honours system added to the class-ridden nature of English society.
*
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...
, actor (in 1984).
*
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for '' The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with a ...
, musician, writer, critic, artist and raconteur (in 2001).
*
Mary Midgley
Mary Beatrice Midgley (' Scrutton; 13 September 1919 – 10 October 2018) was a British philosopher. A senior lecturer in philosophy at Newcastle University, she was known for her work on science, ethics and animal rights. She wrote her first b ...
, philosopher.
*
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom ...
, actress (in 1996; accepted a damehood in 2003)
*
Stanley Morison
Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces o ...
(in 1962; also declined a knighthood).
* VS Naipaul, author (in 1977; accepted a knighthood in 1990)
*
Michael Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of ...
, academic and political philosopher (declined Kt in 1981)
*
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Background and training
Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...
, artist (in 1955; later declined appointment as CH in 1965).
*
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
, playwright (in 1963).
*
Lionel Penrose
Lionel Sharples Penrose, FRS (11 June 1898 – 12 May 1972) was an English psychiatrist, medical geneticist, paediatrician, mathematician and chess theorist, who carried out pioneering work on the genetics of intellectual disability. Penr ...
, Professor of Medical Genetics, University College London, 1945–65 (in 1967).
*
Edith Pretty
Edith May Pretty (née Dempster; 1 August 1883 – 17 December 1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local excavator and amateur archeologist, to find out if anyth ...
, benefactor (sometime in period 1940–1942)
*
Cedric Price
Cedric Price FRIBA (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture.
The son of an architect (A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon), Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire ...
, architect.
*
Leon Radzinowicz
Sir Leon Radzinowicz, (15 August 1906 – 29 December 1999) was a criminologist and academic. He was the founding director of the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge.
Early life
Radzinowicz was born on ...
criminologist in 1964, later accepted a Knighthood in 1970.
*
Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Saturday Night and S ...
, Czech-born film director.
*
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''.
Early ...
, film and theatre director, in 1987.
*
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakesp ...
, actor, in 2008.
* Andrew Robertson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering University of Bristol (in 1965); reportedly disapproved of the honours system.
* R. E. Robinson, historian (in 1953) later Beit Professor of Commonwealth History, Oxford.
* Paul Rogers, stage and screen actor, mainly known for classical roles at the Old Vic and for Royal Shakespeare Co.
*
Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott FRSL (born 24 March 1953, London) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Aw ...
, poet, initially accepted before changing her mind in response to the
invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
(2003).
*
Alan Sillitoe
Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called "angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ' ...
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...
an academic.
*
David Storey
David Malcolm Storey (13 July 1933 – 27 March 2017) was an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a professional rugby league player. He won the Booker Prize in 1976 for his novel ''Saville''. He also won the MacMillan ...
, playwright and novelist.
* Frank Swinnerton, novelist and critic (in 1969).
*
William Jenkyn Thomas
William Jenkyn Thomas (5 July 1870 – 14 March 1959) was a Welsh headmaster and author best known for his ''The Welsh Fairy Book''. He was an undergraduate student at the University of Cambridge and in addition to his writings worked as a ...
(in 1935).
*
Sue Townsend
Susan Lillian Townsend, FRSL (née Johnstone, 2 April 194610 April 2014), was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole.
After writing ...
novelist and playwright.
*
Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalin (née Delavenay; born 20 June 1933) is an English journalist and biographer, known for her biographies of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Early life
Tomalin was born Claire Dela ...
, writer.
*
Polly Toynbee
Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee (; born 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for ''The Guardian'' newspaper since 1998.
She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 1 ...
, ''Guardian'' columnist, in 2000.
*
Leslie Waddington
Leslie Waddington (9 February 1934 – 30 November 2015) was a British art dealer who served as the chairman of Waddington Custot Galleries, 11 Cork Street, London.
Early life and education
Waddington was born on 9 February 1934. He was the so ...
, art gallery chairman.
*
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
, novelist (in 1959, wanted a knighthood).
*
Paul Weller
Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul mu ...
, musician (in 2007).
* Garfield Weston, businessman.
* Hugo Young, journalist, writer, and Chair of the Scott Trust
As an Officer (OBE)
*
Peter Alliss
Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of ...
, golfer and commentator (in 1992).
*
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for ...
, theatre and film director.
* Nancy Banks-Smith, Guardian journalist, declined OBE, 1970.
*
Leonard Barden
Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929, in Croydon, London) is an English chess master, writer, broadcaster, journalist, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol College ...
, British chess champion and writer (in 1985).
* Stanley Baxter, actor and comedian
* Michael Bogdanov, theatre director.
*
Jim Broadbent
James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...
, actor (in 2002).
*
Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical '' Help!'' (1965), the Doctor in '' Alfie'' (1966), Margaret Spencer in '' Bedazzled'' (1967), ...
, actress and writer.
*
Jez Butterworth
Jeremy "Jez" Butterworth (born March 1969) is an English playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He has written screenplays in collaboration with his brothers, John-Henry and Tom.
Life and career
In March 1969, Butterworth was born in Lo ...
, playwright, 2016.
*
Peter Capaldi
Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in '' The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), for ...
, actor, director and writer.
*
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.
, playwright.
* Prunella Clough, painter (in 1968), later declined CBE in 1979.
*
Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series '' Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', whi ...
, actor (in 1967).
* Roy Curthoys, journalist (in 1951); accepted CMG in 1958.
*
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
, author (in 1986, wanted a knighthood).
*
Alun Herbert Davies
Alun Herbert Davies (1927-2005), known as Alan Creunant in Wales, was a Welsh head teacher, and first director of the Welsh Books Council. His parents were Rev. Thomas Herbert (Creunant) Davies and Hannah Davies (née Thomas). On completing his se ...
(Alun Creunant) (in 1983).
*
Edward Tegla Davies
Edward Tegla Davies (1880–1967) was a Welsh Wesleyan Methodist minister and a popular Welsh language writer, born at Llandegla-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, north Wales.
His works include a number of children's books which display his rich imaginatio ...
, Wesleyan Methodist minister and a Welsh language writer (in 1963).
* Eleanor Farjeon, author and poet (in 1959).
*
Ifan ab Owen Edwards
Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards (25 July 1895 – 23 January 1970) was a Welsh academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth.
He was born at Tremaran, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire, the ...
(in 1941). He accepted a Knighthood in 1947.
* Aneez Esmail, General Practitioner and Academic in 2002.
*Cyrus J Evans (in 1920).
*
John Fowles
John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others.
Aft ...
, novelist (in 1992)
*
Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show '' French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Sau ...
, comedian and actress (in 2001).
*
Patrick French
Patrick French (born 1966) is a British writer, historian and academician. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he studied English and American literature, and received a PhD in South Asian Studies. He was appointed as the inau ...
, author, biographer, academic in 2003.
*
Pam Gems
Pam Gems (1 August 1925 – 13 May 2011) was an English playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play '' Piaf''.
Person ...
, dramatist/playwright.
*
Paul Ginsborg
Paul Anthony Ginsborg (18 July 1945 – 11 May 2022) was a British historian. In the 1980s, he was Professor at the University of Siena; from 1992, he was Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Florence.
Education
Gins ...
, historian
*
Henry Green
Henry Green was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke (29 October 1905 – 13 December 1973), an English writer best remembered for the novels '' Party Going'', ''Living'' and ''Loving''. He published a total of nine novels between 1926 and 1952 ...
, (1960) novelist.
* Hughie Green, TV personality, (in 1960).
*
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, author (in 1956) later also declined the CBE.
* Laurence Harbottle, lawyer, services to theatre.
*
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
, former Beatle (in 2000), reportedly he felt he deserved a knighthood, as his fellow ex-Beatle Paul McCartney had been awarded in 1997, however, he made no official comment on the matter before he died in 2001.
*
Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...
Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...
, actress/comedian (in 1974).
* Carwyn James, Rugby Union coach and commentator in 1971.
* Idwal Jones, Welsh geographical author and Labour politician (in 1982).
*"John Jones": May be: John Gwilym Jones, Welsh writer, dramatist, novelist, short-story writer, drama director, academic and critic (in 1972.)
*
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...
, poet and librarian in 1968.
*
Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook.
She attended Godolphin and Latymer School, London. After graduating from the University of Oxford, where she was a member of Lady Margaret Hall, Lawson st ...
, chef, gourmand, television personality/presenter; cookery writer, in 2001.
*
Nicholas Le Prevost
Nicholas Le Prevost (born 18 March 1947) is an English actor.
Early life
Le Prevost was born in Wiltshire. He was educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School, Shaftesbury, Dorset from 1957 to 1961 and at Kingswood School, Bath from 1961 to 19 ...
, actor.
*
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
, author (in 1977; later declined appointment as DBE in 1992, because it is in the name of a non-existent Empire; accepted appointment as CH in 2000).
*
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...
, film director (in 1977): ''"I turned down the OBE because it's not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who've got it."''.
*
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
, artist (declined OBE in 1955, a CBE in 1961, a knighthood in 1968 and appointment as CH, twice, in 1972 and 1976; holds the record for the most honours declined).
* Michael MacDonnell, doctor, journalist and broadcaster, declined an OBE in 1997
*
Gina Martin
Gina Martin is a British political activist and author. She is known for her case to make upskirting illegal in England and Wales, which resulted in the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019. Martin also authored a book, ''Be the Change: A Toolkit for ...
, activist.
* John McCormick, Controller, BBC Scotland.
*
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid (; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen, best known for portraying the Sith Lord Emperor Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious in the ''Star Wars'' multimedia franchise. Making his stage debut in ' ...
, actor, theatre director.
*
Geraldine McEwan
Geraldine McEwan (born Geraldine McKeown; 9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015) was an English actress, who had a long career in film, theatre and television. Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with ...
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...
, guitarist (
The Shadows
The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...
Alan Mattingly
Alan may refer to:
People
*Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname
*Alan (given name), an English given name
**List of people with given name Alan
''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.''
* A ...
,
Ramblers' Association
The Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association, Great Britain's leading walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path ...
.
*
Stanley Middleton
Stanley Middleton FRSL (1 August 1919 – 25 July 2009) was a British novelist.
Life
He was born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1919 and educated at High Pavement School, Stanley Road, Nottingham, and later at University College Nottin ...
, novelist and educationalist (in 1979).
* Ernest Milton, classical actor (in 1965).
*
Rhys Hopkin Morris
Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris (5 September 1888 – 22 November 1956) was a Wales, Welsh Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1923–1932 and from 1945–1956.
Ear ...
(in 1945).
*
Craig Murray
Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during w ...
, former United Kingdom Ambassador to Uzbekistan (had previously declined appointment as LVO; later declined appointment as CVO).
*
Max Newman
Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman, FRS, (7 February 1897 – 22 February 1984), generally known as Max Newman, was a British mathematician and codebreaker. His work in World War II led to the construction of Colossus, the world's first operatio ...
, mathematician and wartime codebreaker (in 1946, in protest against the inadequacy of
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical ...
's OBE).
*
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...
, actor.
* John Oliver, comic and TV host/producer (in 2019, saying: "why on earth would I want that?").
*Hugh John Owen, (in 1942).
*
Thomas Parry Thomas Parry may refer to:
* Thomas Parry (Comptroller of the Household) (c. 1515–1560), serving Queen Elizabeth I of England
* Thomas Parry (ambassador) (1541–1616), English MP, ambassador to France and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
* T ...
, Welsh writer (in 1959). He accepted a Knighthood in 1978.
*
Iorwerth Peate
Iorwerth Peate, also known as Cyfeiliog, (27 February 1901 – 19 October 1982) was a Welsh poet and scholar, best known as the founder, along with Cyril Fox, of St Fagans National History Museum.
Born in Llanbrynmair into a family of carpenters ...
, poet and scholar (in 1963).
*
Eric Porter
Eric Richard Porter (8 April 192815 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television.
Early life
Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to bus conductor Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Spall). His parents hope ...
, actor (in 1969).
*
T. F. O. Rippingham
Thomas Francis Ord Rippingham (29 January 1896 – 17 December 1964) was an English-born architect who spent most of his professional life in Northern Ireland, mainly working for the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS).
"Rip", as he was aff ...
, architect (in 1951).
*
Michèle Roberts
Michèle Brigitte Roberts FRSL (born 20 May 1949) is a British writer, novelist and poet. She is the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother (Monique Caulle) and English Protestant father (Reginald Roberts), and has dual UK–France national ...
, author (in 2003).
*
Michael Rosen
Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009.
Early life
Michael Wayne Ro ...
, author and poet.
*
Anthony Sampson
Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson (3 August 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British writer and journalist. His most notable and successful book was '' Anatomy of Britain'', which was published in 1962 and was followed by five more "Anatomies", upd ...
, author/journalist.
*
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...
, comedian and actress (in 2001).
*
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian a ...
, musician (in 2007, for ethical reasons) "I wouldn't like anything with the word 'empire' after my name." Later accepted a CBE.
*
Phil Scraton
Phil Scraton (born 3 May 1949) is a critical criminologist, academic and author. He is a social researcher, known particularly for his investigative work into the context, circumstances and aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. More rece ...
, professor of criminology (in 2016) "I could not receive an honour on the recommendation of those who remained unresponsive to the determined efforts of bereaved families and survivors to secure truth and justice." "I could not accept an honour tied in name to the 'British empire.
* Jon Snow, newscaster (after having declined, investigated and presented a
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
documentary, ''Secrets of the Honours System''.)
*"David Thomas": May be David Thomas Welsh educationalist, (in 1954).
*
Katherine Whitehorn
Katharine Elizabeth Whitehorn (2 March 1928 – 8 January 2021) was a British journalist, columnist, author and radio presenter. She was the first woman to have a Column (periodical), column in ''The Observer'', which ran from 1963 to 1996 and ...
, journalist, later accepted a CBE after retirement from regular journalism.
*
Bransby Williams
Bransby Williams (born Bransby William Pharez; 14 August 1870 – 3 December 1961) was a British actor, comedian and monologist. He became known as "The Irving of the music halls".
Early years
Born in Hackney, London, the son of William Me ...
, actor/monologuist (in 1955).
* Grace Williams, Welsh composer (in 1967).
*
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 '' ...
, actor and comedian. "When offered something which obviously isn't worth the price... we still have the right to say 'No thanks (1969). He also declined several awards, e.g. Radio Personality of the Year Award 1968, 'and it gives me considerable satisfaction to turn down one of these spurious 'awards'. (Diaries 1968)
*
Michael Winner
Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...
, film director (in 2006; saying, "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at
King's Cross station
King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kin ...
Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (born 15 April 1958)Gregory, Andy (2002), ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, p. 562. . is a British writer and dub poet. He was included in ''The Times'' list of Britain's top 50 post-wa ...
, poet (in 2010), stating: "I get angry when I hear the word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised."
As a Member (MBE)
*John Allen, political adviser to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, declined honour in 1969.
* Major Derek Allhusen, Olympic equestrian gold medallist, 1969 New Year Honours (accepted CVO in 1984 as Standard Bearer of the
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
His Majesty's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms is a bodyguard to the British Monarch. Until 17 March 1834, they were known as The Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.
Formation
The corps was formed as the Troop of Gen ...
).
* Marcel Aurousseau, Australian geologist, 1956 New Year Honours.
*
Rowena Cade
Rowena Cade (1893–1983) was the creator of the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK.
Cade was born in Spondon near Derby on 2 August 1893.
, founder of the Minack Theatre, Cornwall (in 1969).
* Patrick Collins, sports journalist and author.
* Joseph Corré, co-founder of
Agent Provocateur
An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...
(in 2007, claiming his belief that then-Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
was "morally corrupt".)
* Huw Llywelyn Davies refused a British honour because he felt that accepting it would be "against his principles and upbringing".
*
Edward Tegla Davies
Edward Tegla Davies (1880–1967) was a Welsh Wesleyan Methodist minister and a popular Welsh language writer, born at Llandegla-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, north Wales.
His works include a number of children's books which display his rich imaginatio ...
, Wesleyan Methodist minister and a popular Welsh language writer (in 1963).
* John Dunn, broadcaster.
* Lynn Faulds Wood, TV presenter (in 2016); "I would love to have an honour if it didn't have the word 'empire' on the end of it. We don't have an empire, in my opinion."
* Howard Gayle, first black footballer to play for Liverpool FC. Declined the MBE in 2016 saying it would be "a betrayal" of Africans who suffered at the hands of the British Empire.
* Beti George (in 2020), stating "I'm also a republican and the Empire to me is a symbol of oppression, slavery and suffering. I'm in good company - the likes of Hywel Gwynfryn and the late Carwyn James and there are probably many more.".
* Hywel Gwynfryn (in the 1980s), stating "When I got the offer I had just been made a Fellow of Bangor University and was given the green robe by the Gorsedd, so I felt recognized by my country" (Wales).
*
Marjorie Hebden
Marjorie is a female given name derived from Margaret (name), Margaret, which means pearl. It can also be spelled as Margery (name), Margery or Marjory. Marjorie is a medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjoram. It cam ...
, declined MBE for services to the
Malvern Museum
The Malvern Museum in Great Malvern, the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire, England, is located in the Priory Gatehouse, the former gateway to the Great Malvern Priory. The museum was established in 1979 and is owned and managed by the Malve ...
.
*
David Heckels
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, declined MBE for charitable services to the arts.
* Bob Holman, community activist in Easterhouse, 2012 birthday honours.
* Carwyn James, Welsh international rugby player (in 1972). He was pleased to be inducted into the
Gorsedd
A gorsedd (, plural ''gorseddau'') is a community or meeting of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is spelled gorsedh in Cornish and goursez in Breton.
When the term is used without qualification, it usually ...
.
*David Jones ( Jonzi D), writer, choreographer and rap artist, declined MBE for services to the arts in 2012, saying subsequently: "I am diametrically opposed to the idea of empire. Man, I'm a Star Wars fan – empire is bad."
* Gwendoline Laxon, declined MBE for services to charity.
* Susan Loppert, art historian.
* George Mpanga, poet and lyricist.
* Barry McGuigan, boxer (in 1986; later accepted the honour in 1994)
* John Pandit aka Pandit G, musician, 2002, does not believe in the honours system, says acknowledgement should be given by funding projects.
* Doris Purnell, declined MBE for services to drama.
* John Sales, head gardener.
* Nikesh Shukla, declined offer of MBE for services to literature in 2021.
*
Joan Smith
Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English journalist, novelist, and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Hack ...
, journalist, declined MBE as it was counter to the views she had spoken about in her career, i.e. atheism, feminism and republicanism.
*
Alan Watkins
Alan Rhun Watkins (3 April 1933 – 8 May 2010) was for over 50 years a British political columnist in various London-based magazines and newspapers. He also wrote about wine and rugby.
Life and career
Alan Watkins was born in Tycroes, Carmar ...
, journalist, political columnist.
Renouncing an honour
As no official provision exists for (unilaterally) renouncing an honour, any such act is always unofficial, and the record of the appointment in the ''
London Gazette
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...
'' stands. Nevertheless, the physical insignia can be returned to the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood; this is purely symbolic, as replacement insignia may be purchased for a nominal sum. Any recipient can also request that the honour not be used officially, e.g.
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012.
Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyin ...
, ex-Chief Executive of Hong Kong, was knighted in 1997 but has not used the title since the handover to China.
Those who have returned insignia include:
*
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (''née'' Damji; born 10 December 1949) is a British journalist and author, who describes herself as "a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim...person". A regular columnist for the ''i '' newspaper and the ''Eveni ...
, journalist (returned MBE insignia in 2003 in her view of "a growing spirit of republicanism and partly in protest at the Labour government, particularly its conduct of the war in Iraq").
* Roy Bailey, folk singer (returned MBE insignia in August 2006 in protest at the British Government's foreign policy in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
Carla Lane
Romana Barrack (5 August 1928 – 31 May 2016), known professionally as Carla Lane, was an English television writer responsible for several successful British sitcoms, including '' The Liver Birds'' (co-creator, 1969–1979), ''Butterflies'' (1 ...
, television writer (appointed OBE in 1989; returned insignia in 2002 in protest at the appointment of CBE of the managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences due to the company's reputed animal testing).
*
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
, musician (returned MBE insignia in 1969; returned with letter that read, "I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of
America in Vietnam
''America in Vietnam'' is a book by Guenter Lewy about America's role in the Vietnam War. The book is highly influential although it has remained controversial even decades after its publication. Lewy contends that the US actions in Vietnam had be ...
, and against '
Cold Turkey
"Cold turkey" refers to the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience, as opposed to gradually easing the process through reduction over time or by using replacement medication.
Sudden withdrawal from dru ...
' slipping down the charts.").
*
Gareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce (born Jean Margaret Webb; March 1940) is a British solicitor and human rights activist. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases involving allegations of human rights injustices. Her work with Gerry Conlon and the Guildf ...
, solicitor (
gazetted
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
CBE in 1999, but later she returned its insignia, blaming herself and apologizing to then Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
for the misunderstanding).
* Narindar Saroop, soldier and Tory politician. Returned CBE in 2016 in disgust at the "Dishonours List" of David Cameron "showering peerages, knighthoods and other rewards on friends and party backers".
*
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...
, Welsh actor (appointed OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list for his services to drama). In 2020 Sheen returned the award after researching the relationship between
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and the British state, saying "I'd be a hypocrite if I said the things I was going to say in the lecture about the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state."
* Susan Wighton,
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
worker (returned MBE insignia in 2006 in protest at the British Government's
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
foreign policies).
*In June 1965 a number of holders of honours and decorations, mainly awarded for military service, returned their insignia in protest at the nomination of the four members of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
squadron leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
, and James Berg, all of whom returned their MBEs; David Evan Rees, a former sea captain, who returned his OBE; and
Richard Pape
Richard Bernard Pape Military Medal, MM (17 March 1916 – 19 June 1995) was a British Second World War escapee, adventurer, autobiographer and novelist.
Pape was born in 1916 in Roundhay, Leeds, Yorkshire. He worked as a journalist in the ''York ...
, a wartime escapee and author, who returned his
Military Medal
The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...
.
Knights who have "renounced" their knighthoods include:
* Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, cricketer (knighted in 1936; renounced knighthood in 1947 upon India's independence).
*
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independenc ...
).
*
C. P. Ramaswami Iyer
Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law m ...
, lawyer, parliamentarian and administrator (knighted in 1926 with the KCIE and again in 1939 with the KCSI; renounced both knighthoods in 1948 following Indian independence).
*
Khwaja Nazimuddin
Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin ( bn, খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; ur, ; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali to ha ...
, nobleman, administrator and politician who served as the
Governor-General of Pakistan
The governor-general of Pakistan ( ur, ) was the representative of the Pakistani monarch in the Dominion of Pakistan, established by the Indian Independence Act 1947. The office of governor-general was abolished when Pakistan became an Islami ...
from 1948 to 1951 and as the
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Pa ...
from 1951 to 1953 (knighted in 1934 with the KCIE; renounced knighthood in 1946 due to his personal belief in independence from Britain).
Replacement honours proposed
Those objecting the British Honours system have proposed alternative honours.
Wales
There have been calls to introduce a Welsh honours system such as a "Medal Cymru" which was backed by a petition but the Senedd's Assembly Commission has said that it was not an appropriate time to introduce "Medal Cymru" due to the "current economic climate" in 2009. One particular option that was considered following a public consultation, was to award one "Medal Cymru" per year from the Senedd.
Tanni Grey-Thompson
Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, (born 26 July 1969), known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh politician, television presenter and former wheelchair racer.
Athletic career
Grey-Thompson's Paralympic career started in the 1 ...
has said that this proposal would be a "lovely idea". In 2013, the
St David Awards
The Saint David Awards (Welsh: ''Gwobrau Dewi Sant'') are an annual government awards scheme which recognizes exceptional achievements by Welsh citizens within Wales, the UK and globally. They are the highest accolades that the Welsh Governme ...
was launched alongside the existing British honours system, awarding Welsh people for "inspiring and exceptional work". In 2021, a petition was launched to the Senedd titled "The inauguration of an Honorary National System of Awards; The Cymru Knighthood Award", proposing a Welsh honours system. The
Welsh Government
, image =
, caption =
, date_established =
, country = Wales
, address =
, leader_title = First Minister ()
, appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...
said that it did not have plans to introduce a Welsh honours system to replace the British honours system.
See also
*
Abdication of Edward VIII
In early December 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing the divorce of her secon ...
* Canadian titles debate – Ongoing debate since 1919 over whether or not Canadians can accept British honours.
** '' Black v Chrétien'' – 2001 legal case that affirmed the power of the Canadian prime minister to block such appointments.