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

is the oldest and lowest-ranking form of

knight 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 Gr ...

hood in the

British honours system In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award: *Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement a ...

; it is the rank granted to a man who has been

ed by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised

orders of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concep ...

. Women are not knighted; in practice, the equivalent award for a woman is appointment as 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 ...

(founded in 1917).

Knights Bachelor appointed in 1917

Notes

It was announced in the

1917 New Year Honours The 1917 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 several editions of ''The London Gazette'' in Ja ...

that a knighthood was to be bestowed on William Gundry, JP (a magistrate for Middlesex, the president of the Enfield Liberal Association and a director of Messrs Morris, Ashby Ltd, a firm of city merchants), but he died before he received the accolade. By a royal warrant dated 9 January 1918,

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 Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

declared that his widow, Florence Eugenie Barwell Gundry, "shall have, hold and enjoy the style, title, place and precedence to which she would have been entitled had her husband survived to receive the honour of Knight Bachelor at the hands of His Majesty".
The Edinburgh Gazette
', 29 January 1918 (issue 13201), p. 503.

References

{{Knights Bachelor Knights Bachelor Lists of knights and dames British honours system