Order of the Companions of Honour

Order of the Companions of Honour
Riband and badge of the "Companions of Honour"
Awarded by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms
Type	Order
Established	4 June 1917
Motto	In Action Faithful and in Honour Clear
Awarded for	Nationally important service
Status	Currently constituted
Sovereign	Queen Elizabeth II
Grades	Companion (CH)
Ribbon bar of the order

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 and is "conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seems to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour disassociated either from the acceptance of title or the classification of merit."

Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes regarded as the junior order to the Order of Merit. Now described as "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time", the first recipients were all decorated for "services in connection with the war" and were listed in The London Gazette. The Chapel Royal at Hampton Court is now the Chapel of the Order.

Composition

Lord Tweedsmuir, as Governor General of Canada, wearing the Companion of Honour badge around his neck

The order consists of the Sovereign and a maximum 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Membership confers no title or precedence, but those inducted into the single-class order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH. Appointments can be made on the advice of Commonwealth realm prime ministers. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials.

Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two each for New Zealand and South Africa, and nine for India, Burma, and the other British colonies. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven.

While still able to nominate candidates to the Order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped the allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Margaret MacMillan, a Canadian historian, was given the award in 2017. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018. Margaret Atwood, a Canadian author, was appointed in 2019.

Insignia

The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by an imperial crown, and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on the left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR, Alexander Pope's description (in iambic pentameter) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs, later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey. Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at the left shoulder.

Current Companions

• Sovereign:
  • Queen Elizabeth II

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Occupation	Date of appointment	Age
01 (237)	Sir Michael Somare	GCL, GCMG, CH, PC	Former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea	3 June 1978	88
02 (267)	The Lord Tebbit	CH, PC	Politician	31 July 1987	93
03 (270)	The Lord Baker of Dorking	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	90
04 (271)	The Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	90
05 (278)	The Lord King of Bridgwater	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	91
06 (282)	Dame Janet Baker	CH, DBE	Opera singer	31 December 1993	91
07 (287)	The Lord Owen	CH, PC	Politician	11 June 1994	86
08 (289)	Sir David Attenborough	OM, GCMG, CH, CVO, CBE	Broadcaster; naturalist	30 December 1995	98
09 (291)	The Lord Hurd of Westwell	CH, CBE, PC	Politician	30 December 1995	94
10 (294)	David Hockney	OM, CH	Artist	14 June 1997	87
11 (296)	The Lord Heseltine	CH, PC	Politician	2 August 1997	91
12 (297)	The Lord Patten of Barnes	CH, PC	Politician; former Governor of Hong Kong	31 December 1997	80
13 (298)	Peter Brook	CH, CBE	Director	13 June 1998	99
14 (299)	Sir John Major	KG, CH, PC	Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	31 December 1998	81
15 (300)	Bridget Riley	CH, CBE	Artist	31 December 1998	93
16 (305)	John de Chastelain	CC, CMM, CD, CH	Canadian Army officer; diplomat	31 December 1998	87
17 (311)	Sir Harrison Birtwistle	CH	Composer	30 December 2000	90
18 (316)	James Lovelock	CH, CBE, FRS	Environmentalist	31 December 2002	105
19 (317)	Dan McKenzie	CH, FRS	Geophysicist	14 June 2003	82
20 (318)	The Lord Hannay of Chiswick	GCMG, CH	Diplomat	14 June 2003	79
21 (320)	Dame Judi Dench	CH, DBE	Actress	11 June 2005	89
22 (321)	Sir Ian McKellen	CH, CBE	Actor	31 December 2007	85
23 (322)	The Lord Rogers of Riverside	CH, FRIBA, FREng, RA	Architect	14 June 2008	91
24 (323)	The Lord Howard of Lympne	CH, QC, PC	Politician	11 June 2011	83
25 (324)	The Lord Young of Cookham	Bt, CH, PC	Politician	20 September 2012	83
26 (325)	The Lord Coe	CH, KBE	Politician; Athlete; organiser of 2012 Olympics	29 December 2012	68
27 (326)	Peter Higgs	CH, FRS	Physicist	29 December 2012	95
28 (327)	The Lord Strathclyde	CH, PC	Politician	7 January 2013	64
29 (328)	The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem	CH, CBE, PC, QC	Politician	15 June 2013	83
30 (329)	Sir Nicholas Serota	CH	Curator	15 June 2013	78
31 (331)	The Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve	CH, CBE, FBA, FRS, FMedSci	Philosopher	31 December 2013	83
32 (332)	Dame Maggie Smith	CH, DBE	Actress	14 June 2014	89
33 (333)	The Lord Clarke of Nottingham	CH, QC, PC	Politician	22 July 2014	84
34 (336)	Lady Mary Peters	LG, CH, DBE	Athlete	1 January 2015	85
35 (337)	The Lord Young of Graffham	CH, PC, DL	Politician	1 January 2015	92
36 (339)	The Lord Woolf	CH, PC, FBA, FMedSci	Judge	12 June 2015	91
37 (341)	Sir Roy Strong	CH, FRSL	Art historian; museum director	1 January 2016	89
38 (343)	The Lord Smith of Kelvin	KT, CH	Businessman	11 June 2016	80
39 (344)	The Baroness Amos	CH, PC	Politician; diplomat	11 June 2016	70
40 (345)	George Osborne	CH, PC	Politician; former Chancellor of the Exchequer	4 August 2016	53
41 (347)	Sir Richard Eyre	CH, CBE	Director	31 December 2016	81
42 (348)	Dame Evelyn Glennie	CH, DBE	Musician	31 December 2016	59
43 (349)	Sir Alec Jeffreys	CH, FRS	Geneticist	31 December 2016	74
44 (351)	The Baroness Williams of Crosby	CH, PC	Politician	31 December 2016	94
45 (353)	Sir Mark Elder	CH, CBE	Conductor	17 June 2017	77
46 (354)	Dame Beryl Grey	CH, DBE	Dancer	17 June 2017	97
47 (355)	Sir Paul McCartney	CH, MBE	Musician	17 June 2017	82
48 (356)	J. K. Rowling	CH, OBE	Author	17 June 2017	59
49 (357)	Dame Stephanie Shirley	CH, DBE, FREng	Entrepreneur; philanthropist	17 June 2017	91
50 (358)	Delia Smith	CH, CBE	Cook; author	17 June 2017	83
51 (359)	The Lord Stern of Brentford	CH, FRS, FBA	Economist	17 June 2017	78
52 (361)	The Lord Bragg	CH, FRS, FBA, FRSL	Broadcaster	30 December 2017	85
53 (362)	Lady Antonia Fraser	CH, DBE, FRSL	Author	30 December 2017	92
54 (363)	Margaret MacMillan	CC, CH	Historian	30 December 2017	80
55 (364)	Richard Henderson	CH, FRS, FMedSci	Biologist	9 June 2018	79
56 (365)	Dame Kiri Te Kanawa	ONZ, CH, DBE, AC	Opera singer	9 June 2018	80
57 (366)	Margaret Atwood	CC, OOnt, CH, FRSC, FRSL	Author	29 December 2018	84
58 (367)	The Lord McLoughlin	CH, PC	Politician	10 September 2019	67
59 (368)	Sir Elton John	CH, CBE	Musician	28 December 2019	77
60 (369)	Sir Keith Thomas	CH, FBA, FLSW, FRHistS	Historian	28 December 2019	91
61 (370)	Sir Paul Smith	CH, CBE, RDI	Fashion designer	10 October 2020	78
62 (371)	Sir David Chipperfield	CH, CBE, RA, RDI, RIBA,	Architect	31 December 2020	70
63 (-)	Vacant following the death of Dame Vera Lynn, singer, on 18 June 2020.
64 (-)	Vacant following the death of Sir Terence Conran, designer, on 12 September 2020.
65 (-)	Vacant following the death of Doug Anthony, politician, on 20 December 2020.

Honorary Companions

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Occupation	Date of appointment	Age
1 (261)	Amartya Sen	CH, FBA	Economist	11 May 2000	91
2 (304)	Bernard Haitink	CH, KBE	Conductor	12 June 2002	95
3 (340)	Desmond Tutu	CH	Social rights activist; clergyman	30 November 2015	93

See also

• List of Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour
• List of honorary British knights and dames
• List of people who have declined a British honour