PUBLIC
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TRIC.O. 885
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
A British and
der.
not
4
And here it may be remarked, that in the early Ionian and Maltese Or- period of the Order a misapprehension frequently occurred, owing to the presumption that, because the Order was confined to Ionians and Maltese, it was an Ionian and Maltese Order, while in reality it was always a strictly British Order.
1818.
Established by Letters
The Order was established in the year 1818, Patent of 27th April, under the Authority of Letters Patent bearing date the 27th April of that year. It was styled in that Instrument" the Distinguished," and afterwards Statutes of 12th An- in the Statutes of the 12th of August following gust, 1818.
was designated "the Most Distinguished Order. By these Statutes it was enacted that the Sove reign of Great Britain should be the Sovereign of the Order and that the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, or such other distinguished person serving in the Naval and Military Forces as should be appointed by the Sovereign, should be the Grand Master of the Order.
It was
Sovereign.
Grand Master.
8 Knights Grand Cross, 12 KnightsCommanders, 24 Knights.
British subjects. Order
limited
to
natives of the Ionian
Islande and Malta.
further provided that the Order should consist of three Classes :-
1. Knights Grand Cross.
2. Knights Commanders,
3. Knights.
The First Class was not to exceed eight in number, including the Grand Master; the Second not to exceed 12; and the Third not to exceed 24, except in the case of certain British subjects. The Order was to be limited to Natives of the Ionian Islands or of Malta, who should be nobly born, or eminently distinguished by their Merits, Virtue, and Loyalty; and to such British subjects (other than Natives of Malta) "holding the highest and most confidential situations" in the Ionian Islands and Malta, "or in Our employ therein, or in Our Naval Service in the Mediterranean," as might be deemed worthy of the honour. It was pro- vided that the Officer for the time being in Com- Naval Officer Com-
mand of the Naval Forces should hold the rank manding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean to be and honour of First Knight Grand Cross, next First and Principal after the Grand Master, but only as long as he Knight Grand Cross, should retain his command, and that, when super- and to be placed next
to the Grand Master. seded, he should resign the honour in favour of his
5
Limitation of reten-
for five years,
successor. No British subject, having received the But to resign the decoration, might retain it after quitting the Sove-hour in favour of his reign's Service in connection with those Islands, successor, unless he should have served for a period of five ten of Decoration by years. There were to be two Prelates, one the British subjects unless Archbishop at Corfu, the other the Archbishop at they should have served Malta, but it seeins from a statement (12th August, 1832) by Sir F. Hankey, that there was found a Corfu, and one at Malta. Two Prelates, one at difficulty in arranging without the sanction of the Pope the appointment of the Prelate at Malta, and from the death of Dr. Xerri, Prelate in that Island, on the 28th November, 1821, there was only one Prelate of the Order-the Head of the Greek Church at Corfu. On the death of Dr. Macario, Prelate in the Ionian Islauds, on the 14th Septem- ber, 1827, the Order remained without a Prelate until the appointment of Dr. Masullo, Archbishop of Corfu, on 21st May, 1840. Under the Statutes of 16th August, 1832, provision was made for only one Prelate of the Order.
Under the original Statutes there were also to be a Registrar, a King at Arms appointed by the Grand Master, and a Secretary who was to be the Private Secretary for the time being of the Lord High Commissioner.
The Letters Patent made provision for a Seal to be engraved, and the Statutes of the 12th August following refer to it as a "Great" Seal. The word Great"
was not used in the Letters Patent, and has not been used in subsequent Statutes.
Co
With regard to the Motto of the Order, the following is an extract from the "History of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George" (1842), by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, G.C.M.G., Chancellor of the Order.
"Nothing is said
in the history of the Order respecting he Motto, because it was hoped that the trouble which has been taken to trace the words 'Auspicium melioris aevi' to some author of antiquity would have been successful. But though the learning of many eminent scholars has been employed in the inquiry, all that has been discovered is that the legend Auspicium
C
Prelato at Corfu.
Registrar.
King of Arms. Secretary.
Seat.
Motto.