Order of Charity explained

Order of Charity
نشانِ شفقت
Presenter:

Ottoman Sultan
Type:Order of Merit
Awarded For:Charitable work
Status:No longer awarded
Established:1878

The Order of Charity (Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: نشانِ شفقت), sometimes referred to as the Order of the Chefakat, was an order of the Ottoman Empire founded in 1878 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II.[1]

It was bestowed on selected women for distinguished humanitarian or charitable works, or as a token of the Sultan's esteem.[2] Recipients included non-Ottoman citizens, including the English painter Margaret Murray Cookesley for her portrait of the Sultan's son,[3] Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1883), wife of the Earl of Dufferin who was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire,[4] and to American social reformer Ellen Martin Henrotin (1893).[5]

The badge consists of a five pointed star in gold and crimson enamel, with a central gold medallion bearing the Sultan's cypher, surrounded by a green enamelled band with the words "Humanity, Assistance, Patriotism" in Ottoman Turkish. The star rests upon a circular wreath enamelled green with crimson berries, the whole mounted on another star with radiant points. The decoration is hung from a star and crescent suspension, enamelled red. The order had three classes,[6] with the highest class mounted with diamonds and other precious stones.[1]

Recipients

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ottoman medal for 'compassionate' British lady to go under the hammer. Hurriyet Daily News. 24 January 2015.
  2. Web site: Ottoman Orders and Decorations as Forms of Honor. Ottoman Bank. 24 January 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120501104355/http://www.obarsiv.com/english/Ottoman_Orders_and_Decorations.html. 1 May 2012.
  3. https://archive.org/details/womeninfinearts01wategoog Clement-Waters, Clara Erskine. Women in the fine arts, page 85. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1904.
  4. Web site: Davenport-Hines. Richard. Blackwood, Hariot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-, marchioness of Dufferin and Ava (1843–1936). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line edition (subscription required). Oxford University Press. 9 October 2020. Jan 2008.
  5. https://books.google.com/books?id=rzROAAAAMAAJ&q=chefakat&pg=PA976 The Semi-centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, page 976. University of Illinois, 1918
  6. Book: Captain H. Taprell Dorling.. Ribbons and Medals.. 265. A.H.Baldwin & Sons. London. 1956.