The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor was formed in 1908 in the United Kingdom and received royal recognition in 1912. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II until her death in 2022. It is a registered charity and seeks to uphold and advise on the dignity and rights of Knights Bachelor and knighthood, and to register every duly authenticated knighthood.
Its charitable objectives include the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, support for hospitals, the elderly, and the needy. A particular objective is to assist Knights Bachelor to encourage and develop understanding and cooperation between the citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1962, the society established its own chapel in the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, London. In 2005, the chapel was moved to St Martin's Chapel in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.[1] The society's badge may be worn in the form of a brooch by wives and daughters of knights.
Periodically, the Society published lists of living recipients of awards, with the subtitle A list of the existing recipients of the honour of Knighthood together with a short account of the origin, objects and work of ... the society.
The editions published by the Society included the Order of General Precedence extant in England at the time, so that the 1939–1946 edition (20th edition), and the subsequent 1949–1950 (21st edition), indicated pre-war and post-war precedence.
Escutcheon: | Gules a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown between in chief two spurs Or. |
Crest: | On a chapeau Gules turned up Or in front of a sun in splendour Gules the rays Or a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown Or mantled gules doubled Or. |
Supporters: | Dexter a female figure proper robed Argent purfled Azure holding in the exterior hand a palm branch Vert, sinister the figure of a knight armed in mail Proper the long surcoat Argent doubled Azure drawing his sword Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or pendent by a guige Vert on the exterior arm a shield Gules charged with a sword erect Proper quillons and pomel Or grip Purpure scabbard Azure garnished Or the blade part drawn the scabbard enfiled through a Saxon crown between in chief two spurs Or. |
Motto: | Trouthe and Honour |
Notes: | Granted 8 March 1971[2] |