Expense of Baronetcy and Knighthood
The fees chargeable on a Baronetcy in the Heralds’-office are reported by Sir C. G. Young, Garter King-at-Arms, to amount to 21l. 2s. 3d. (payable to the Heralds’ College), besides which there is a sum of 15l. 2s. 4d., “incidental to the creation of a baronet,” and payable for the necessary certificate of his arms and pedigree registered in the college, so that the sum total payable to the Heralds’-office is 36l. 4s. 7d. The newly-created baronet, it would appear, is further mulcted by the Crown-office in the sum total of 257l. 9s. 1d., of which 120l. is for stamps, nearly 58l. for the royal household, and 21l. for the heralds.
The Knight Bachelor is required to pay a fee of 9l. 8s. 3d. if the dignity is conferred by the Sovereign; 9l. 13s. 6d. if it is conferred by patent; and 18l. 15s. 2d. when the knighthood is conferred prior to the admission into the Order of the Bath as a G.C.B. This is in the Heralds’-office. In the Crown-office a sum of 155l. 12s. 10d. is exacted, of which 30l. is for stamps and 69l. 19s. 4d. for the royal household. As regards the Order of the Bath, there are no fees chargeable by the Heralds’ College, except on the preliminary grade of common Knighthood already described.
The robes, collars, and badges for the Knights of the several Orders are also very costly. The sum of 4625l. 10s. 7d. was charged for items, including four silver boxes for the great seal of the Order of the Garter for the Sultan and the King of Sardinia, repairs of collars, ribands, stationery, &c. The complete robes, of the Order of the Garter for the King of Sardinia cost 346l., and the same for the Sultan (excepting the silver under-dress), 279l. Two mantles of the Garter and one of the Thistle cost 190l. The banner of the King of Sardinia in St. George’s Chapel is charged by the herald painter at 27l. 17s. 6d. The goldsmith charges 2378l. for 140 new military companions’ badges, at 16l. 9s. 9d. each; 195l. for fifteen new civil commanders’ badges, at 13l. each; 302l. for 130 new civil companions’ badges at 10l. 1s. 9½d. each; 157l. for nine new silver enamelled stars (G.C.B.), at 17l. 10s. each; 261l. for eighteen new military K.C.B. stars, at 14l. 10s.; and 295l. for re-enamelling and “making as new” twelve collars and eighty-eight badges, besides other items. These honours have, on some occasions, been made as profitable to the Sovereign as to his officers of State. James I. became the subject of much ridicule, not quite unmerited, for putting honours to sale. He created the order of baronet, which he disposed of for a sum of money; and it seems that he sold common knighthood as low as thirty pounds, at least it was so reported. In the old play of Eastward Hoe, one of the characters says: “I know the man well: he is one of my thirty-pound knights.”