INTRODUCTION. xiii

gave offence to the Queen. King James the First in an Ordi-nance of April 1623, for the registration of Knights, speaks ofpersons who may receive the dignity “ from us or any of ourLieutenants ;” 5 and the Duke of Albemarle, as Lieutenant Ge-neral and General Governor of Jamaica, in May 1686, wasempowered to confer Knighthood “ upon such person or per-sons, within the said Island, not exceeding six in number, as hemight think deserving the same, in the King's service, and who,on being duly registered in the Court of Chancery in Jamaica,were to enjoy all such privileges as a Knight Bachelor createdin the Kingdom of England could enjoy.” 6

For a long period, however, the only subject who has madeKnights, by virtue of power incidental to his commission, wasthe Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; but even his authority to doso was considered doubtful; and in the year 1823 the questionwas referred for the opinion of : the Judges, who reported that“ the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland does, since the union of GreatBritain and Ireland, possess the power of conferring the ho-nour of Knighthood as he did whilst Ireland was a separateKingdom,” 7 apparently on the grounds of precedent and usage,

5 Vide p. xxx, postea.

6 Rot. Patent. 4 Jac. II. p. 4 , m. 20. Ex inform. Thomas Palmer, Esq. of the RollsChapel.

7 The following note respecting this question, has been obligingly communicated byCharles George Young, Esq. York Herald :

In December 1821 Earl Talbot, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Knighted Captain JohnPhillimore, of the Royal Navy, when the Admiralty raised a question as to the power ofthe Lord Lieutenant and Governor General of Ireland to confer the honour of Knighthood,without an express authority from the Sovereign, no such authority being given in anyexpress terms by the Letters Patent or Commission constituting him Lord Lieutenant ofIreland. Towards the close of the same month, Earl Talbot was succeeded by the MarquessWellesley as Lord Lieutenant, who after he had taken the Oaths, and been Invested with theCollar of Saint Patrick on the 29th of December, Knighted John Kingston James, Esquire,