ANNIS 1682—1684.]
ORDER OF THE GARTER.
263
the decease of the Duke of Lauderdale; and having arrived from Scotland,was Knighted and Invested on the 4th, and on the 21st of November, wasInstalled. 10
Though the custom had long prevailed of wearing the Ribband over the leftshoulder, with the lesser George suspended under the right arm * 11 instead of roundthe neck, it was not until this year that the practice was regularly authorized bya Statute. At a Chapter held at Whitehall on the 19th of November 1682, thefollowing Decree was made: “ Whereas for the greater honour of such as wereKnights Companions of the most noble Order of the Garter, in the time ofKing Charles the First of blessed memory, it was in Chapter ordained that theCloak, Coat, or Riding Cassock of each Knight Companion, when they did notwear their Robes, should have the Cross of Saint George, encompassed with theGarter, embroidered on the left part thereof, which being accordingly used, andcommonly close before, doth hinder the sight of the sky-coloured Ribband andGeorge hanging thereat, it is therefore thought fit and now ordained by theSovereign and Knights Companions here assembled in Chapter, that to the endthe said Ribband and George may be the more openly seen, each KnightCompanion of the said Order shall from henceforth wear his said Ribband andGeorge thereunto affixed, upon his uppermost Garment (be it Coat or Cassock)in the form of a belt, put over the left shoulder, and coming under the right
99 12
arm. 12
On the 1st of January 1684, Prince George of Denmark, second son ofFrederic the Third, the reigning monarch, who on the 7th of August 1683 hadmarried the Princess Anne, daughter of James Duke of York (afterwardsQueen Anne) was Elected in place of Prince Rupert, and Invested; 13 and onthe 10th of the same month, Charles Seymour Duke of Somerset, and GeorgeFitz Roy Duke of Northumberland, another of the King’s natural sons, were
10 London Gazettes, No. 1759, 1775.
11 Vide Remarks on this subject under the head of Habits and Ensigns of the Order, postea.
12 Additional MS. 6280, f. 139.—The above is also the account given of this Decree in Garter’sRegister, in the possession of Sir William Woods, Garter, in the handwriting of Sir William Dugdale ;but the Printed Statutes (p. 57) state that this Ordinance was made on the 30th of July 33 Car. II.[1681], though Sir William Dugdale takes no notice of any Chapter having been held on that day.The Decree itself is thus given in the Statutes now delivered to the Knights: “ At a Chapter, held the‘ 30th day of July, in the 33rd year of the Reign of King Charles the Second [i. e. 1681], it was‘ decreed, that the Ribband, with the George, should be worn over the Upper Habit, Beltways, over‘ the left shoulder, and under the right arm, in such manner, as might best be seen.”
13 London Gazette, No. 1891.