X-Nico

48 unusual facts about Order of the British Empire


1948 in archaeology

Maud Cunnington made CBE for services to archaeology, the first woman archaeologist to receive the honour.

A Week in December

A pickle millionaire enlists the help of R. Tranter, novelist and critic, to prepare for his meeting with the Queen when he receives his OBE.

Albert Norman

Albert Norman MBE (1882 – 1964) was one of the founders and the first secretary of the Institute of Biomedical Science.

Anne Lucas

Anne Shirley Lucas CBE (born c. 1951) is an Australian actress, best known for her roles on television as Eve Turner (later Steele) in The Young Doctors and Faye Quin in Prisoner.

Baden-Powell grave

The grave of Lieutenant-General The 1st Baron Baden-Powell and his wife, Olave, Baroness Baden-Powell, G.B.E., are in Nyeri in Central Province, Kenya, near Mount Kenya.

Bate family

Jeff Bate's second wife, Thelma Florence Bate CBE, (3 August 1904 – 26 July 1984) was an Australian community leader and women's activist.

Bertie Clarke

Dr Carlos Bertram (Bertie) Clarke, OBE (7 April 1918, Lakes Folly, Cats Castle, St Michael, Barbados – 14 October 1993, Putney, London, England) was a West Indian cricketer who played in three Tests in 1939.

Calum Colvin

Calum Colvin RSA OBE (born Glasgow, 1961) is a Scottish artist whose work combines photography, painting, and installation, and often deals with issues of Scottish identity and culture and with the history of art.

Carla Lane

Carla Lane, OBE (born Romana Barrack, 5 August 1937) is an English television writer responsible for many sitcoms, including The Liver Birds (1969–78), Butterflies (1978–82), and Bread (1986–91).

Clan Arbuthnott

The present Viscount of Arbuthnott and chief of Clan Arbuthnott has been awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Order of the British Empire.

Claudia Orange

In 1993 Orange was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and awarded DCNZM in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to historical research.

Coventry Telegraph

The foundation stone of its previous headquarters at 157 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1FP, was laid by the then proprietor, Lord Iliffe G.B.E, on 21 November 1957.

Diane Towler

Towler / Ford are MBE recipients and were inducted into the World Figure skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs in 1993.

E. Morris Miller

Edmund Morris Miller, CBE (1881 – 1964) was an Australian author, professor, and vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania between 1933-1945.

Frank Horwill

Frank J. Horwill MBE (19 June 1927 – 1 January 2012) was a UK Athletics senior level 4 coach most famous for founding the British Milers' Club (BMC) and for formulating the Five Pace Training Theory which is widely used for coaching middle-distance runners throughout the world.

Frederick Kisch

Frederick Hermann Kisch CBE, CB, DSO (August 23, 1888 – April 7, 1943) was a decorated British Army officer and Zionist leader.

Gavin Long

Long was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1953 for his services as editor of the official history.

Jim Leishman

In the Queen's Birthday Honours 2007, Leishman was appointed as a member of the Order of the British Empire for 'services to sport'.

John Bussey

Group Captain John Bussey, OBE (1895-1979) was in charge of Reconnassance for the British Royal Air Force during WWII.

John Greig

John Greig MBE (born 11 September 1942 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional football player who, despite his boyhood allegiance to hometown team Heart of Midlothian, spent his entire career in Glasgow with Rangers as a player, manager and director.

Greig was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 15 November 1977.

Laura Ashley

In 1975 Laura turned down the offer of an OBE (she was upset Bernard had not been offered one).

Laurence Henry Hicks

Laurence Henry Hicks (1912-1997), OBE, was an English-born military bandmaster and composer.

On 1 January 1963 he was appointed to The Order of the British Empire – Officer (Military) with the citation, "For service as Director of Music with the RAAF".

Miles Franklin

In 1937, Franklin declined appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Mirosław Vitali

He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1986 in recognition of his outstanding work helping British servicemen who had lost limbs in World War II.

New Tredegar

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to music and for charitable services.

Parveen Kumar

Parveen June Kumar CBE is a British doctor who served as President of the British Medical Association in 2006, and of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2010 to 2012.

Pato Kakaraya

Sir Pato Kakaraya, KBE, is a Papua New Guinea politician and Cabinet Minister.

Paul McStay

Paul Michael Lyons McStay OBE, nicknamed the Maestro (born 22 October 1964, Hamilton), is a former football player who spent his entire career with Scottish team Celtic F.C., making his debut in 1982 and retiring in 1997.

Peter Dimmock

Peter Harold Dimmock CBE, CVO (born 6 December 1920) is a pioneering former sports broadcaster and senior executive of British television during its formative years in the 1950s.

Ponsonby Britt

Britt eventually supposedly became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was retained in the cartoon's closing credits as an in-joke.

Quintiles

Quintiles was founded in 1982 by Dennis Gillings, Ph.D., CBE, then a professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Robert Merrill Lee

General Robert Merrill Lee CBE (April 13, 1909 – June 29, 2003) was the air deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, with the responsibility of assisting SACEUR in developing, training and employing NATO combat forces for the defense of allied Europe.

Robin Duval

On retirement from the BBFC he was made a C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the film industry.

Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec

Colonel (ret) Jean Berthiaume, OBE, CD - Infantry officer of the Régiment de St-Hyacinthe and of the Royal 22e Régiment - 1915-2003

Simon Richardson

It was announced on 31 December 2008 that Richardson was to be appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours "for services to Disabled Sport".

Specsavers

The co-founder of Specsavers, Mary Perkins, was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2007 in recognition of her services to business and the community in Guernsey.

Stefan Skarbek

His mother is the bestselling author Marjorie Wallace who was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire for founding the charity SANE.

Subramaniam Ramadorai

Subramanian Ramadorai, CBE ( born 6 October 1945) is the adviser to the Prime Minister of India in the national council on skill development, Government of India.

Theodore McEvoy

Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore Neuman McEvoy KCB CBE RAF (21 November 1904 – 19 September 1991) was a senior Royal Air Force officer during World War II who held high command in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Tiger Tim Stevens

In 2006 Stevens was awarded the Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his charity work and services to broadcasting in Scotland.

Tom Stott

Tom Cleave Stott CBE (6 June 1899-21 October 1976) spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving as Speaker of the House from 1962 to 1965 and 1968 to 1970.

Trevor Harrison

In 2001, The Archers 50th anniversary year, he was made an MBE for his services to radio drama, particularly for his role in The Archers.

Twyford railway station

In 2005 Norman Topson, the station master for 16 years and local rail worker for 43 years, was awarded an MBE for services to the railway industry and community.

Vic Renalson

Renalson was a finalist in the ABC Sportsman of the Year award in 1968, and became a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1973 for services to sport and the community.

Walter Percy Day

Walter Percy Day O.B.E.(1878, Luton −1965, Los Angeles) was a British painter best remembered for his work as a matte artist and special effects technician in the film industry.

Wentworth D'Arcy Uhr

His grandson, Clive Uhr, would become a noted radiologist and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.


Angela Sarkis

Angela Sarkis CBE (b. 1955), was the Chief Executive of the Nurture Group Network, a charitable organisation which promotes and supports the development of specialist support for vulnerable children within mainstream education.

Arthur Colvin

The Honourable Colonel Arthur Edmund Colvin CBE MC MLC (24 April 1884 - 20 August 1966) was a member of New South Wales Legislative Council and a soldier, surgeon and physician.

Blake Pelly

Blake Raymond Pelly OBE (31 May 1907, Buckley, Flintshire - 16 October 1990, Sydney) was an Australian air force officer, politician and businessman, who represented the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales Parliament.

Charles Style

Vice Admiral Charles Style CBE (born 1954) is a former Royal Navy officer and a former Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Deborah Bull

She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by University of Derby (1998), Sheffield Hallam University (2001), Kent University (2010) and the Open University (2005) and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Dorothy Garrod

Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod CBE, FBA (5 May 1892 – 18 December 1968) was a British archaeologist who was the first woman to hold an Oxbridge chair, partly through her pioneering work on the Palaeolithic period.

Elmer J. Rogers, Jr.

His foreign decorations include the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Croix de Guerre with Palm (French), Pilots Citation, Royal Yugoslavian Air Force, the Order of the White Elephant, 2nd Class (Thailand), the Ulchi Distinguished Military Service Medal with Gold Star (Republic of Korea), the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), and the Military Order of Taeguk (Korea).

Eric Gardner Turner

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1975 and was knighted in 1981.

Franklin Miller

He has received the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit in the grade of Grand Officer, the French Legion of Honor in the grade of Officer, and, in December 2006, he was awarded an honorary knighthood, a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), by Queen Elizabeth II.

Freddie Young

Freddie Young OBE, BSC (9 October 1902 - 1 December 1998), (sometimes credited as Frederick A. Young) was one of Britain's most distinguished and influential cinematographers.

Gerard Basset

Gerard Francis Claude Basset OBE, MS, MW, MBA, is the owner with his wife, Nina, of Hotel Terravina, a New Forest Hotel near Southampton in Hampshire, United Kingdom.

Gord Reay

Lieutenant General Gordon Reay CMM MBE CD (30 May 1943 – 21 December 2000) was the Chief of the Land Staff of the Canadian Forces.

Hardy N. Ganong

Major-General Hardy Nelson Ganong CBE, EDV (Apr 18, 1890 - February 24, 1963) was a Canadian sportsman and a military commander who served in both World War I and II.

Harold Bowden

Sir Harold Bowden, 2nd Baronet, GBE (9 July 1880 – 24 August 1960), was the chairman and chief executive of the Raleigh Bicycle Company and Sturmey-Archer Ltd from his father's death in 1921 until his own retirement in 1938.

Harold Wilson bibliography

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century.

Jean Robinson

Jean Robinson, CBE (8 December 1899 - 5 November 1986) was the first female mayor of Blackpool, Lancashire from 1968-1969.

John Boot, 2nd Baron Trent

John Campbell Boot, 2nd Baron Trent KBE (19 January 1889–8 March 1956) was the son of the Jesse Boot who turned the Boots Company, founded by his father John Boot, into a major national company.

John Moores, Jr.

His older sister Betty Suenson-Taylor, The Dowager Lady Grantchester, who married her husband Kenneth Bent Suenson-Taylor, 2nd Baron Grantchester, his younger brother Sir Peter Moores, CBE, DL and younger sister Janitha Moores.

Jon Moynihan

Jon Moynihan, OBE (born 21 June 1948) is the former Executive Chairman of PA Consulting Group, the employee-owned firm of over 2,000 people, specialising in management and IT consulting, technology and innovation.

Jonathan Betts

Jonathan Betts MBE (born 29 January 1955) is Senior Specialist in horology at the Royal Observatory (National Maritime Museum), Greenwich, a horological scholar and author, and an expert on the first marine timekeepers created by John Harrison in the middle of the 18th century.

Jonathan Woodcock

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Ken Hind

Kenneth Harvand Hind, known as Ken Hind, CBE, (born 15 September 1949) was the Conservative Member of Parliament for West Lancashire from 1983 until 1992, when he was defeated by Labour's Colin Pickthall.

Landis Gores

By the time he completed active duty he had been awarded both the Legion of Merit and the Order of the British Empire.

Margaret Stones

Elsie Margaret Stones AM, MBE (born 28 August 1920 at Colac, Victoria) is an Australian botanical illustrator.

Margaret Winifred Vowles

Edward Oscar Pearce (12/9/1885 - 31/8/1963) awarded an Order of the British Empire (military) in 1919 whilst a Captain (acting Major) in the Royal Engineers.

Michael Ogio

Sir Michael Ogio, GCMG, CBE (born 7 July 1942) is the ninth and current Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.

Mirosław Vitali

Miroslaw (Mirek) Vitali, OBE (October 5, 1914 in Human, Ukraine – February 19, 1992 in London, England) was a physician specialising in treatment and care of amputees.

Missing People

In 1996 Mary Asprey and Janet Newman were honoured for their services to charity with OBEs.

Neil Cossons

Sir Neil Cossons OBE FSA FMA FRGS (born 15 January 1939) is Pro-Provost and Chairman of Council of the Royal College of Art, of which he has been a Governor since 1989.

Niall FitzGerald

Niall FitzGerald, KBE (born 13 September 1945 in County Sligo) is an Irish businessman.

Patsy Adam-Smith

Patricia Jean "Patsy" Adam-Smith AO, OBE (31 May 1924 – 20 September 2001) was an Australian author, historian and servicewoman.

Ralph Allwood

Ralph Allwood, MBE (born 1950) was the Precentor and Director of Music at Eton College in the UK until September 2011.

Rob Kell

John Robert ("Rob") Kell, CBE (1902 - 1983) was an English civil engineer with particular expertise in the field of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Rosalinde Hurley

Dame Rosalinde Hurley, Mrs. Gortvai, DBE, FRC, FRCPath, FRCOG (30 December 1929 – 30 June 2004) was knighted by the British government for her services to medicine, science and law.

Roslyn Philp

Sir Roslyn Foster Bowie Philp KBE (27 July 1895 – 19 March 1965) was appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court of Queensland, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Queensland.

Roy Kettle

Leroy Richard Arthur "Roy" Kettle OBE (born 1949) is a retired United Kingdom civil servant who, among many other achievements, was one of the principal architects of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Samuel Herbert Wilson

Brigadier General Sir Samuel Herbert Wilson, GCMG, KCB, KBE (1873-1950) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Trinidad and Tobago between 1921 and 1924.

Sibyl Hathaway

On the 400th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I's grant of charter to Sark's first seigneur, Hellier de Carteret, Hathaway was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the Buckingham Palace.

Single-wire earth return

Lloyd Mandeno OBE (1888-1973) fully developed SWER in New Zealand around 1925 for rural electrification.

Stokes mortar

The Stokes mortar was a British trench mortar invented by Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE that was issued to the British, Commonwealth and U.S. armies, as well as the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (CEP), during the latter half of the First World War.

Theodore J. Conway

Conway’s decorations included the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster; Bronze Star Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters; French Legion of Honor; French Croix de Guerre with Palm; Czechoslovak Military Cross; Polish Golden Cross of Merit with Swords; Order of the British Empire; Order of the Crown of Italy; and the Army Distinguished Service Medal (US).

Walter Coutts

Sir Walter Fleming Coutts, KCMG, MBE (1912–1988) was a British colonial administrator and was Uganda's last Governor before independence, from 1961–1962.

Wilfrid Foster

Major Wilfrid Lionel Foster CBE DSO (2 December 1874 – 22 March 1958) was an English cricketer: a right-handed batsman who played for Worcestershire County Cricket Club in their early years in first-class cricket.