History

In 1910 Captain Henry Stuart Wheatly-Crowe desiring a church honours system for the Anglican Communion submitted with the support of HM the Queen’s Grandfather, the 14^th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the Statutes and Constitution of the Memorial to the 96^th Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson. Having received approval from the Primate, the Statutes and Constitution of the Memorial were set before HM King Edward VII. With the King’s approbation the Memorial was instituted the following year.

The Constitution and Statutes of 1911 direct that the Memorial is “to be offered as a token of regard and honour to members of the Church of England, and the churches in communion therewith, who have served the church in some especial way”.

Fifty-four years later the Archbishop of Canterbury began a similar system with the awarding of the Cross of Saint Augustine. Thus the Memorial of Merit and the Cross of St Augustine are the only two awards of recognition within the Anglican Communion. The chief difference is that, although the Memorial of Merit is significantly older than and served as the template for the Cross of Saint Augustine, it is a private foundation which does not pretend to share the prestige or scope of the Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As you would expect from its dedication to King Charles the Martyr, the founding members of the Memorial were all of a High Church persuasion. Their deeply held belief was that, in the end, Charles the 1^st died because of his faith in the Catholic nature of Anglicanism and its apostolic episcopacy. Thus he was deemed the obvious Patron for a foundation which seeks to uphold these same ideals.

During the last hundred years the Memorial has counted some of the most distinguished High Church Anglicans of their age amongst its Companions:

The Right Hon. Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14^th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, KG, KT, GCVO, TD – founding Companion and devoted member of the Chapter until the end of his life, better known as the maternal grandfather of HM Queen Elizabeth II;

 

 

                                                

The Right Hon. Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax – President of the Church Union and member of the Malines Conversations;

 

 

 

The Right Hon. E.F.L. Wood, 1^st Earl of Halifax,
KG, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, TD, PC  – Viceroy and Governor General of India, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, British Ambassador to the United States, Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council, Lord Privy Seal, Chancellor of the University of Oxford;

The Very Rev’d Vernon Staley DD – author of The Catholic Religion;

 

 

The Rev’d Professor Percy Dearmer, DD – author of The Parson’s Handbook;

 

 

 

 

The Right Hon. Orlando Bridgeman, 5^th Earl of  Bradford, DL, JP – Private Secretary to Prime Minister Gascoyne-Cecil and Prime Minister Balfour;

 

 

 

The Rev’d Professor Canon Vigo Demant -Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s, Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology Oxford, Committee Member of the Wolfenden Report;

 

 

 

 

 

The Right Hon. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9^th Earl of Shaftesbury, KP, PC, GCVO, CBE -Lord Steward of the Household, Chamberlain to HM Queen Mary, Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, County Antrim and Dorset, and Lord Mayor of Belfast;

 

 

The Right Rev’d Huyshes Yeatman-Biggs DD, FSA – Lord Bishop of Southwark, Worcester, and Coventry;

 

 

 

The Venerable Edward Barber – Archdeacon of Chester;

 

 

 

 

The Right Rev’d John Mitchinson – Bishop of Barbados and Master of Pembroke College Oxford;

 

Major the Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, MVO, TD, FSA – Son of Dalip Singh Sukerchakia, Last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, who bequeathed the Kohinoor Diamond to HM Queen Victoria for the Crown Jewels;

 

 

 

His Grace Alan Ian Percy, 8^th Duke of Northumberland, KG, CBE, MVO, TD -Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland and Chancellor of the University of Durham;

 

 

His Grace Henry Pelham-Clinton, 7^th Duke of Newcastle;

 

 

 

 

 

The Rev’d Canon David John Garland, OBE, VD, JP, KGHS – Archdeacon of North Queensland, Founder of Anzac Day;

 

 

 

 

 

His Grace Henry Adelbert W. FitzRoy Somerset, 9^th Duke of Beaufort, DL, JP – Aide-de-camp to HM Queen Victoria;

 

 

 

The Right Rev’d G. Forrest Browne, DD – Lord Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Stepney, Disney Professor of Archaeology, Fellow of St Catherine’s College Cambridge;

 

 

 

 

Halliwell Sutcliffe, Esq. – Author of The Open Road and The White Horse;  

 

 

 

 

General Sir Cecil Hertslet, KBE – Consul-General for Belgium;

 

 

 

 

 

His Grace Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13^th Duke of  Hamilton and 10^th Duke of Brandon, TD, DL;

 

Brandon            
The Most Hon. Edward Chichester, 6^th Marquess of Donegall;

 

 

 

 

 

Will Spens, CBE – Master of Corpus Christi College Cambridge and Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur;

 

 

Colonel Sir Donald Walter Cameron of Lochiel, Bt., KT, CMG, DL – Chief of Clan Cameron, Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire;

 

 

 

The Right Hon. Sibell Lilian Blunt-Mackenzie,
3^rd Countess of Cromartie;

 

 

 

Athelstan Riley, Esq – Author of A Guide to the Divine Liturgy in the East:  and After the Tractarians and the hymn ‘Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones’;

 

and The Right Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, DD Oxon. Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, Bishop of Basingstoke, Canon of Chichester Cathedral, Chaplain and Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, Author of The Vision Glorious: Themes and Personalities of the Catholic Revival in Anglicanism, Hell and the Victorians, Editor of Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness.