Order of The Star of India - History

History

Several years after the Indian Mutiny and the consolidation of Great Britain's power as the governing authority in India, it was decided by the British Crown to create a new order of knighthood to honour Indian Princes and Chiefs, as well as British officers and administrators who served in India. On 25 June 1861, the following proclamation was issued by the Queen:

The Queen, being desirous of affording to the Princes, Chiefs and People of the Indian Empire, a public and signal testimony of Her regard, by the Institution of an Order of knighthood, whereby Her resolution to take upon Herself the Government of the Territories in India may be commemorated, and by which Her Majesty may be enabled to reward conspicuous merit and loyalty, has been graciously pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to institute, erect, constitute, and create, an Order of Knighthood, to be known by, and have for ever hereafter, the name, style, and designation, of "The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India"

The first appointees were:

See also: List of Knights Companion of the Order of the Star of India

• HRH The Prince Consort
• HRH The Prince of Wales
• The Earl Canning, GCB, Governor-General of India and Grand Master of the Order of the Star of India
• HH Nawab Mir Tahniat Ali Khan Bahadur, Afzal ad-Dawlah, Asaf Jah V, the Nizam of Hyderabad
• HH Jayajirao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior
• HH Maharaja Duleep Singh, former Maharaja of the Sikh Empire
• HH Ranbir Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
• HH Tukojirao Holkar, Maharaja of Indore
• HH Narendra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala
• HH Khanderrao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda
• HRH Maharaja Bir Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana of Nepal
• HH Nawab Sikander Begum, Nawab Begum of Bhopal
• HH Yusef Ali Khan Bahadur, Nawab of Rampur
• The Lord Gough, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army
• The Lord Harris, Governor of Madras
• The Lord Clyde, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army
• Sir George Russell Clerk, Kt., Governor of Bombay
• Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, Bt., GCB, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab
• Sir James Outram, Bt., GCB, Member of the Viceroy's Council
• Sir Hugh Henry Rose, GCB, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army

The Order of the Indian Empire, founded in 1877, was intended to be a less exclusive version of the Order of the Star of India; consequently, many more appointments were made to the former than to the latter.

The last appointments to the orders relating to the British Empire in India were made in the 1948 New Year Honours, some months after the Partition of India in August 1947. The orders have never been formally abolished, and Elizabeth II succeeded her father George VI as Sovereign of the Orders when she ascended the throne in 1952. She remains Sovereign of the Order to this day. However, there are no living members of the order.

• The last Grand Master of the Order, Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979), was killed by the Provisional IRA on 27 August 1979.
• The last surviving Knight Grand Commander, HH Maharaja Sri Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma GCSI, Maharaja of Travancore (1912–1991), died on 19 July 1991 in Trivandrum.
• The last surviving Knight Commander, HH Maharaja Sri Sir Tej Singh Prabhakar Bahadur KCSI (1911–2009), Maharaja of Alwar, died on 15 February 2009 in New Delhi.
• The last surviving Companion of the Order, Vice-Admiral Sir Ronald Brockman CSI (1909–1999), died on 3 September 1999 in London.