MR. CHURCHILL GETS ORDER OF MERIT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 1, 2 January 1946, Page 5

MR. CHURCHILL GETS ORDER OF MERIT

REWARDS TO ARCHITECTS OF VICTORY Recd. 6.30 p.m. London, Dec. 31. Honours lor architects ol Britain’s victory, both service and civilian, are announced in lhe K'ng's New Year Honours list. It is lhe nineteenth honours list of the ic.gn and the biggest in living memory, occupying L6.j pages of the London Gazette. Mr. Churchill, the cliief architect, is awarded the Order of Merit. An oflicial announcement from Buckingham Palace last July, stated that on Churchill's resignation the King asked him to accept the Order of the Garter, the highest British Order of Chivalry, but Mr. Churchill begged to be allowed to decline it. Then it was understood lie would be offered tlie Order of Merit, which, as it carries no precedence or rank, he would be prepared to accept. Paired with Mr. Churchill as a recipient of the Order of Merit is Marshall of the R.A.F., Lord Portal, of Hungerford, who received a double honour, in that he also was elevated from a Baron to a Viscount.

Among the civilians who played a vital part in the victory is Mr. D. C. Bailey, inventor of the now famous Bailey bridge, who received a Knighthood. Three awards go to scientists associated With the development oi atomic energy—Mr. Wallace J. Akers, director of tne Atomic Bomb Research, becomes a Knight and the C.B.E. is awarded to Doctor Rudolf Ernst Reierls, (Scientific consultant on atomic bomb research, and Doctor Franz Eugen Simon, reader in thermo-dynamics, Oxford University. Lady Louis Mountbatten, who heads a long list of awards to the Red Cross workers, has been created a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, a rare distinction. New Dames of the British Empire include the actress, Miss Edith Evans and the chief controller of the A.T.S., Mrs. Whateley. The famous pianist, Benno Moiseiwitsch, who is awarded the C.8.E.,- already has raised nearly £15,000 for Mrs. Churchill's Red Cross aid to Russia fund. The principal awards follow: VISCOUNTS. Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke. Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Cunningham, of Handhope. Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Portal, of Hungerford. The newspaper proprietor, Lord Southwood. BARONS. Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser. Marshal of th e R.A.F. Sir Arthur Teddar. Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Tovey. Field-Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. The banker, Mr. Colin Frederick Campbell. The Lancashire cotton manufacturer and member of the Independent Labour Party, Mr. John Percival Davies. The chairman of the Charing Cross Hospital, Mr. Philip Albert Inman. THE ORDER OF MERIT. Mr. Winston Churchill and Lord Portal, of Hungerford. COMPANION OF HONOUR. The secretary of the Royal Society for Scientific Services, Professor Archibald Vivian Hill. PRIVY COUNSELLORS. The Australian Minister of Defence, Mr. J. A. Beasley. Judge of the King's Bench Division, Sir Travers Humphreys. The Canadian Minister of Finance, Mr. James Lorimer Isley. The New Zealand High Commissioner in Britain, Mr. William Joseph Jordan. The New Zealand Minister of Finance and Customs, Mr. Walter Nash. The Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Louis Stephen St. Laurent. KNIGHTS. The Director of Medical Services of the Joint War Organ.sation of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John, Major-General Ralph Ainsworth.

The Director of the Atomic Bomb Researcli Department of the Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr. Wallace John Akers.

The inventor ot the Bailey Bridge, Mr. Donald Coleman Bailey. The president ot the Newspaper Society, Mr. William Thomas Bailey.

The chairman of tiie Bristol Aeroplane Company. Mr. William George Verdon Smith. The publ.sher, Mr. Stanley Unwin. ORDER OF THE BATH. Knights of the Grand Cross (G.C.8.): Admiral Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham, Admiral Sir Henry Rul-vcn Moore, General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, General SilBernard Charles Pagel, General SilThomas Riddell Webster, Air Chief Mashal Sir William Sholto Douglas, Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow Hewitt, the Director-Geneial of the Ministry of War Transport, Sir Cyril William Hurcomb; the Maharaja ot Mysore, S.r Sri Jaya Bahadur; the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Air, Sir Arthur William Street, now acting permanent secretary of lite office oi Control Commission in Germany and Austria. Knights Commander (K.C.8.): Vice-Admiral Harold Thomas Courtland Walker, Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Nye. ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL AND ST. GEORGE. Kn’ghts Commander (K.C.M.G.): The Director of the 8.8. C., Mr. William John Haley; the Assistant Undersecretary ot State in the Colonial OJlice, Mr. Peter Alexander Clutterbuck; the Foreign Office Advisor on United Nations' Affairs, Prolcssor Charles Kingsley Webster. Sir Harry Batterbee, formerly High Commissioner in New Zealand; Sir Mark Young, Governor and Com-mander-in-Cnie£ ot Hongkong. ROYAL YTCTORIAN ORDER. Dame Commander: Lady Louis Mountbatten. Knight Commander: Sir Stewart Dukeeider. ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Knight* of tiie Grand Cross tG.B.EJ: Admiral of Fleet Sir James Somerville; General Sir William Joseph Slim; Secretary ot tiie Department ot Scientific Industrial and Research, Sir Edward Appleton. Dames Commanders (D.8.E.): Tiie actress, Miss Ed.th Mary Evans (Mrs. George Booth); tiie Controller ot the A.T.S. Miss Leslie Violet. Whateley. Knights Commander (K.8.E.): Lieutenant-General Frederick Arthur Browning; Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham; the Director-General of the Ministry of Information, Mr. Eric St. John Bamford. Commanders (C.8.E.): The pianist,

Mr. Benno Moiseiwitsch; the scientific consultant on atomic bomb research, Doctor Rudolf Ernest Peierls; Reader in Thermodynamics at Oxford University, Doctor Franz Eugen Simon.