Debasement (knighthood)

Debasement is the formal term for removal of a knighthood or other honour. The last knight to be publicly debased was Sir Francis Mitchell.^[1][2] More recent examples include Sir Roger Casement, whose knighthood was canceled for treason during the First World War,^[3] and Sir Anthony Blunt, whose knighthood was withdrawn in 1979.^[4] The most recent debasements centre on the fallout from the banking crisis at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Examples include Sir Fred Goodwin, the former Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, who lost his knighthood in 2012 over his role in the bank's near-collapse in 2008^[5] and Sir James Crosby, the former Chief Executive of HBOS.^[6]

Notes

1. Chronological Tables of the Private and Personal Acts.Part 2 (1603-1627). Legislation.gov.uk. Accessed on 4 May 2012. See note 4.
2. Lee, Sidney and Sean Kelsy (2004). "Giles Mompesson". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography vol. 38. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 569–572.
3. The London Gazette: no. 29651. p. 6596. 4 July 1916. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
4. "On This Day: 16 November". BBC. 16 November 1979. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
5. "Former RBS boss Fred Goodwin stripped of knighthood". BBC. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
6. "Ex-HBOS chief Sir James Crosby asks to return knighthood". BBC. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.