Order of St Joachim - 19th Century

19th Century

The Order of Saint Joachim was also closely examined at the request of the British Crown before Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was allowed to accept the award of the Cross of a Knight Grand Commander. The Order of Saint Joachim was approved as a legitimate knightly order by the British Royal College of Arms, which was confirmed by the King's Warrant in 1802, and granted Nelson permission to accept and wear the honour. Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was wearing the breast cross of a Knight Grand Commander of The Order of Saint Joachim when he was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The British King's Warrant approving the acceptance and wear of the insignia of the Order of Saint Joachim was granted in several other instances, including to Nelson's brother, Viscount Merton, General Sir Charles Imhoff, and Philippe d'Auvergne, Prince de Boullion, Rear Admiral of the Blue.

Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat (March 25, 1767 – October 13, 1815), a Marshal of France, usurped the grand mastership of the Order of Saint Joachim in 1806 when was made the Grand Duke of the newly created "Duchy of Berg and Cleves". During his term as Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves (March 15, 1806 to August 1, 1808 when he left to become King of Naples) Joachim Murat declared himself the Grand Master of The Order of Saint Joachim, and expanded the Order to include members of the French Legion of Honour. His authority was never recognized by the rest of the Order in exile.

Something unique and troublesome to many conventional commentators on Orders of knighthood is that The Order of Saint Joachim did not owe its existence to a royal or noble house, or "fons honorium". Its founder and first Grand Master, Prince Christian Franz von Saxen-Coburg-Saalfeld, was the son of a sovereign duke, but never himself a ruler. The next three Grand Masters were sovereign rulers (Duke de Monfort followed by successive counts of Leinigen), and would technically qualify as a "fons". Instead of being a hereditary position, the grand mastership was elected by its members. Writing in 1843, G.L. De Rochement and J. Bischoff ("Ridderorden": Amsterdam, p. 27) observed that The Order of Saint Joachim "does not owe its origins to any crowned head, even so it is recognized both on the European mainland and in Great Britain as an Order of knighthood." Nonetheless, The Order of Saint Joachim was regarded throughout its history as a curiosity among orders by the established orders of knighthood.

A modern writer on Orders of Knighthood, Guy Stair Sainty, numbers it among the "self-styled" orders but credits it as a charitable institution. He erroneously doubts Nelson's membership in the order and wrongly identified Nelson as a Grand Master of the Order. The post-nominals of a Knight of the Order of Saint Joachim ("K.J.") were recognized in "Debrett's Baronetage of England", and were similarly published in the 1832 "A Key to Both Houses of Parliament".

In 1802, Levett Hanson, an English writer and courtier, and Vice-Chancellor of the Order, published An Accurate Historical Account of all the Orders of Knighthood at present existing in Europe, which Hanson dedicated to Admiral Nelson. The work cast the Order of Saint Joachim as equal to any existing chivalric order. Hanson was a childhood friend to Horatio Nelson during their schooling at Paston Grammar School in Paston, Norfolk, and arranged to have Nelson made Knight Grand Commander of the Order, giving the Order instant cachet.

Hanson had served as Chamberlain to the Duke of Modena, as well as at other European royal courts. Hanson was well-connected. HIs godfather was William Wilberforce, a wealthy merchant who was twice mayor of Hull and grandfather of the reformer. Hanson's brother-in-law was Sir Thomas Gery Cullum, 7th Bart., surgeon, botanist, antiquarian and Bath King of Arms for nearly 30 years. Intrigued at an early age by all things chivalric, Hanson spent his peripatetic life shuttling between European royal courts. His Yorkshire ancestors having been active in the Knights Hospitallers, Hanson was intrigued by the domains in Europe where chivalry and knighthood still held sway. By enticing his friend Nelson to join the Order, Hanson landed the biggest 'catch' in the world of knighthood.

But even the Admiral Nelson 'get' couldn't erase the whiff of impropriety about Hanson's St Joachim affiliation. Critics noted that the Order seemed to be domiciled wherever Hanson found himself, and that 'Knighthoods' were available to anyone with sufficient funds. "It was long understood," wrote one contemporary observer, "that moyennant a certain not inconsiderable deposit at a banking house at Pall-mall, the distinction was at the service of any one who might have a fancy for it; and that letters-missive were soon forthcoming from Sir Levett, containing due notification of election by the 'equestrian, secular and chapteral Order,' at its last sitting at Bamberg, Hamburgh, Lubeck or wherever that personage happened, at the time, to be domiciliated."

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