Excerpt from The Most Honourable Order of the Bath: A Descriptive and Historical Account

Upwards of sixty years came and went after the Restoration, during which nothing was heard of the Knights of the Bath. Four Coronations took place, but on each of these occasions they were left on one side.

The Revival of the Order, coupled with its establish ment upon a fully organised basis, took place towards the close of the 'reign of George I, in the year 172 5. For a considerable time the new Order (for such to all intents and purposes it was) came to bulk largely before the public eye. It possessed the priceless advantage of the hallowed and ennobling associations Of the Abbey Church of Westminster. It was honoured by the periodical enrolment within its ranks of a number of England's most distinguished sons. The solemn ceremony of Installation, which, with its many picturesque surround ings and adjuncts, came to be regarded as the most brilliant event which the metropolis could witness, save a Coronation, took place at regular intervals, and, thanks to its old-world glamour, achieved a large amount of popularity.

Then, unfortunately, a change passed over the scene. Unwise counsels prevailed. The Order was enlarged to an extent which it would be a politeness to term unwieldy, in the year 1815. All the Stately ceremonial of Installa tion - for such, on the whole, it has been even in the eighteenth century - came to an abrupt termination. The link between the Order and the Abbey was reduced to something little better than nominal; and, though the honour of investiture has never been lightly bestowed, yet the Order, as such, lost practically all that once savoured of mediaeval romance. The nineteenth century cheerfully flung to the winds no small portion of its heritage from the past. It has been the task of its successor to gather up some of those fragments which still remain.

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