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The following is a partial list of people who have declined a British honour, such as a knighthood or an honour usually within the Order of the British Empire. In most cases, the honour was rejected privately; others were rejected publicly, or accepted then returned later, as with John Lennon and Rabindranath Tagore (although the honour itself, once accepted, cannot be unilaterally renounced by its recipient). Some potential recipients have rejected one honour then accepted another one (such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock), or have initially refused an honour then accepted it, or have accepted one honour then declined another (such as Vanessa Redgrave), or refused in the hopes of another (Roald Dahl was offered an OBE but refused because he wanted a knighthood so that his wife would be Lady Dahl). This often has as much to do with the political party in power as anything else, since honours are widely seen as being political rewards. Sometimes a potential recipient will refuse a knighthood or peerage, but will accept an honour, such as the Order of Merit (OM) or Companion of Honour (CH), that does not carry a title (Paul Scofield, Doris Lessing, Harold Pinter, David Hockney, Florence Nightingale and Augustus John are famous examples). Many modern examples were identified in December 2003 when a confidential document containing over 300 names of such people was leaked to The Sunday Times.
People who have returned an honour As no official provision exists for renouncing an honour, any such act is always unofficial, and the record of the award in The London Gazette stands. However the physical badge can be returned to the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Any recipient can also request that the honour not be used officially, e.g. Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, was knighted in 1997 but has not used the title since the handover to China. Recipients who have returned insignia include: Declining a baronetcy When a baronetcy becomes vacant on the death of a holder, the heir may choose not to register the proofs of succession, effectively declining the honour. The Official Roll of Baronets is kept at the Home Office by the Registrar of the Baronetage. Anyone who considers that he is entitled to be entered on the Roll may petition the Crown through the Home Secretary. Anyone succeeding to a baronetcy therefore must exhibit proofs of succession to the Home Secretary. A person who is not entered on the Roll will not be addressed or mentioned as a baronet or accorded precedence as a baronet. The baronetcy can be revived at any time on provision of acceptable proofs of succession, by, say, the son of a son who has declined to register the proofs of succession . About 83 baronetcies are currently listed as awaiting proofs of succession. Notable "refuseniks" include Jonathon Porritt, lately of Friends of the Earth; Ferdinand Mount, the journalist; and Francis Dashwood, Premier Baronet of England, whose title was created in 1707. Interestingly, Tam Dalyell, the notably left-wing former Labour MP and Father of the House of Commons, did provide proofs of succession to take his Scottish baronetcy, created in 1683, although he never uses his title. | ||||||||
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