St Paul's Cathedral

The Knights Bachelor Chapel

The Chapel of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor is also known as St Martin's Chapel. 

The Chapel was dedicated by HM the Queen in 2008. The Dean and Chapter of St Paul's had offered the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor the use in perpetuity of an area which, although a chapel in the 1930s, had been disused for many years and was closed off from the main space of the Crypt.

The Chapel is panelled with English oak and in it, in two elegant cases, are kept the Registers which contain the names of all Knights Bachelor from 1257 to date and also the Founder Knights' and Benefactors' Book. Near them is displayed Queen Victoria's sword with which she knighted many famous men; this is on loan from Wilkinson Sword Ltd. The stalls of the Officers bear heraldic stall-plates. The cross and candlesticks were made by Mr Gerald Gilbert, and many other fine craftsmen from Houghtons of York have worked to make the Chapel noble and traditional in design.
 
The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor
Knighthood is the oldest non-Royal title of honour; the first knights probably received their accolade late in the tenth century. The dignity of Knight Bachelor appeared in the reign of Henry III and almost certainly derived from the Norman French word battelier, a battle knight. The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor was founded in 1908 and was given the title of 'Imperial' by Royal Warrant of George V in 1912.