Honours Committee Honours Committee The Honours Committee is a committee within the Cabinet Office of the Government of the United Kingdom formed to review nominations for national honours for merit, exceptional achievement or service. Twice yearly the Honours Committee submits formal recommendations for the British monarch's New Years and Birthday Honours. Members of the Honours Committee—which comprises a main committee and nine subcommittees in speciality areas—research and vet nominations for national awards, including knighthoods and the Order of the British Empire. The honours system is an ancient one, particularly in Britain; Æthelstan, King of the English in the 10th century, was knighted
South African honours system In 1952, to mark the 300th anniversary of European settlement, the South African government established its own honours system. It consisted of the existing civil, police, railways police and prisons medals, and a new series of military decorations. They were given precedence over British honours. The honours system was enlarged during the 1960s, after South African had become a republic. New decorations were instituted for the police in 1963, for the railways police in 1966, for sports stars in 1967, for the prisons service in 1968, and for civilians in 1970. Evidently the government was not satisfied, because during the