From Robert Herbert   30 June 1879

AUSPICIUM MELIORIS AEVI 1

 

Chancery of the Order of

Saint Michael and Saint George

Downing Street

30th June2 1879

Sir,

The Queen having been graciously pleased to appoint you to be a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, I have the honor to transmit to you Warrants under the Royal Sign Manual and Seal of the Order,3 conveying to you the Grant of that Dignity4 and authorizing the dispensation with the Ceremony of your Investiture as a Knight Commander of that Order licensing you to wear the Insignia of the Second Class of that Order, and permitting you to assume the appellation of a Knight Bachelor,5 together with the Insignia thereof; a copy of the Statutes of the Order; also a Blank Form of Covenant for the restoration of the Insignia;6 which document you will be so good as to sign and return to me when duly executed, in accordance with the provisions of the Statutes of the Order.

I take this opportunity of reminding you that have now to restore the Insignia worn by you as a Companion of the Order.7

I have the honor to be

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant

Robert G. W. Herbert

Secretary

 

Sir Ferdinand von Mueller K.C.M.G. Ph.D. M.D.

&c &c &c

Victoria

 

List of Enclosures.

1. Warrant for granting the Dignity of a Knight Commander.8

2. Warrant for dispensing with the ceremony of Investiture and licensing to wear the the9 Insignia of the Second Class of the Order.10

3. Insignia of a Knight Commander.

4. Copy of the Statutes of the Order.11

5. Blank Form of Covenant for the restoration of the Insignia.12

1
'Token of a better age', the motto of the Order of St Michael and St George on the richly coloured badge of the Order that is embossed on the MS.
2
30th June inserted by Herbert who also signed the letter, it having been prepared by a clerk.
3
Marginal note: Enclosures 1 and 2.
4
See Queen Victoria to M, 24 May 1879. The Governor of Victoria had been notified by a telegram dated 23 May 1879 that M had been been appointed KCMG, and Bentham and Colonel Scratchley as CMG (See Governor's acknowledgemet, National Archives, London, CO 447/33, 11952). The appointment was widely reported in the colonial press in the last week of May, mostly from agency cablegrams direct from London.
5
Marginal note: Enclosure 3.
6
Marginal note: Enclosures 4 and 5.
7
M was appointed a Companion of the Order in 1869; see Queen Victoria to M, 24 April 1869.
8
See Queen Victoria to M, 24 May 1879 (in this edition as 79-05-24a).
9
sic.
10
See Queen Victoria to M, 24 May 1879 (in this edition as 79-05-24a).
11
The file at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne includes a copy of The statutes of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (1877), and also a copy of the 1891 edition that was presumably later sent to M.
12
The Covenant was completed and returned, together with the Companion insignia; see M to R. Herbert, 29 September 1879 (in this edition as 79-09-29b).

Please cite as “FVM-79-06-30a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/79-06-30a