KNIGHT AND BARONET. A degree of honour next to a baron, created by King James I. to induce the English gentry to settle in the province of Ulster. The title is knight and baronet; it is hereditary: the arms are distinguished by an augmentation of a human hand gules, generally borne on an escutcheon in the centre of the shield.
KNIGHT AND BARONET OF NOVA SCOTIA. A new creation during the reign of George I. to induce capitalists to settle in that part of North America. The title is hereditary: the arms are argent, St. Andrew's Cross gules surtout, an escutcheon or, with a lion rampant gules within a double tressure of the same, surmounted by a king's crown as a crest.
KNIGHTS OF THE BATH. An ancient and honourable military order of knighthood. The date of its origin is too remote to be traced with certainty: by some authors it is said to have been instituted in Normandy before the Conquest; it was re-established in England by Henry IV., and revived by George I. The chapel of this order is Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey: the Dean of Westminster for the time being is always dean of the order of the Bath. The number of the knights is according to the pleasure of the sovereign. At the close of the late war the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., remodelled this order of knighthood; and to enable himself to bestow marks of honour upon the naval and military officers that had distinguished themselves on the ocean and in the field, he divided the order into three classes: first, all the noblemen that were Knights of the Bath were henceforth to be called Knights Grand Crosses of the Bath, which was also the title of the commanders of fleets and armies that were rewarded by being admitted into the highest class of this noble order.
The second class are called Knights Commanders of the Bath; a great number of naval and military officers above the rank of captains in the navy and majors in the army are admitted into this class.
The third class is styled Companions of the Order of the Bath, and is open to officers of inferior rank.
The Knights Grand Crosses of the Bath attach the initials K.G.C.B. to their names and titles.
The Knights Commanders use the initials K.C.B.
The Companions are known by the initials C.B.