The 1919 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were published in The London Gazette from 3 June to 12 August.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] The vast majority of the awards were related to the recently ended War, and were divided by military campaigns. A supplementary list of honours, retroactive to the King's birthday, was released in December 1919.[16]
The massive list contained nearly 10,000 names, more than half of which were appointments to the Order of the British Empire. "The lists of awards to the Army are so long that only a part of the first section can be published to-day," reported The Times on 3 June. "This section fills 131 pages of the London Gazette." Admiral of the Fleet Sir David Beatty and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig were both appointed to the Order of Merit. As The Times noted, "The successful leadership of the victorious British Forces by land and sea is happily recognized by the award of the Order of Merit — which is limited in numbers to 24 — to Sir David Beatty and Sir Douglas Haig."[17]
The new peers and baronets were not announced until August.[18]
The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged by honour, with classes (Knight, Knight Grand Cross, etc.) and then divisions (Military, Civil, etc.) as appropriate.