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Dental Knights of the Realm, with special reference to the first and latest dental knights, Sir Edwin Saunders and Sir Nairn Wilson

British Dental Journal volume 237, pages 131–136 (2024)Cite this article

Abstract

In King Charles III's first Birthday Honours List in June 2023, Nairn Wilson was appointed a Knight Bachelor, one of the Knights of the Realm. This paper examines the significance of this honour, with special reference to the first and latest dental knights.

Key points

  • Knight Bachelors, one of the Knighthoods of the Realm, stretch back over 800 years as a means of bestowing high honours on deserving members of society.

  • The first dentist to be appointed as a Knight Bachelor came in 1833 and the latest in 2023.

  • Some dentists have been knighted as a result of caring for the King or Queen.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks are due to Sir Nairn Wilson for an enormous amount of help and advice while writing this paper and for supplying Figures 1 and 3. Helen Nield, Head of BDA Library and Information Services, kindly provided assistance with sources. Rachel Bairsto, Head of BDA Museum Services, supplied Figure 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Honorary Professor and Head of the Unit for the History of Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King´s College London, Guy´s Hospital, Tooley Street, London, SE1 1UL, UK

    Stanley Gelbier

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  1. Stanley Gelbier
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Correspondence to Stanley Gelbier.

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Gelbier, S. Dental Knights of the Realm, with special reference to the first and latest dental knights, Sir Edwin Saunders and Sir Nairn Wilson. Br Dent J 237, 131–136 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7671-6

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