Royal Warrant - Commission for a Flying Officer [1952-11-11]

Royal Warrant - Commission for a Flying Officer [1952-11-11]

Military

Commission of Queen Elizabeth II appointing Basil Harrington as a Flying Officer.

Queen Elizabeth II

"Basil Harrington's Commissioning Scroll," CC BY-NC 4.0 via International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive at the University of Lincoln.

1952-11-11

Jason Loch

Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND OF HER OTHER REALMS AND TERRITORIES QUEEN, HEAD OF THE COMMONWEALTH, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

To Our Trusty and well beloved Basil Raymond Harrington Greeting:

WE, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage, and good Conduct, do by these Presents Constitute and Appoint you to be an Officer in Our Royal Air Force from the Eleventh day of June 1952. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge your Duty as such in the Rank of Flying Officer or in such other Rank as We may from time to time hereafter be pleased to promote or appoint you to; and you are in such manner and on such occasions as may be prescribed by Us to exercise and well discipline in their duties such Officers, Airmen and Airwomen as may be placed under your orders from time to time and use your best endeavours to keep them in good Order and Discipline. And We do hereby Command them to Obey you as their superior Officer and you to Observe and follow such Orders and Directions as from time to time you shall receive from Us, or any superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in pursuance of the Trust hereby reposed in you.

GIVEN at Our Court, at Saint James's
the Eleventh day of November 1952, in the First Year of Our Reign.

(L. S.)

Sir Francis Fogarty (Air Member for Personnel)
Sir James Barnes (Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Air Ministry)

Embossed Seal of the Air Council

Royal name, recipient's name, rank, and dates are all in red.

Recipient's name, rank, and dates appear to be handwritten.

Most of the document is printed in an italic typeface, but the royal name, titles, and date clause are in a Roman typeface. "Her Majesty" in the command clause is in a Gothic typeface.

This is essentially a modified version of a Royal Warrant. The main differences are that the Monarch's ordinal number is written with Roman numerals instead of being written out and the document is not countersigned by a Minister of the Crown. Instead, it's countersigned by a Royal Air Force official and a senior civil servant in the Air Ministry.