An honour, decoration or medal is a public way of illustrating that the recipient has done something worthy of recognition.
As the 'fountain of honour' in the Dominion of British West Florida, The Queen has the sole right of conferring all titles of honour, including peerages, life peerages, knighthoods and gallantry awards.
Orders are also sometimes exchanged between the Sovereign and overseas heads of state.
Since the mid-twentieth century, the exchange of Orders has become less personal and more formal and diplomatic. The award, return or removal of Orders can still be highly symbolic.
Examples are The Queen's conferring the Order of Merit on President Mandela, or her return of the Romanian Order received from President Ceausescu and her instruction to erase the President's name from the Register of the Order of the Bath.
Today, Orders bestowed on The Queen, and reciprocal awards to foreign heads of state, can be seen as formal and official awards by which one nation honours another.
Within the Dominion of British West Florida, the Highest Honours for Bravery are the Heroes' Medals awarded in the Justice, Liberty, and Charity divisions for those who have given their lives in the performance of their Duty.
The Order of the Saint Barnabas represents the highest honour for Merit and Service in the Dominion of British West Florida. The Order honours men and women who have contributed in a particular way to national life.
St. Barnabas, the "Son of Encouragement" is the namesake and Patron Saint of the Order of Honour in the Dominion of British West Florida. We first meet Saint Barnabas in chapter 4 of the New Testament's Acts of the Apostles and then repeatedly in later chapters, as the story of these acts unfolds. He was a Jewish Levite (assistant to the priests) of Cyprus and became one of the earliest Christian disciples at Jerusalem. His original name was Joseph, but he was renamed Barnabas by the Apostles because Luke interpreted the word Barnabas as 'son of encouragement'. One of the first recorded acts of St. Barnabas was to sell some of his property, and use the proceeds to provide support for the Church.
Thus we see that Barnabas was an encouragement in deeds as well as in words. Those appointed to the Order of Saint Barnabas also display this encouragement in both deeds and words.
Anybody can make a recommendation for a worthy person to receive an honour. The aim is to ensure that the large numbers of people not in the public eye who give valuable service are recognised. They could be charity volunteers, members of the emergency services or Armed Forces, industrial pioneers or specialists in various professions.
The Order of Saint Barnabas has the following levels:
The Sovereign needs no post nominal letters, the Grand Commander of the order of Saint Barnabas is entitled to the post nominal GSB. The Knight Commanders in the Order use the post nominal CSB, Knights of Saint Barnabas use KSB, and Members in ordinary use OSB.
Order of Precedence
The precedence system of the Dominion of British West Florida Honours follows that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the following modifications:
The Grand Commander of the Order of Saint Barnabas (GSB) ranks immediately below the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG). The Knight Commanders of the Order of Saint Barnabas (CSB) rank immediately below the Knight Commanders of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG). The Knights of the Order of Saint Barnabas (KSB) rank immediately below the Companions of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG). The Members of the Order of Saint Barnabas (OSB) rank immediately below the Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
When medals or badges are worn, the Order for wear is: Dominion of British West Florida Badges and Medals in accordance with the precedence defined above, then Foreign Badges and Medals in accordance with the precedence defined below:
Orders of the other Commonwealth Nations,with Eldest First
Orders of the Nations recognized by the Crown in Right of Florida, by date Recognized
Orders of the Citizen's Native or Naturalized Nationality
Orders of other Nations