Awarded to Admiral of the Fleet, Earl David Beatty, GCB (1871-1936) in 1916. Sash, Badge and Star. Badge: Gold Maltese Cross of eight points enamelled white, each point tipped with a small gold ball, and in each angle between the arms of the cross a gold lion. In the centre of the cross, a rose thistle and shamrock issuing from a sceptre and three imperial crowns, surrounded by a red enamel circle bearing the motto: 'TRI JUNCTA IN UNO'. The circle is surrounded by two branches of laurel enamelled green and below is a blue enamel scroll with the words 'ICH DIEN' in gold. Suspended from a crimson sash for wearing across the right shoulder so the badge hangs on the left hip. Star: A central device of three crowns on a silver ground with the motto laurel wreath and scroll as before, on a gold Maltese cross mounted on a silver flaming star. (Worn on the left breast).

Beatty entered the navy in 1884 at the age of 13, training in ‘Britannia.’ He commanded a gunboat on the Nile during Kitchener's re-conquest of the Sudan, gaining the D.S.O. and early promotion to commander. He served in ‘Barfleur’ during the Boxer Rebellion, leading reinforcements to Tientsin and Hsiku. He was wounded during this operation. In 1910 he was promoted Rear-Admiral at an exceptionally early age. In 1912 Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, appointed him his naval secretary. During the First World War he commanded the battle-cruiser fleet based on Rosyth in HMS ‘Lion’ He achieved a decisive victory at Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. During an action in the area of Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915, the ‘Blucher’ was sunk but the remaining German ships escaped. Beatty led the battle-cruiser fleet at Jutland 31 May 1916 - the only major naval action of the war. In 1916 he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet and after the war, was First Sea Lord from 1919-1927.