Knight Bachelor is the oldest and lowest-ranking form of knighthood in the British honours system; it is the rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry. Women are not knighted; in practice, the equivalent award for a woman is appointment as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (founded in 1917).
It was announced in the 1919 Birthday Honours that a knighthood was to be bestowed on William Allan Ironside (an additional Member of the Indian Legislative Council), but he died before he received the accolade. By a royal warrant gazetted on 22 July 1919, George V declared that his widow, Ellen Ironside, "shall have, hold and enjoy the same style; title, place and precedence to which she would have been entitled had her said husband survived and received either personally or by Letters-Patent under the Great Seal the degree, style and title of a Knight Bachelor".
The London Gazette also reported that the King intended to bestow a knighthood on Ernest Adolphus O'Bryen, formerly the mayor of Hampstead, but he died before he received the accolade. By a royal warrant gazetted with the date 30 May 1919, George V declared that his widow, Gertrude Mary O'Bryen, should also be afforded the style of a knight's widow.