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).
The Hon. Charles Johnston, Speaker of the Legislative Council of the Dominion of New Zealand, died before his Patent of Knighthood could be completed.