The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.
An unofficial order of precedence in Northern Ireland, according to Burke's Peerage, 106th Edition, this is not officially authorised by or published with authority from either Buckingham Palace or the College of Arms, or the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice or the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, or the Northern Ireland Assembly, or the Northern Ireland Executive.
Dame Denise Rosemarie Lewis is a British sports presenter, sports administrator and former track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon.
Portadown Football Club is a semi-professional, Irish League football club currently playing in the NIFL Championship.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. Representing England, Sotherton is a one-time Commonwealth Games champion, as the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Mary Denise Rand, MBE is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. She remains the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.
The Lord Lieutenant of Belfast is the official representative of The King for the 'County Borough of Belfast', Northern Ireland. The current Lord Lieutenant is Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O'Boyle, DBE, who was appointed in July 2014. The position was first created in 1900 and was held by The 6th Marquess of Londonderry. The role is largely honorary with the few formal duties relating to liaising with the King's private office in the lead up to visits to the City regarding issues of local concern and the presentation of awards on behalf of the King. The High Sheriff of Belfast is theoretically the King's judicial representative in the city, while the Lord Lieutenant is the Sovereign's personal representative.
Dame Yvette Winifred Corlett was a New Zealand track-and-field athlete who was the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal and to hold the world record in the women's long jump. Williams was named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand, in 1987.
Sir Conrad Marshall John Fisher Swan was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Having been first appointed to work at the College in 1962, he rose to the office of Garter Principal King of Arms in 1992, a position he held until 1995. He was the first Canadian ever to be appointed to the College of Arms.
Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl is a retired German athlete who competed mainly in the pentathlon and long jump. On September 3, 1970, at the 1970 Summer Universiade in Turin, she set a world record in the long jump at 6.84 m that stood for almost six years.
Portadown College is an academically selective, co-educational post-14 grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
Events during the year 1972 in Northern Ireland.
Dame Rotha Geraldine Diane Johnston, DBE is a Northern Irish entrepreneur in commerce and property. Johnston is chair of Northern Ireland Screen, a non-executive director of Northern Ireland Electricity and an independent board member of the Department of Justice and Belfast Harbour Commissioners.
Lady Florence Mary Fagan,, is a former Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, who served from 1994 until her retirement on 11 September 2014.
Bethany Charlotte Firth, is a Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for Great Britain; previously, Firth had represented Ireland. A six time Paralympic gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Great Britain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.
Barbara Mary Cameron is a Northern Irish international lawn bowler and bowls coach.
Katherine Elizabeth French is a British modern pentathlete who won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O'Boyle, is a British lobbyist, charity trustee, and public official. She is the Lord-Lieutenant for the County Borough of Belfast since 2014, and a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission since 2019.
Fionnuala Toner is a Northern Ireland netball international. She represented Northern Ireland at the 2011 and 2019 Netball World Cups and at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. She was also a member of the Northern Ireland team that were silver medallists at the 2017 European Netball Championships. She has played in the Netball Superleague for Team Northumbria, London Pulse and Team Bath. Toner is also an Ireland women's basketball international. Her younger sister, Máire Toner, is also a Northern Ireland netball international.
