Order of Charity

The Order of Charity (Ottoman Turkish: نشانِ شفقت), sometimes referred to as the Order of the Chefakat,[1] was an order of the Ottoman Empire founded in 1878 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II.[2]

Order of Charity
نشانِ شفقت

Badge and star of the order
TypeOrder of Merit
Awarded forCharitable work
Country Ottoman Empire
Presented by

Ottoman Sultan
StatusNo longer awarded
Established1878
Ribbon of the order

It was bestowed on selected women for distinguished humanitarian or charitable works, or as a token of the Sultan's esteem.[3] Recipients included non-Ottoman citizens, including the English painter Margaret Murray Cookesley for her portrait of the Sultan's son,[4] Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1883), wife of the Earl of Dufferin who was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire,[5] and to American social reformer Ellen Martin Henrotin (1893).[6]

The badge consists of a five pointed star in gold and crimson enamel, with a central gold medallion bearing the Sultan's cypher, surrounded by a green enamelled band with the words "Humanity, Assistance, Patriotism" in Turkish. The star rests upon a circular wreath enamelled green with crimson berries, the whole mounted on another star with radiant points. The decoration is hung from a star and crescent suspension, enamelled red. The order had three classes,[1] with the highest class mounted with diamonds and other precious stones.[2]

Recipients

References
  1. Captain H. Taprell Dorling. (1956). Ribbons and Medals. London: A.H.Baldwin & Sons. p. 265.
  2. "Ottoman medal for 'compassionate' British lady to go under the hammer". Hurriyet Daily News. 24 January 2015.
  3. "Ottoman Orders and Decorations as Forms of Honor". Ottoman Bank. 24 January 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012.
  4. Clement-Waters, Clara Erskine. Women in the fine arts, page 85. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1904.
  5. Davenport-Hines, Richard (Jan 2008). "Blackwood, Hariot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-, marchioness of Dufferin and Ava (1843–1936)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line edition (subscription required). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. The Semi-centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, page 976. University of Illinois, 1918
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