These awards were overwhelmingly presented to senior officers rather than to other ranks and subalterns, for whom the prevailing opinion was that doing their duty was a reward of itself.
[2] Some regiments created their own awards to fill this gap, such as embroidered colours for personal deeds and badges for the survivors of forlorn hopes.
The highest honour, a peerage, was awarded sixteen times to twelve individuals, of which Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, received four increasing from a viscountcy to a dukedom.
The most peerages were awarded in 1814 to general officers who had served in the Peninsular War as commanders of independent units or formations larger than a division.
Prior to 1815 the order only had one grade, Knight of the Bath, which was presented in the post-nominals KB, and was awarded not for meritorious achievement but for men of high social and economic status.
Ten extra spaces were added to the second class for the addition of foreign officers who nonetheless held British commissions, notably those of the King's German Legion.
[13] Awards of the Order of the Bath had not been finalised when the Hundred Days campaign was fought, and so officers who had distinguished themselves at the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo were also included when the lists were eventually released.