Curated By Alexian Gregory, BSI (“The Grimpen Postmaster”) ASH (“The Coptic Monasteries of Syria and Egypt”), The Fourth Garrideb (“Gray Archways and Mullioned Windows And All the Venerable Wreckage of a Feudal Keep”) Gaslightandfog@verizon.net

Here’s my alphabetical listing of all BSI investitures ordered by the first word in them. Thus “Beryl Stapleton” and “Beryl Coronet” are both listed under “B”. When there is a title affixed to the name, the name is listed under the title; thus “Lord Bellinger” is under “L,” and “Sir James Damery” is under “S.” The exceptions to this rule are Investitures beginning with “A” “An” “That” “The” “Those” “Mr.” “Miss” or “Mrs.” etc. These will be listed under the next word. Thus “Saunders, Mrs.” On the other hand Investitures beginning with “Monsieur” or “Mme.” are listed under these titles. Where the same Investitures have been re-issued, they are given in the chronological order of bestowal. “Inspector Baynes” and “Wilson Hargreave” have been re-issued with minor variants. Here I bowed to history and have abandoned strict alphabetization in favor of chronological order.

In searching for a particular investiture, thought must be given to all canonical possibilities. Thus one will find neither “Maiwand” nor “Battle of Maiwand, The.” Rather, it is listed under “Fatal Battle of Maiwand, The.” Similarly one will find “Baron Maupertuis” under “Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis, The”; while “Charlie Peace” is listed under “My Old Friend Charlie Peace.” Then we have both “Cardinal Tosca” and “Sudden Death of Cardinal Tosca, The.”

The longest Investiture (48 characters) is “The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant”. The shortest ones are “Billy” and “Cooee.” The Investiture with the most unusual punctuation is “Smack! Smack! Smack!” That is also unique as it consists of only a repeated word. Only two Investitures contain numerals: “17 King Edward Street,” and “V.V. 341.” Two investitures share the distinction of being composed of only non-English words. They are “Baritsu” and “Englisher Hof.” One investiture consists of a sound that isn’t a proper word at all, “Cooee.”

The most popular canonical characters who have provided investiture names are those beginning with “Sir” or “Doctor” which have provided 15 investitures each. Then we have 12 “Colonels,” 10 “Inspectors,” and 9 “Johns.” The most issued investitures are A Case of Identity, The Gloria Scott, and The Final Problem which have each been awarded five times. In second place we have The Abbey Grange and The Three Gables which have each been given four times.

Strangely two Investitures are totally non-canonical. They are “The Field Bazaar” and “The Curious Incident of Sherlock Holmes in Japan.” And strictly speaking, “St. Bartholomew’s Hospital” and “Chemical Laboratory of St. Barts” are not canonical investitures as only “Bart’s” and “The Chemical Laboratory” are mentioned in Study in Scarlet. Likewise, “The Coptic Patriarchs” should be “The Two Coptic Patriarchs” to be strictly canonical.

Two investitures are simultaneously held by living BSIs. They are “The Hammerford Will Case” and “Vamberry, The Wine Merchant.” The latter investiture has a rather interesting history. “Vamberry, The Wine Merchant” was first issued in 1954 to Tony Montag. In 1956 it was issued to Dean W. Dickensheet. So at that point it was held simultaneously by two living BSIs, Montag & Dickensheet. On March 15, 1983 Dean W. Dickensheet passed beyond the Reichenbach Falls, and thus the investiture was held by only one living BSI, Tony Montag. In January 1985 this same investiture was issued to Arthur Liebman. Since then it has been held yet again by two living BSIs, Montag & Leibman. It appears that “The Old Russian Woman” was simultaneously held by Anatole Chujoy and Lenore Glen Offord until the death of Anatole Chujoy in 1969.

Three men have changed their investitures. George Armstrong gave up “Wiggins” so that Tom Stix could use that title as the head of the BSI. George Armstrong then took the investiture of “John o‘ Groats.” When Tom Stix moved to Norwood, NJ, his investiture changed from “The Case of Bert Stevens” to “The Norwood Builder.” Finally Gerald Wachs went from “Godfrey Emsworth” to “Sir James Saunders.”