2023 (168th): Professor Sir David Cannadine, author & historian

2022 (168th): Professor Sir David Cannadine, author & historian

2021 (168th): Professor Sir David Cannadine, author & historian

2020 (167th): Dr Carl Chinn MBE, historian

2019 (166th): Jonathan Coe, novelist

2018 (165th): Simon Callow, actor

2017 (164th): Roger Ward, political historian

2016 (163rd): Julian Lloyd Webber, musician

2015 (162nd): Ms Lyndsey Davis, novelist

2014 (161st): Mr Adrian Shooter, CBE, transport executive

2013 (160th): Christopher Lyttelton, 12th Viscount Cobham,

2012 (159th): The Right Reverend, Michael Dickens Whinney, Bishop of Southwell

2011 (158th): Sir Ralph Kohn, medical scientist

2010 (157th): The Right Reverend, David Urquhart, The Lord Bishop of Birmingham

2009 (156th): Sir Arnold Wolfendale, astronomer

2008 (155th): Professor Stanley Wells CBE, Shakespearian schola

2007 (154th): Miss Jenny Uglow, historian

2006 (153rd): Mr Brian Walden, journalist

2005 (152nd): The Very Reverend Dr Peter Berry, Provost of Birmingham

2004 (151st): John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham

2003 (150th): Thomas Trotter, City Honorary Organist

2002 (149th): Dr Desmond King-Hele, physicist

2001 (148th): Professor Peter Willmore, astronomer

2000 (147th): Penelope Lyttelton, Viscountess Cobham

1999 (146th): Fay Weldon, author

1998 (145th): Mr Peter Donohoe, classical pianist

1997 (144th): Dr Carl Chinn, historian

1996 (143rd): Sybil, Lady Thompson

1995 (142nd): Mr Joe Hunt

1994 (141st): Sir Michael Checkland, former Director General of the BBC

1993 (140th): The Most Reverend Maurice Couve de Murville, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham

1992 (139th): Rachel Waterhouse, local historian and activist

1983 (130th): Sir David Willcocks, musician and composer

1982 (129th): Miss Evelyn Laye, CBE, actress

1981 (128th): Mr Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, broadcaster

1980 (127th): Mr Yehudi Menuhin, KBE, violinist and conductor

1979 (126th): Sir Adrian Cadbury, KT, Chairman of Cadbury

1978 (125th): Dr Beryl Foyle, Managing Director of Boxfoldia

1977 (124th): Sir Peter Scott, ornithologist

1976 (123rd): Honorary Alderman, Mrs. E. V. Smith

1975 (122nd): Dr J. A. Pope

1974 (121st): Sir Lionel Russell, Chief Education Officer, Birmingham, 1946-1968

1973 (120th): The Reverend Canon R. G. Lunt

1972 (119th): The Right Honourable, Jo Grimmond PC, Liberal politician

1971 (118th): The Right Honourable, Lord King’s Norton, aeronautical engineer

1970 (117th): Sir Peter Venables, Aston University’s first Vice-Chancellor

1969 (116th): Sir Peter Venables, Aston University’s first Vice-Chancellor

1968 (115th): The Right Reverend Leonard Wilson, The Lord Bishop of Birmingham

1967 (104th): Sir Eric Clayson, businessman

1966 (113th): Sir Lawrence Bragg, physicist

1965 (112th): Sir Donald Finnemore, Liberal politician

1964 (111th): Dame Ninette de Valois, choreographer

1963 (110th): Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, Governor-General of New Zealand

1962 (109th): Sir Robert Aitken, physician

1961 (108th): The Right Honourable, The Lord Rennel of Rodd, World War II veteran

1960 (107th): Sir Alexander Fleck,industrial chemist

1959 (106th): The Right Honourable, The Viscount Radcliffe, Law Lord

1958 (105th): M André Maurois, author

1957 (104th): The Right Honourable, The 1st Earl Attlee, politician

1956 (103rd): Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, CH, FBA, classical scholar

1955 (102nd): Sir Gerald Kelly PRA, painter

1954 (101st): Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos, businessman and politician

1953 (100th): John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, biologist, politician, awarded the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize

1952 (99th): Sir John Russell CMG GCVO, diplomat and ambassador

1951 (98th): Sir Raymond Evershed, judge and Master of the Rolls

1950 (97th): Leo Amery, politician and journalist

1949 (96th): Sir Raymond Priestley, geologist and Antarctic explorer

1948 (95th): The Right Honourable, Lord Iliffe, newspaper magnate

1947 (94th): Sir Richard Winn Livingstone, classical scholar and university administrator

1946 (93rd): Edward Woods, Bishop of Lichfield

1945 (92nd): Sir Charles Galton Darwin, physicist

1944 (91st): Norman Birkett, judge and politician

1943 (90th): Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, Admiral of the Fleet

1942 (89th): John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey, judge and Lord Chancellor

1941 (88th): The Right Honourable, The Viscount Bennett, PC KC, former Prime Minister of Canada

1940 (87th): Sir H. Walford Davies, Master of the King’s Music

1939 (86th): Thomas Horder, Baron Horder, physician

1938 (85th): The Right Honourable, The Earl of Dudley, MC TD, politician

1937 (84th): The Right Honourable, The Lord Sempill, AFC, air pioneer

1936 (83rd): Sir Josiah Stamp, industrialist and banker

1935 (82nd): Stanley Bruce, High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom (formerly Prime Minister of Australia)

1934 (81st): The Lord Moynihan, surgeon

1933 (80th): Sir James Jeans, physicist, astronomer and mathematician

1932 (79th): The Right Reverend, Ernest Barnes, FRS, Lord Bishop of Birmingham

1931 (78th): The Right Honourable, The Viscount Hewart, Kt PC, Lord Chief Justice of England

1930 (77th): The Most Honourable, The Marquess of Zetland, KG GCSI GCIE PC JP DL, politician

1929 (76th): Sir Frank Dyson, Astronomer Royal

1928 (75th): The Right Honourable, The Earl of Crawford, KT PC DL FRS FSA, politician

1927 (74th): The Right Honourable, The Viscount Grey of Fallodon, KG PC DL FZS, politician

1926 (73rd): Sir William Bragg, OM KBE PRS, physicist

1925 (72nd): F. E. Smith, Earl of Birkenhead, statesman

1924 (71st): Sir Reginald Blomfield, architect

1923 (70th): Austen Chamberlain, awarded the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize

1922 (69th): The Honourable Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, engineer

1921 (68th): Guglielmo Marconi, inventor and electrical engineer

1920 (67th): John W. Davis, US Ambassador to the Court of St James’

1919 (66th): Sir Rickman Godlee, KVCO, surgeon

1918 (65th): Walter Hines Page, US Ambassador to the Court of St James’

1917 (64th): Admiral The Right Honourable, The Lord Beresford, GCB GCVO, admiral and politician

1916 (63rd): The Right Reverend and Right Honourable, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, KCVO, Bishop of London

1915 (62nd): Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, actor and theatre manager

1914 (61st): Sir Frederick Treves, surgeon

1913 (60th): The Right Honourable, The Viscount Milner, politician

1912 (59th): General Sir Ian Hamilton, army officer

1911 (58th): Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of York

1910 (57th): Professor Sir George Darwin, astronomer

1909 (56th): The Right Honourable, Alfred Lyttelton, politician

1908 (55th): Sir William Blake Richmond, artist

1907 (54th): Lord Curzon of Kedleston, politician

1906 (53rd): Richard Webster, Viscount Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice

1905 (52nd): Charles Gore, 1st Bishop of Birmingham

1904 (51st): Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist

1903 (50th): Joseph Hodges Choate, lawyer and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom

1902 (49th): The Right Honourable, Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, politician

1901 (48th): Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, politician

1900 (47th): Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London

1899 (46th): Sir John Evans, archaeologist and geologist

1898 (45th): Sir Norman Lockyer, astronomer

1897 (44th): Frederic Harrison, historian

1896 (43rd): The Right Honourable, G. J. Goschen, MP, politician

1895 (42nd): William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon

1894 (41st): The Right Reverend, William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon

1893 (40th): Sir Edwin Arnold, poet and journalist

1892 (39th): W. E. H. Lecky, historian

1891 (38th): Sir Robert Ball, astonomer

1890 (37th): Edward Augustus Freeman, historian

1889 (36th): Sir Henry Roscoe, chemist

1888 (35th): Sir Arthur Sullivan, composer

1887 (34th): Sir John Seeley, essayist and historian

1886 (33rd): Sir Frederick Branwell, civil and mechanical engineer

1885 (32nd): Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury

1884 (31st): James Russell Lowell, poet and United States Minister to Great Britain

1883 (30th): Sir William Thomson (afterwards Baron Kelvin), mathematical physicist and engineer

1882 (29th): J. A. Froude, historian and novelist

1881 (28th): Professor Sir William Siemens, engineer

1880 (27th): Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook, politician

1879 (26th): Professor Max Müller, philologist and Orientalist

1878 (25th): Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster

1877 (24th): Professor John Tyndall, physicist

1876 (23rd): John Morley, Liberal statesman and newspaper editor

1875 (22nd): Professor Henry Fawcett, statesman and economist

1874 (21st): Sir John Lubbock, banker, politician, philanthropist, and scientist

1873 (20th): Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, army officer and politician

1872 (19th): Canon Charles Kingsley, author of Westward Ho! (1855) and The Water-Babies (1863)

1871 (18th): T. H. Huxley, biologist

1870 (17th): Lyon Playfair, scientist and Liberal politician

1869 (16th): Charles Dickens, author

1868 (15th): Thomas Anson, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, politician

1867 (14th): Matthew Davenport Hill, lawyer and penologist

1866 (13th): Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby

1865 (12th): John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley, astronomer

1864 (11th): Charles Adderley, 1st Baron Norton, politician

1863 (10th): William Scholefield, businessman and Liberal politician

1862 (9th): Sir John S. Pakington, Conservative politician

1861 (8th): Arthur Ryland, Lord Mayor of Birmingham (1860)

1860 (7th): Sir Francis Scott, 3rd Baronet, landowner

1859 (6th): William Henry Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh, politician

1858 (5th): William Ward, 11th Baron Ward, industrialist, landowner and benefactor

1857 (4th): Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton, politician

1856 (3rd): William Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth, Conservative politician

1855 (2nd): Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe, politician

1854 (1st President): George Lyttelton, Baron Lyttelton of Hagley