Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 March 14

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March 14

Sir Amedee Forestier?

I was recently working on Amédée Forestier, an article about a 19th-20th century artist, in which numerous sources denoted him as a "sir." However, nowhere was it mentioned that he was knighted, and the only order I found him in was the Royal Academy of Arts, and even then there were scant references for his membership. Is the Sir title necessary to the article if many sources use it or is it just a denotation that he was a member of the RA? Zemmiphobia007 (talk) 21:06, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Membership of the RA does not grant the title "Sir". I can't find any evidence that he was ever knighted. The Times obituary calls him Mr (and doesn't mention the RA, which I would expect it to do if he actually was a member). I suspect the "Sir" is an error which has been reproduced. DuncanHill (talk) 21:25, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

The earliest mentions I could find of "Sir Amédée Forestier" were courtesy of the Smithsonian. For example, "sir+amédée+forestier"&dq="sir+amédée+forestier"&printsec=frontcover this 1950 Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. GalacticShoe (talk) 21:39, 14 March 2024 (UTC)