 The last non @-@ royal appointed to the order was James Hamilton , 3rd Duke of Abercorn in 1922 , who served as the first Governor of Northern Ireland . When the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom that same year , the Irish Executive Council under W. T. Cosgrave chose to make no further appointments to the Order . The British government continued to entertain hopes for the order 's revival as a pan @-@ Irish institution . Therefore , while there was no legal or constitutional bar to the British government continuing to make appointments from among British subjects resident in Northern Ireland , it chose not to do so . 
