the first mention of a possible order of merit was made after the battle of trafalgar, in 1805. it was discussed in letters between the first lord of the admiralty, lord barham and prime minister william pitt. nothing came from the idea. later, queen victoria, her courtiers, and politicians, all thought that a new order, based on the prussian order "pour le mérite", would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside of public service, in realms such as art, music, literature, industry, and science. victoria's husband, albert, prince consort, took an interest in the matter; he wrote in his diary that he met on 16 january 1844 with robert peel to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil order of merit" and three days later he talked with the queen on the subject. the concept did not wither and, on 5 january 1888, british prime minister the marquess of salisbury submitted to the queen a draft constitution for an order of merit in science and art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the order of scientific merit - for knights of merit in science, with the post-nominal letters "kms" and the order of artistic merit - for knights of merit in art, with the post-nominal letters "kma". however, sir frederic leighton, president of the royal academy, advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process.