In reply to:

honour, etc.

I don't think I want to go there, as that horse has been, I believe sufficiently flogged. For the record, I acknowledge the High Church, or Johnsonian spelling scheme along with the Low Church, or Noah Webster, scheme. There are these caveats, however: 1. English spelling has always been a mess, since the first woad-painted scribes picked up a seashell fragment, or whatever it was. 2. Dictionaries may prescribe spellings, but they are not official, since we have no equivalent of the French Academie. (and no one would pay any attention to it if we did.) 3. Current preferred spellings have been instilled into generations of scholars by the likes of schoolmasters with their canes impressing the minds (if not the bums) of their hapless charges, as well as the old maids who were the only primary-school teachers until recently in this country (USA). Neither of these classes are descended from the Cumean Sibyl. 4. Hence, I have to conclude that each individual's English spelling is either a matter of habit or of choice, like said Morning Prayer vs. Solemn Choral Eucharist. I suppose that if I moved to the UK, I'd have to learn to spell Englilsh style, ; I believe the Brits who come here learn our spelling.