THE DANGERS OF COATS OF ARMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 26

THE DANGERS OF COATS OF ARMS

A silver spoon with a crest on it, or a mug with a city's .coat of arms may be just a sentimental souvenir, but in England it can mean a fine for the owner unless he pays a tax on it every year, says the London correspondent of the "bManchester Guardian." Even a crested signet ring, whether or hot the owner is entitled to the crest, is taxed yearly.

The right to use arms depends on various points of law and usage, but none of them concerns the tax collector. Tax authorities give no heed to what the College of Heralds thinks about people who use arms to which they are not entitled. Anyone may have signet rings or silver bearing almost any device, as far as these officials are concerned, but the tax must be paid. If the arms are used on a carriage or car the tax is £2 2s 6d a year.

Mrs. Florence Bluett, an elderly woman of Harrow, was summoned recently because an inspector who called to ask about her dog licence discovered she was wearing a signet ring with a heraldic squirrel on it. The dog licence fee had been paid, but he found she had no licence for the squirrel, which she had been wearing for five years. A lenient Magistrate dismissed tly case under his powers of probation, though she could have been fined.

There is only one safe excuse for failure to pay the coat of arms tax —to prove that. tlie. head of the. family has paid for a, licence on the crest. That apparently covers all other members of the family as well.

Having a coat of arms, approved officially by the College of Heralds is quite another business. Though the weight of opinion among historians now is that in England's early days it was /proper for any gentleman' to

assume any coat of arms he wished, provided they were not.already used by someone else, those days have passed..

As far back as the reign of King Henry VIII there was a nation-wide check-up on all users of coats of arms, to expose publicly those who were claiming unlawfully the title of gentleman, 'implied by public use of arms. Many Britons who had a perfect right to them arc said to have "disclaimed" their coat-of arms because they did not want to risk trying to uphold a claim legally.-,

Now coats pf arms- are granted by the College of Arms when a man raised to the peerage does not already have them. But the minimum cost is about £80. Some peers have decided they, would rather have the £80 than the coat of arms. Among them are Lords 'Snell; Passfield, Marley, Olivier, Allan, Rochester,, Sanderson, and Elton. .

\ Lord Passfield, the former Labour member of Parliament,, who began his life as Sidney. James Webb, ridicules the use of heraldic devices. ■ He was made a baron in 1929, but never took a coat of arms.

"Why should; I?"-he said, on one occasion. "It would be a complete sham. Any number' of people have no coat of arms." ' ••

His wife, weir known- for Labour activities, has' refused ;to use the title at all and, though her husband is now Lord Passfield, she is still /Mrs. Sidney Webb to the world. ;

Until last year the acceptance of a title was an expensive business, even without a coat of arms, except for politicians. It "was customary /to waive fees and taxes" on titles created as rewards for "public services " and political-work,- ' , - " "'""■■ r-