HUMOR IN HERALDRY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11280, 9 August 1930, Page 9

HUMOR IN HERALDRY

QUEER FAMILY ARMS,

Did you know that nn English baronet, whose title wceat-'d some years ago, decided to bate u'» old bat for his family arms? That the arms of the County of Torn wait consist of five sets of pawnbrokers signs: that a famous English family has three dice, with the . sixes uppermost, as -"TpirTioraldicv. device,- and that one British duke, 16 other peers and 18 baronets display - scallopshells on their shields? - ' These are' just a few of the many, humours of' heraldry described- iri the ; “Sunday Express” by 'Hayden Church. ' , A pair of boots, neatly spurred, appears on the shield of the former Sir Jessie Boot (now. Lord Trent), and a beehive, surrounded by bees, is on that of Admiral of tho Fleet, Earl Beatty, whose name, of course, is' pronounced “Bee-ty.” . ■ The seven acorns on the shield of Sir William Sevenoke recall the dramatic story of an infant, abandoned bv his parents, who was found in a hollow tree near Sevenoaks in Rent, and who carried the foundling name thus given- him to the Lord Mayoralty of London and a knighthood. The arms of Whalley are three whales’' heads ; the Kamsdens, three rams ’ heads; the Knightleys-display a lance, and the Merry weathers a sun and three martins, signifying merry weather. The Bannermans display a banner on their shield, 'the Calls three trumpets, the Butlers. three covered cups, the Fishers a kingfisher. and the Beevors a beaver. Other families have just names in their mottoes, many of which are deliberate, puns. One such i« that of the Weldon - baronets, which is, in Latin “Well Doner l'another the “Make Haste Slowly” or the earls whose name is Onslow. The motto o c the Dixie family is a doubi--pun, “Quod dixi dixi” (“What I Lavo said, I Lave said/'), while that> of Viscount Cross is “Believe in'the Cross.’ The late Lord Battersea, (formerly Cyril Flower) chose for his motto. “God careth for the Flowers. ’ Lord Armstrong's motto is “Strong tin jArms.” and Lord U-ranbrooks “Armed with llardv Faith-r-a play on the familv name Hardy.The foundations of tho great As tor fortune were, of course, laid in America bv the original John Jacob Aster, who made millions, from- tho sale of furs, and this fact is recalled by tho supporters of Lord Astor s shield—one of which is a North American fur-trapper, with a rifle, and tlm other a North American Indian. Similarly the supporters of - tho shield of'Lord Gkmusk,. whose .fortune was made out of coalmines are a collier holding a pick, and a smith armed with a hammer,: and a Lon, proudlv rampant, hears ears or liarley for Lord Woolavingion, of.wlimwv fame. . The arms of Lord. Nelson, a collateral descendant of the great naval hero, are appropriately ma.ritime.Fxceptionallv elaborate, they include bombs, waves of the sea, a disabled shin, ond the stern of a man-of-war, inscribed “San Joseff.”