A Great Display of Heraldry at Ely Cathedral

While we were visiting Ely Cathedral in 2022, while I was rushing around like made taking pictures of all the heraldry I could see because the tour bus was only giving us a limited amount of time there, my wife Jo was taking a more leisurely pace and ran across a really nice display that I hadn't seen (and therefore, hadn't photographed).

The book that we found in the Cathedral gift shop, The Heraldry of Ely Cathedral by Tim and Chloë Cockerill, describes the display as: "Five coloured shields, commemorating substantial benefactors to the 19th century restoration of the Cathedral."

The authors then go on to identify each of the five shields. From left to right, they are:

John Charles Sharpe: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Azure a pheon argent within on a bordure or eight hurts (Sharpe); 2 and 3, Argent a chevron between three coneys feeding sable (Lever). The crest is: An eagle's head erased argent gorged with a ducal coronet or and holding in its beak a pheon inverted bendwise argent. John C. Sharpe, of Goslings and Sharpe, bankers in Fleet Street, London, paid for the restoration of Prior Crauden's Chapel in 1846.

John Dunn-Gardner (1811-1903), M.P., and his first wife, Mary Lawson. Mr. Dunn-Gardner has his own entry on Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dunn-Gardner

Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent a saltire or between three griffin's heads sable and a cushion azure (Gardener); 2 and 3, Azure on a chevron or between two boar's heads couped and a padlock argent a lozenge gules between two keys wards to base and turned upwards sable (Dunn); impaling, Paly of four gules and vert on a chevron argent a greyhound's head erased sable between two cinquefoils azure and on a chief or a pellet charged with a demi-lion argent between two crescents sable each charged with three plates (Lawson). The crests: (Dexter) A griffin's head erased argent between two branches of laurel in saltire proper (Gardner); (Sinister) Two swords in saltire proper tied with a riband vert and pendent therefrom a key sable.

Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford, K.G. (1788-1861). The Duke has his own entry on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Russell,_7th_Duke_of_Bedford

Argent a lion rampant gules on a chief sable three escallops argent, the shield surmounted by the coronet of a duke. Crest: A goat passant argent.

Alexander James Beresford-Hope (1820-1887). You can find more about Mr. Beresford-Hope on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Beresford_Hope

Azure a chevron or between three bezants. Crest: A broken globe surmounted by a rainbow with clouds at each end proper.

And finally, the Rev. Thomas Halford (d. ca. 1858). Argent a greyhound passant sable on a chief azure three fleurs-de-lys argent (Halford), on an inescutcheon, Per fess embattled or and gules three gates counterchanged (Yeats). Crest: A greyhound's head couped argent. Motto: Naseby.

The motto comes from an historical event in which the family played a part. The Halfords once owned Wistow Hall, Kilby, Leicestershire, where King Charles I called after retreating from the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

What an amazing display of heraldry! And to think that I would have missed it entirely if it hadn't been for my very own "Heraldry Helper" taking the time to photograph it because she knew that I would have been sorry to have missed it in my hurried circumnavigation of Ely Cathedral.

My Very Own "Heraldry Helper"

Some of you reading this will have already heard that last October, I lost my wife of 31 years, Jo Ann Appleton, née Armistead.

Indeed, it was her cancer diagnosis in August 2023 that called a sudden halt to our travel plans, and thus we did not go to Lund, Sweden for 2023's heraldic Colloquium, nor did we go to Boston, Massachusetts for last year's International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences.

This sudden change of travel plans (we had already made, confirmed, and paid for our travel plans to Lund and thence to Karlshamn, Blekinge, Sweden, where my great-grandmother and her ancestors were born and lived) has meant that I was not gallivanting off to distant places and taking photographs of the heraldry to be found there. And this cessation of new photographs of heraldry from hither and yon meant that, since I was continuing to write blog posts at a minimum to two per week, I was in danger of running out of pictures of heraldry to share with you. (I mean, you don't really want me recycling pictures from old posts, do you? I certainly don't!)

But then, while going through my computer files to see what new items I might have to share with you, I ran across a few dozen photographs of heraldry that Jo, whom I sometimes think of as my personal "Heraldry Helper," took, because she knew that if I hadn't seen and photographed them myself, I would have if I had seen them. Or if we were together, but I was driving (and thus couldn't get out my camera), or we were on a tour bus and she was seeing different things out her window than I could out of mine, then she'd snap pictures for me.

Her interests were in flowers and unique architecture, and I often took pictures of things that I knew she would be interested in, if for whatever reason we were not at the same place at the same time. Or, again, if what I saw out of my side of the tour bus was different from what she saw out of hers. So it wasn't just a one-way relationship. We looked out for each other.

Of course, if we were together (as in the photo above, from our time in London in 2014, above, then we each let the other take pictures of what they were interested in.*

* This sometimes led to some interesting observations when the photographs from our trip, hers and mine, were shuffled in together by date and time. During our trip to Florence, Italy, Jo noticed that though we were together, our photos were of such wildly different things (me, heraldry; her, flowers and architecture) that you'd be hard-pressed to believe that we were actually on the same street at the same time!

So for now, and for the next few posts, I'll be sharing some of the heraldry that Jo photographed for me. Today, it's the arms of the Municipal Borough of Acton, Middlesex, England, that she caught from one of those ubiquitous double-decker tourist buses there.

Please feel free to click on the image above to be able to zoom in and really see the depth and detail of this carved coat of arms.

I could go ahead and blazon the arms for you, but it's probably just as effective, if not more so, to pull a color version off of Wikipedia and share it with you here.

Acton mean "oak farm," hence the oak tree proper as the primary charge on the shield. The charges on the chief are the arms of Middlesex County Council (in the center) between an open book and a cogwheel for education and industry in the borough, respectively. The crest is an oak sprig (again, playing on the name of the Borough) issuant from a mural crown. And the motto, Floreat actona translates as "Acton flourishes."

Is it a truly great coat of arms? Well, no. I could, if I chose, find several aspects of it to quibble about. For example, the use of the proper oak tree to get around the fact that the green and brown tree on a red field breaks the Rule of Tincture ("Metal should not be placed on metal, nor color on color"). And chief adds significantly, perhaps too much, complexity to the whole. but I wasn't consulted during the development of this coat of arms, and it is hardly my place to tell anyone at the College of Arms how to do their job. So I will simply relax in the ability to have a photograph of this very identifiable coat of arms, taken by my Heraldry Helper because she knew I would want it.

Heraldry in the News!

Well, to be frank (or, really, David), some of the news about this item isn't all that new.

The news article, in the Hampshire Chronicle, notes that a carved coat of arms was discovered in the back garden of the home of Peter Gillespie way back in 1986. (Mr. Gillespie has since moved, and taken the coat of arms with him to his new home in Farnham.

Even though the back of the carving, found about two feet below the surface in Mr. Gillespie's garden, has a name and date carved into it that says simply, John Newington Hughes, 1835 ...

... and the front has a well-carved coat of arms on it ...

... Mr. Gillespie has spent nearly 40 years, off and on, trying to learn more information about the carving.

Burke gives only a partial blazon of these arms: Gules on a bend argent three fleurs-de-lis, in chief a demi-lion rampant, leaving us without the tinctures of the fleurs and the demi-lion. An image of Mr. Hughes' bookplate, included in the article, does not appear to be heraldically hatched. It is certainly possible that the arms here are a variant of the arms of Hughes of Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire, also found in Burke's General Armory with the blazon: Gules on a bend between two demi-lions rampant argent three fleurs-de-lis sable.

Through his own researches and those of a friend, Mr. Gillespie has learned that John Newington Hughes was born near Maidstone in 1781. He became a banker and was a JP for Kent. He was also twice Mayor of Maidstone in 1824 and 1830. He married a wealthy widower in 1810 and spent his spare time building a substantial collection of artworks, archaeological artefacts, books, manuscripts, coins and all manner of architectural items, mostly parts of redundant churches, which he rebuilt in his back garden. He was well known for his antiquarian interests as well as his collections. He moved to Winchester in 1833 and was sole proprietor of the Winchester Gas Company in Staple Gardens. He, his wife, daughter and two servants lived in a modest house in Kingsgate Street.

But Mr. Gillespie goes on to say that, “But what we cannot understand is how and why his shield would have ended up in the garden of a 1950s house which had previously been the fields of Weeke Manor Farm. Had it been stolen and hidden? Are there other remains buried in the vicinity? I didn't find anything else buried in my garden. This is an archaeological mystery.”

So it's an interesting bit of history. There's a fair bit of information about Mr. Hughes, the owner of the coat of arms. But we are left to speculate about where the carving of his coat of arms came from, and how it ended up two feet into the earth in Mr. Gillespie's garden.

If you'd like to see more, including an image of Mr. Hughes' bookplate, you can find the article by reporter Christopher Atkinson on the website of the Hampshire Chronicle at https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/24973928.research-reveals-information-heraldic-shield-found-winchester/

Heraldry in the Wild!

Well, "in the wild" for some version of a pretty tame, really, domesticated "wild."

Anyway, I was recently reminded that I had run across this particular piece of heraldry at an antique show in Fort Worth, Texas. Not exactly the location, or the venue, where you might expect to find a European coat of arms. Just sayin'.

But I thought it was a pretty neat item, that someone had obviously seen and "upscaled" by turning a simple, armorially-decorated tin into a slightly more complex, armorially-decorated table lamp.

See what you think. How cool is this find of the arms of Hungary, complete with angel supporters?

Scandal, Sensation, or Breaking News?

Well, given the date of the manuscript, I don't think it can be truly called "breaking news." Just sayin'.

We all are, or at least, ought to be, familiar with the coat of arms of the City of London:

Usually blazoned Argent a cross and in the first quarter a sword gules.

But someone recently posted in The Heraldry Society Facebook page some images of the Stowe MS 733, where these arms are given as the arms of London, but also showing the "Auncient Armes of London," as seen in "our Lady Church in Audmary", where in place of the sword there is "an ould Romayn L" in the first quarter:

That page goes on to state that John Stowe had seen it in an old seal, and affirmed that it was the sword of St. Paul and not, as some stories say, a reward for the Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, defending with his sword King Richard II from Peasant's Revolt leader Wat Tyler.

Anyway, I thought this was an interesting development. I haven't seen anything before that has suggested that the charge in the first quarter of the arms of the City of London was anything but a sword. But here we are, looking at an old manuscript that says that once upon a time it was an old Roman "L" (or was it an old Roman "fifty", which is also an "L"?).

As Artie Johnson used to say on the old TV show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, "Verrry interesting."

* I'm probably dating myself with this reference. Yeah, I'm old. Get over it.

Serendipity!

It can be fascinating when fields of study overlap, can't it? Take, for example, the three overlapping areas of heraldry, sigillography, and vexillology. Each of these fields have their own specialized adherents, but there are also a lot of ways in which these three overlap.

Which brings us to today's bit of serendipity.*

A good friend of mine recently sent me a .pdf of a pamphlet entitled "'Good' Flag, 'Bad' Flag", a set of guidelines to designing flags by Ted Kaye of the North American Vexillological Association, wherein are laid out five basic principles of flag design. (This is one place where the overlap between flags and heraldry can come into play; many of the principles of good flag design also apply to good heraldic design.)

But as I saw it, and thought to myself, "I've recently seen something else about this pamphlet. What was it?"

A quick search took me to a YouTube video entitled "Good Flag, Bad Flag: The Limits of Simple Design," by Linus Borman, a critique of the strengths (and some of the weaknesses) of the "'Good' Flag, 'Bad' Flag" pamphlet.

At least part of what Mr. Borman points out reminded me of that line from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, where Barbossa tells Miss Turner, who has invoked the "pirate's code", "the code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules."

Anyway, I found it interesting that I came across these two items, from different sources of transmission to me, all in the same week.

You can find Mr. Kaye's pamphlet on-line in several languages at https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag, 

and Mr. Borman's video critique at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSzx0k_C6TI

Check 'em out, and see: (1) what you think of them; and (2) how they each can apply to heraldry as well as flags.

* Serendipity can be seen as "good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries."

Heraldry in the News!

Frankly, one of the sub-headlines was a bit of a shocker to me: "A small Spanish town is reportedly considering legal action against Meghan Markle after the Duchess of Sussex unveiled the logo for her latest business venture."

Legal action? Wow! So what's the story here?

It turns out that the Duchess of Sussex is starting up a new venture, called "As Ever," and has created as its logo a design which the village of Porreras in Mallorca says bears a "striking resemblance" to their coat of arms.

Here's what the uproar is all about:

This is the logo of As Ever:

And here is the coat of arms of Porreras, Mallorca, Spain:

So there you have the heart of the issue.

I can think of arguments both that the logo is too similar to the arms, and that the logo, though reminiscent, is sufficiently different from the arms.

But Porreres Mayor Xisca Mora has said that the likeness is “surreal”, and that "[i]t is a total copy," and that the town was deciding whether or not to take legal action against the Duchess, though admitting that they probably can't afford a lawsuit. The mayor believes that Duchess Meghan may have seen the arms during a visit to Mallorca.

For her part, the Duchess says that "comprehensive global searches of registered trademarks were conducted,” so that it shouldn't be an issue.

In any case, you can read some of the news stories about this issue on-line at:

https://www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity-life/taken-from-mallorca-meghan-markles-new-logo-bears-striking-resemblance-to-spanish-towns-coat-of-arms/news-story/125ed82b57d13c70f16a4e2ec82d4e08

https://www.majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2025/02/21/131383/meghan-markle-royal-rip-off-just-happy-little-coincidence.html

https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/uk-news/2025/02/19/67b5c5c2ca4741bf398b4595.html

https://www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity-life/comprehensive-global-searches-were-conducted-meghan-markle-not-worried-about-trademark-issues/news-story/ded6aa0d089eca33437da19f65a73289

https://pagesix.com/2025/02/20/royal-family/spanish-mayor-says-small-town-cant-afford-to-sue-meghan-markle-for-plagiarism-over-as-ever-logo/

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/meghan-markle-accused-copying-spanish-coat-arms-comedy-errors-rebrand

https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/royal-family/meghan-markle-new-brand-logo-spanish-town-b2701762.html

The American President's New Challenge Coin

Challenge coins are "a small coin or medallion that symbolizes membership in an organization. They are often used by the military, law enforcement, and other organizations." They may also be used to signify support for a particular organization, or given out by someone as an informal award to show appreciation and reward excellence.

Well, it has come to my attention that the current President of the United States now has a challenge coin, one which bears a coat of arms.

As you can see, the reverse of this coin bears a coat of arms, with the President's name where a motto scroll would normally be placed.

However, as has been noted before, the arms here are not those of the Trump family, but are a slightly-modified version of the arms granted in 1939 by the College of Arms in London to Joseph Edward Davies, American diplomat and the husband of Marjorie Merriweather Post, from whom Mr. Trump purchased the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as his residence.

Here are images of the Davies arms and the version that Trump has used for several years (which have been further modified by changing the colors of the field and lions, and using lions rampant as opposed to demi-lions, and using a more complete version of his name instead of just the surname, on the coin, above).

I can only assume that Mr. Trump (or more likely, one of the people who works or worked for him) assumed that the arms of Mr. Davies, placed prominently at Mar-a-Lago, were now his property to use as he saw fit. (The Lord Lyon King of Arms had a different "take" on this a few years ago when Mr. Trump built a golf course in Scotland and wanted to use the Davies arms as the course's logo. A new, different coat of arms was then granted by Lyon for the golf course.)

There are a number of articles still available on the internet that discuss the usurpation of Mr. Davies' arms by Mr. Trump. Here are just a few of them:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40097665?fbclid=IwY2xjawIi8uVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXuTFCHgD8O6l75Q5eMrWhH27CZh3z_bW0wtPauyP3EUzpGQnbtE4rDLuA_aem_APKrc2eNRUDbEdTrBKgfkA

https://www.rosieburbidge.com/post/trump-and-his-coat-of-arms

https://www.heraldsun.com/news/politics-government/article153198454.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4551060/Coat-arms-used-Trump-properties-rip-off.html

While it is nice to see heraldry still in use today, this instance of it rather begs the question: Do the arms on the challenge coin represent President Trump personally, or do they represent his companies and/or his residence at Mar-a-Lago? I ask only because this modification of the Davies arms seems to have been used both ways.

What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms? Part 35 - The End

We are now at the end, in more than one way, of our posts of things that you can do with your coat of arms.

It's the end in one way, because this is the final post on this topic.

And it's the end in another way, because we are going to see some of the ways that people use their heraldry after leaving this "vale of tears"; that is, after they die.

We know that it was not uncommon both in Great Britain and on the Continent in past times for a memorial board or hatchment with the coat of arms to be placed in the local church (or on the home) of an armiger who had died, as here:

Well, this kind of armorial memorial continues today. It may not necessarily continue to be hung in the church afterwards; though in some places it still is, as this example from Ghent, Belgium, dated 1930:

But it can also appear temporarily during the funeral service at the head or the foot of the coffin.

And, of course, it may be created in digital format which can be printed on the program of the funeral service and appear in other places, as this one:

Even  more recently, someone posted in a Facebook heraldry group about his "pre-need" hatchments that he created and had printed in two different sizes on metal, all ready for display when his time comes:

Another potential use of heraldry at a funeral might be in an armorial flower arrangement like this one:

Of course, once you have been interred in your final resting place, your grave may be marked with an armorial gravestone. This is also a practice which has a long history. Here is an armorial grave marker from colonial Boston, Massachusetts:

But this practice of armorial grave markers, as with hatchments, is not limited to the past, but continues in use today:

So, as you can see from the examples here, even after you have "shuffled off this mortal coil", you can still be using your coat of arms.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series on What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms, and that you have been inspired by at least some of the examples you have seen here and are looking at ways in incorporate your heraldry more fully into your life.

What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms? Part 35 - Just for Fun

We're going to finish up the "Just for Fun" section of things you can do with your coat of arms with what many consider to be the ultimate self-identifier: tattooing your heraldry onto your body!

Now, such tattoos can range from the comparatively small and fairly discrete, like this Scottish clan crest:

To something a little larger, say on your upper arm at the shoulder:

Or something on your chest:

Or side:

I will state here for the record, that I do not recommend getting a tattoo of your "family crest" taken off of some on-line bucket shop heraldry website, since the odds are very great that the coat of arms shown there is in fact not your family's coat of arms, but is the arms of someone whose surname you share. Just sayin'.

You can also go for a full "sleeve" with your arms:

Regarding this last, you may note that some of the hallmarks of the bucket shop heraldist is the oft-times generic crest of ostrich feathers, and placing the surname in what would normally be the motto scroll. Once again, Don't Do This! If you are going to go to that much time, money, trouble (and physical pain), however impressive it may look when it is done, people knowledgeable about heraldry are going to shake their heads and mutter "Tsk, tsk" under their breath because, once again, the odds that this is not your family's coat of arms, but the arms of some other family with whom you share a surname.

And then, of course, you can pretty much go "whole hog" and have your arms (or, as in this example, someone else's arms; again, note the clues that this depiction came from another bucket shop heraldist) tattooed across your entire back:

So, as I said, the ultimate self-identifier, just for fun!