An Heraldic Memorial on a Canterbury Street

Just outside St. Mary Magdalen Church on Burgate Street in Canterbury is an old heraldic memorial which has been protected from the elements by being enclosed in a "box" with glass walls and a solid roof.

(Unfortunately, the glass makes the monument harder to see in photographs, as it reflects the sky and buildings behind me. Sorry about that!)

There is a plaque nearby which explains a little of the history of the monument, its placement, and its restoration in May 1977:

On the monument itself is a carved tablet:

A translation of the text was made by David J. Shaw in 2013 which has been uploaded to the web:

John Whitfeild Gentleman:

An exceedingly celebrated name among our citizens:

Together with grandparents John and Katherine;

Also parents Henry and Anne;

Under this marble here lies buried.

A man of as generous a nature as could possibly be,

Expert in several arts and in almost all things:

Liberal protector of the poor:

A true and diligent worshiper of the true God:

Among the leaders in serving his country, especially Kent.

He had as wife Rebecca younger daughter of Robert Jaques

A most worthy former Sheriff of Kent.

She died Anno Domini 1685, aged 36.

She nevertheless bore her husband these surviving children

Anne, Rebecca, Roberta,

John, Robert, Henrietta

Beloved by their father.

For extinguishing fires in this City

As often as unfortunately it was needed,

He bestowed two machines of great size,

And also bequeathed a generous fund for getting them repaired.

And

Lest poverty should overcome praiseworthy industry,

He gave one hundred and fifty pounds

And also gave a trust to the City authorities

so that every five years,

For the benefit of six poor craftsmen of this City,

Turn and turn about,

They should be provided for, interest-free, forever.

Missed by everyone, he

Passed to his final rest, seized at the end by a stroke:

Or rather he departed hence to wake again in Heaven,

After reaching the praiseworthy age of 56.

This tomb as set up in the Year of our Salvation 1691.

John Whitfield (1635-1691), was a Canterbury lawyer and, as you can see from the above, benefactor. He claims in his will to have invented the fire engine, and Hasted's History of Kent tells us that he lived in St. Margaret Street; the impressive house he lived in survived until the Baedecker raids in 1942.

I even found a portrait of him on the internet:

But of course if was the heraldry which most attracted me to this impressive monument.

Burke's General Armory tells us: "Whitfield (Tenterden, co. Kent; descended from John Whitfield, of Tenterden, living 1548, second son of Robert Whitfield, of Wadhurst, co. Essex). Argent a bend plain between two cotises engrailed sable. Crest-Out of a palisade crown argent a buck’s head or."

The large quartered coat of arms on the face of the monument may be blazoned as follows (I am not at all certain that all of the colors painted on it are correct):

Quarterly: 1, Argent a bend plain between two cotises engrailed sable (Whitfield); 2, Argent on a fess engrailed sable three escallops argent [Jakes, Jaques, Jex]; 3, Argent on a chevron azure between three dog’s? heads couped sable/gules three roundels? argent [miscolored? Tooke: Argent on a chevron between three greyhound’s heads erased sable three plates; or Churche: Argent on a chevron gules between three greyhound’s heads erased sable three bezants]; 4, Argent two bars gules (?); overall an inescutcheon Quarterly per fess indented sable and or in the first quarter a pelican or [Jacobs].

At the base of the obelisk proper are several putti each supporting a shield.

The arms here are those of Whitfield/Whitfeild impaling Jakes/Jaques/Jex: Argent a bend plain between two cotises engrailed sable [Whitfield], impaling Argent on a fess engrailed sable three escallops argent [Jakes, Jaques, Jex].

The arms held by this putto are the same (though colored in just black and white) as the large colored coat on the front of the monument, with the main difference being that the Whitfield arms appear in the fourth as well as the first quarter: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent a bend plain between two cotises engrailed sable (Whitfield); 2, Argent on a fess engrailed sable three escallops argent [Jakes, Jaques, Jex]; 3, Argent on a chevron azure between three dog’s? heads couped sable/gules three roundels? argent [miscolored? Tooke: Argent on a chevron between three greyhound’s heads erased sable three plates; or Churche: Argent on a chevron gules between three greyhound’s heads erased sable three bezants].

It was not possible to get a good view, and therefore impossible to obtain good photographs, of the two putti in the rear; the above photo is the best I could get of the arms held by one of them, which appear to match - as far as I can make out - the quarterly coat immediately above.

Still, though, for all of the issues that I might have with it (most especially, the probably incorrect colors of the painted coat of arms), it is a beautiful and intricate memorial to a man and his family, and I was happy to see it so well protected and cared for. I mean, really, it's over 300 years old! Here's hoping it lasts at least that long into the future.