The Arms of an Earl

Underneath one of the towers in York Minster is placed an armorial plaque commemorating the gifts and skills of those who saved the tower from collapse.

At the very top of this plaque are the arms of York Minster (modern), followed by the inscription:

With Thanksgiving to God

for those whose gifts and skills

saves this tower from collapse

and especially to

Lawrence Rogert Lumley

1896-1969

Eleventh Earl of Scarbrough K.G.

First High Steward of York Minster

At the base of the marker are the arms of the Earl:

His arms are blazoned: Argent a fess gules between three popinjays vert collared gules. (Burke's Peerage notes that these are the arms of the Thwengs, apparently assumed by Marmaduke de Lumley (1341-1365) instead of the original arms of the Lumleys, which were six popinjays.) The crest is: A pelican in piety in her nest proper. The supporters are: Two parrots wings addorsed and inverted vert. (Yeah, as depicted here, they look a little more like eagles to me, too.) And the motto is: Murus aeneus conscientia sana (A sound conscience is a wall of brass).

Lawrence Roger Lumley, K.G., (1896-1969), 11th Earl of Scarborough, MP for York, and as noted above, the First High Steward of York Minster.

He married Katherine Isobel McEwen, sister of Sir John McEwen, 1st Baronet, on 12 July 1922 at St. Margaret's, Westminster.* They had five children: one son, who succeeded as the 12th Earl, and four daughters.

Like Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales Edward Albert, whose cyphers we have seen before in the Philosophical Society's garden, Lumley was a Patron of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

* St. Margaret's, which stands next to Westminster Abbey in greater London, has a personal family connection, as my 11th great-grandparents, John Bray and Margaret Haslonde, were married in St. Margaret's on August 13, 1553. Both John and Margaret (Haslonde) Bray were also baptized, and later buried, at St. Margaret's, and all of their eight children were baptized there. So, as I said, a personal family connection.