The next memorial we're going to look at in York Minster is to an Archdeacon with what should be a very familiar family name (though I doubt very much that this John Eyre is any kin to the fictitious Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë. Just sayin').
John Eyre, 1758-1830, was Archdeacon of Nottingham, to which postion he was appointed in 1810.
He was the second son of Anthony Eyre, of Grove, Nottinghamshire, and Judith Laetitia Bury. He married Charlotte Armytage, daughter of Sir George Armytage, 3rd Baronet, of Kirklees in Yorkshire, on 12 April 1790. The couple had six children.
He has a short biography on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eyre_(Archdeacon_of_Nottingham)
But of course it's the heraldry that is the reason for this memorial's inclusion here:
But of course it's the heraldry that is the reason for this memorial's inclusion here:
The arms, carved in high relief, are: Argent on a chevron sable three quatrefoils or in chief a crescent for difference (Eyre) impaling Gules a lion's head erased between three crosses crosslet argent (Armitage). With the crest: An armored leg couped at the thigh quarterly argent and sable spurred or.
All in all, it is a beautiful, if somewhat understated, memorial to Archdeacon John Eyre. But in heraldry, as often in life, sometimes less is better than more.
No comments:
Post a Comment