Two Coats of Arms Today, of a Bishop and of a Dean

Today we're going to look at the heraldic memorials of two of Ely Cathedral's churchmen.

The first is that of James Russell Woodford, Bishop of Ely 1873-1885.

Bishop Woodford was born in 1820, the only son of James Russell Woodford, a hop-merchant of Southwark, Surrey, and Frances, the daughter of Robert Appleton (no relation, alas) of Henley-on-Thames. John Woodford was educated at the Merchant Taylors School and Pembroke College, Cambridge.

He has his own entry on Wikipedia, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Woodford_(bishop)

On the side of his memorial there are three shields. From left to right in the image above, they are:

On a shield supported by an angel, is the arms of the See of Ely: Gules three crowns or.

The second is the arms of the See of Ely impaling the arms of Woodford:

And the third is the arms of Woodford, Sable three leopard’s faces inverted jessant-de-lys argent.

Our next, far less ornate, memorial is that of Robert Moss, Dean of Ely 1713-1739.

The memorial notes, in Latin, that he was Dean of Ely, and that he died 26 March 1729, aged 63.

What the memorial does not note, is that he died that date "after suffering much from gout." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moss_(priest)). More of his biography can also be found at that Wikipedia link.

Dean Moss' remarkably simple arms arms are blazoned: Ermine on a cross paty sable a bezant.

And there we have photographs of two armorial memorials taken in Ely Cathedral by my own "heraldry helper" Jo Appleton, who was always on the lookout for coats of arms that I might have missed seeing, my attention being drawn elsewhere.