A Final Armorial Memorial in Temple Church, London

For our last look at some of the armorial memorials in Temple Church, London, we come to that of Sir John Witham, Baronet, of the Inner Temple, who was buried in the Temple Church vault November 28, 1689.

The long Latin inscription reads:

Memoriæ Sacrum

Johannes Witham, Baronetti

Qui prosapia in Agro Eboracensi ortus 

Inclyta & antiqua

Cuin res domi animo impar Esset 

Patriæ reliquit fines, 

et Majora Meditatus In Novum Virtute duce, orbem 

Provectus est 

ubi per varios casus suæ faber fortunæ 

Anglorum Nobilissimæ in Barbados Insula Coloniæ præpositus 

Summo Magistratu Maxima cum Laude 

Defunctus est. 

Ubi opes ibi honores bene promeritos 

Ob rrem feliciter gestam adeptus, 

In Angliam reversus est 

Semel Matrimonium Experto 

Soboles una Superstes nulla 

quod reliquum 

In votis erat inter suos in Templo Interiori Socios 

Vivus versari. 

Mortuus sepeliri 

Obijt XV die Novembris Anno gratiæ MDCLXXXIX Ætatis Suæ XLV 

Hoc Sepulcrale Marmor 

Amicitiæ pignus 

Posuit 

Robertus Chaplin Mercator Londinensis.

(Sacred Memory. John Witham, Baronet, Whose lineage was born in the Yorkshire Country Illustrious and ancient When things were not at home in his mind He left the borders of his country, and, having meditated on greater things, as a leader in a new Virtue, He advanced where, through various accidents, the architect of his fortune He was appointed to the colony of the most noble Englishmen in Barbados Island He died with the highest Magistracy with great honors. Where, having obtained wealth and well-deserved honors For his successful deeds, He returned to England Having once experienced marriage One issue, none surviving what remained He wished to spend his remaining times among his companions in the Inner Temple Alive. The deceased was buried Obituary on the 15th day of November in the year of his grace 1689, aged 45 This marble tomb was laid as a pledge of friendship

by Robert Chaplin, a merchant of London.)

But of course it's the heraldry, and the unusual crest, on the monument that caught my attention:

Burke’s General Armory cites: Witham (Cliffe, co. York). Or a bend gules between three pewits sable. Crest: Issuant from a ducal coronet or, a demi-woman hair dishevelled proper holding in her dexter hand a gem-ring or.

Here, we see Witham in the first and fourth, quartering: 2, Per fess argent and gules (Wawton); and 3, Argent on a fess gules between three birds close [sable] three escallops [argent] (Thweng); overall the badge of a baronet (Argent a dexter hand couped appaumy gules).

Burke notes that “this family, originally of co. Lincoln, acquired the lands of Cliffe by the marriage of George Witham, temp. Henry V., with Margaret, daughter and co-heir of John Wawton, of that place.” Which thus totally explains Wawton in the second quarter.

The Dictionary of British Arms, Vol. 3, notes the arms of Thweng (where it states that the birds are "very indistinct poss[ibly] popinjays"), on a brass to Thomas Wytham, d. 1481, and his wife Agnes, daughter of William Thweng of Comburgh, d. 1495, Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire. And thus we find the explanation of the arms in the third quarter of the shield.

It's always kind of fun to find out where the various quarters on a multiply divided shield have come from. It's not always easy to track them all down, but I am glad that I was able to do so here, giving us a greater look at the family history and connections over the years than the inscription on the monument gave us on its own.

Another Reason I Like to Travel

I've been lucky enough (or as my wife used to say, we've been willing enough to go into debt) to travel a lot of different places over the years.

And every place I go, I look for wearable heraldic souvenirs of our travels. What this means in practice is tee shirts and baseball caps with coats of arms on them.

Now, not every place offers such items (I'm looking at you, Dublin, Ireland and Glasgow, Scotland! No tee shirts, no baseball caps, not even a keychain with the city arms on them. And I looked! I even asked! The closest I came in Dublin was a fuzzy "viking" horned hat with the city's coat of arms on it. I bought it, but it's not something I feel quite brave enough to wear in public. Especially with the little bells hanging from the ends of the horns, not to mention the blue braids on each side. See photograph immediately below).

And, of course, not every place I've gone offers "real" heraldry on their wearable souvenirs.

Once example of this is my recent trip to Victoria, British Columbia, to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, of which I have been a member for more years than I care to remember.

Having some free time before meetings, I wandered down to the central city to see what I could find. And I found an armorial tee shirt and matching (sort of) baseball cap.

As you can see, they both bear the same fictitious coat of arms, though only the shirt bears the legend: Canada: Fast and Furious.

The "arms" consist of the logo of the Porsche automobile company (with the legend "Canada" across the top of the shield instead of "Porsche"), and the inescutcheon bears a black rampant moose (instead of the black rearing horse) and the word "Original" in chief instead of "Stuttgart", the city where Porsche is located.

Here's Porsche to compare:

And the "arms" on the shirt:

So, while it may not be the arms of the city of Victoria, or even the arms of British Columbia, it's a fun little take-off with a specifically Canadian twist of the logo of Porsche, and I expect to have some fun wearing each of these items in the future.

And if you can't have some fun with heraldry, what's the point? As J.P. Brooke-Little said in his Introduction to his book An Heraldic Alphabet: "[H]erein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."

Why I Like to Travel

Well, maybe saying that I "like" to travel is a bit of an overstatement.

Because, honestly, while I like being in new and different places, or revisiting places I have been to before, the getting there -- whether by plane, train, or automobile -- isn't all that pleasant to me, especially at my increasing age.

Nonetheless, I can't do one without the other (at least until they invent the Star Trek transporter system), so I at least tolerate the going to enjoy the being.

A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to indulge myself in at least one way; I was able for the first time since I commissioned it (from artist and craftsman Steve Cowan) to use my heraldic table banner to mark my place at the table at the gala banquet at the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada.

Here are two photographs of its first public "unveiling", as it were. The first picture is of the obverse side with my coat of arms:

And the second is the reverse, with my crest:

Note that on the crest, one of the apples has fallen from the tree and has landed on the torse.

Steve asked me before drawing it up if I would have any objection to him drawing it that way, and I told him that I thought it would add a nice little touch of whimsy, so he did.

And it warms my heart and makes me laugh a little every time I see it.

And, really, if you can't have a little fun with heraldry, what's the point of it?

As J.P. Brooke-Little said so well in his introduction to his book, An Heraldic Alphabet: "[H]erein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."

Armorial Memorial to a Man, His Wife, and Their Son

Once again, because of the dearth of information found on-line or in the usual suspects (Papworth, Burke's, etc.), with the exception of an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography for Sir William Morton, some of the information for these entries was found in the Register of Burials at the Temple Church, 1628-1853, by H. G. Woods, D.D., Master of the Temple, Henry Sotheran and Co., London, 1905

Heic subtus jacet corpus Willielmi Morton, Militis, unius Justiciariorum ad Placita coram ipso Rege tenenda, &c. Collonellus equorum atque pedum Caroli beatæ memoriæ primi, &c. 1672 (Here under lies the body of William Morton, Soldier, one of the Justiciary to hold Pleas before the King himself, &c. Colonel of the Horse and Foot of Charles the First of blessed memory, &c. 1672).

The Roll-call of Temple Worthies buried within the precincts includes a large number of Masters of the Bench of the two Honourable Societies [Inner Temple and Middle Temple in London]. The following were Judges: … Sir William Morton, who fought on the royalist side (1672), ….

So here we have the armorial memorial to the Hon. Judge Sir William Morton, Kt. (died 1672), his wife, Lady Anne Morton, née Smith (died 1668), wife of Sir William Morton, and their son, John Morton (died 1668).

The Register of Burials gives us the following for these last two individuals:

Mistress Anne Morton, wife of the Hon. Judge Morton of the Inner Temple, was buried in the south aisle upon the 7th of January, 1668-9.

John Morton of the Inner Temple, esq., was buried in the south isle the 26th day of November, 1668.

John Morton, Esq; eldest Son of Sir William Morton Kt. and Anne his Wife, of the Inner Temple. And Captain of a Regiment of Foot in Ireland, and Governor of Kilkenny, 1668.

The arms are blazoned: Quarterly gules and ermine, in the first and fourth quarters a goat's head erased argent armed or. The crest is A goat's head as in the arms.

We have seen this coat of arms before in connection with another individual. The Archbishop of Canterbury John Morton (d. 1500) also bore these arms, and we have seen them at Canterbury Cathedral and at the Church of St. Mary at Lambeth in London.

Two Armorial Memorials in Temple Church

It is sometimes difficult to find good information about an individual, or the coat of arms, on a memorial in a church. Either I cannot find much, if any, biographical information on-line, and/or the usual armorial sources (e.g., Burke's General Armory, Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials, etc.) aren't specific to the individual memorialized.

Still, I try to do what I can. Some of the information for the entries today, as sparce as it was, was found in the Register of Burials at the Temple Church, 1628-1853, by H. G. Woods, D.D., Master of the Temple, Henry Sotheran and Co., London, 1905

Today we see the memorial to Sir John Williams, of Minster, in the County of Kent, Kt. 1668.

The Register of Burials informs us that Sir John Williams of Minster Court in the Isle of Tenett, a member of the Inner Temple, was buried in the church under near the saints bell the 26 of March, 1669.

Burke’s General Armory only cites Williams (Minster, in the Isle of Thanet, co. Kent). Vert three eagles displayed in fess or. Crest: An eagle displayed or.

Here, of course, the Williams arms are quartering Gules three lions passant in pale argent, which are probably the arms of Giffard or Gifford.

However, I have been unable to find a Sir John Williams whose wife was a Giffard or Gifford, so I have no other information about this individual.

Next we have the memorial to George Wilde:

Here again, the Register of Burials informs us that George Wilde of the Inner Temple, Esq., was buried in the round on Friday the first of August, 1679.

The arms would be blazoned Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent on a chief sable three martlets argent (Wild/Wylde); 2, Argent on a cross sable a crescent or [too many possibilities to positively identify]; 3, Or a chevron checky azure and gules between three cinquefoils azure [Cooke]; overall a crescent gules for difference. Crest: A lion passant gules resting its dexter forepaw on an escutcheon argent, the lion charged on the shoulder with a crescent or.

Here, too, I have been unable to find additional information about Mr. Wilde, not even in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Still, though, these are some very nicely done coats of arms.

"They're Everywhere! They're Everywhere!"

"Who?", you may ask?

Well, first, "they're everywhere" pretty much because we're looking at yet another stained glass window in yet another English church, and the people who made those stained glass windows had to be pretty much everywhere.

So, yeah, "they're everywhere!"

I refer, of course, to the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, whose arms we have seen before not that long ago in Ely Cathedral and in York Minster.

And today, we see that coat of arms once again, this time in Temple Church, London.

First, here's the (very impressive) window in which the arms of the Glaziers is placed, in the center light near the bottom:

And here's the detail:

I swear, if it hadn't been me or my late wife Jo Ann taking the photographs of the arms of the Company of Glaziers in all these different places, I might start to get a little paranoid and think that they were following me around.

But I know that isn't the case, and really, it's nice to find the same coat of arms done by different glaziers and stained glass painters in wildly different places, if only to see how the individual artists have treated the same shield, helm, crest, mantling, and supporters.

So for your edification, and so you don't have to scroll through previous posts to find them, here are the other depictions that we found in:

the Stained Glass Museum in Ely Cathedral:

and in York Minster:

Enjoy comparing them!