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.