An Older Westminster Coat of Arms

We looked at the arms of the City of Westminster, Borough of London, England in our last post. But did you know that Westminster had an earlier, different coat of arms?

It did, and it can still be seen today.

This building is 22, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London.

Its current occupant is Charles Fox, suppliers of professional make-up for Film, Theatre, Television & Fashion. Charles Fox himself was reputed to be a flamboyant character and much of his character also exists in the shop to these times.

But the building is also the former headquarters of the Strand District Board of Works. And the heraldry over the door attests to that. (If you click on the image below, you will be taken to the full-size, and thus more detailed, photograph.)

The legend reads around the central six-petalled rosette reads: The Board of Works for the Strand District 1855

And right smack dab in the center, we find the arms of the old Borough (not City) of Westminster surrounded by six monograms. At that time, in 1855, there were some 55 members of the Board; I don’t know for certain whose monograms these are.

The arms of the Borough are blazoned: Azure a portcullis on a chief or on a pale azure a cross flory between five martlets or (being the arms of King Edward the Confessor) between two Tudor roses proper.

So, similar to the current arms of the City of Westminster, though less complex. The only feature of them remaining the same is the charged chief.

Still and all, it's pleasant to be able to find in graphic form the history and development of a city's coat of arms right there still on its streets and byways.

Don't you agree?