Finally! A (Slightly) More Productive Heraldic Rabbit Hole

More productive, certainly, but not without its own frustrations.

Anyway, this time we're discussing this armorial memorial in Westminster Abbey:

This is the memorial to Francis [François-Auguste] Ligonier, who was born in 1693 at Castres, France and came to England in 1710. Francis was a younger brother of Field Marshal John [Jean-Louis], Earl Ligonier. More information about the brothers can be found on-line at: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/john-and-francis-ligonier and at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Ligonier

The inscription reads:

Sacred to FRANCIS LIGONIER Esq[uire] Colonel of Dragoons, a native of France, descended from a very ancient and very Hon[oura]ble. family there; but a zealous Protestant and subject of England, sacrificing himself in its defence, against a POPISH PRETENDER at the BATTLE OF FALKIRK, in the year 1745. A distemper could not confine him to his bed when duty called him into the field, where he chose to meet death, rather than in the arms of his friends. But the disease proved more victorious than the enemy. He expired soon after the battle where under all the agonies of sickness and pain, he exerted a spirit of vigour and heroism. To the memory of such a brave and beloved brother, this monument is placed by Sir JOHN LIGONIER, Knight of the Bath, General of Horse in the British Army, with just grief, and brotherly affection.

You can find out more about the Battle of Falkirk Muir (and some of the politics that led to it), so-named to differentiate it from the Battle of Falkirk that took place in 1298 in the time of King Edward I of England, on Wikipedia, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Falkirk_Muir. The battle was a narrow victory for the Jacobites (who supported the “Popish Pretender” of the inscription), but it had little impact on the overall campaign.

But of course it is the coat of arms atop the memorial which attracted me here.

Burke's General Armory gives us a blazon that matches the arms here: Ligonier (France). Gules a lion rampant on a chief argent a crescent between two mullets azure. (No crest is mentioned in this entry, but the memorial shows a demi-lion rampant issuant from a mural coronet maintaining in its dexter forepaw a palm branch, which matches with the other Ligonier entries which do mention a crest.)

But Burke's General Armory also cites: Ligonier (Earl Ligonier, Ireland). Gules a lion rampant or on a chief argent a mullet between two crescents azure. Crest: Out of a mural coronet or a demi-lion rampant erminois holding in the dexter paw a palm branch vert.

Yet Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages gives the arms for Earl Ligonier with the lion rampant as argent and the charges on the chief a crescent between two mullets azure. Which, of course, matches the arms carved on the memorial here.

Thus demonstrating that sometimes not even the irreproachable Burke's can keep all of this stuff straight. And if they can't, how in the world am I supposed to, I ask you.

So, yes, a more productive rabbit hole. But also one that leaves us with some question as to the different citations in the various Burke's publications as to what the tincture of the lion and the arrangement of the charges on the chief is actually supposed to be. Is the lion gold, or silver? Are the charges on the chief supposed to be a crescent between two mullets, or a mullet between two crescents?

And if the presumed authority on such things is inconsistent (oh, say it isn't so!), how are we to select which colors and metals are the correct ones?

Based on the memorial itself, I can only assume that the blazon of the arms and crest here should be: Gules a lion rampant on a chief argent a crescent between two mullets azure, and Out of a mural coronet or a demi-lion rampant erminois holding in the dexter paw a palm branch vert.