So here we are, still making our way around the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom building, formerly the Middlesex Guild Hall, looking at some of the heraldry which is seen there.
The first is the arms of Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, here, in the right-hand panel:
And also, as with some of the others we have seen, in their own window:
He was born Hugh Smithson, in Kirby Wiske, Yorkshire, and gained his fortunes through a series of inheritances from a cousin, and by marrying into the Percy name and the Duke’s title through his union with Elizabeth Seymour. Elizabeth was the great-granddaughter of Hugh Percy, eleventh Earl of Northumberland, who in 1744 became the sole heir to the vast Percy estates.
Smithson was also the Member of Parliament for Middlesex from 1740. The 1745 Jacobite rebellion pushed Smithson from the Tories to the Whigs and thus into Royal favor. The King agreed to pass the ancient Percy title, Earl of Northumberland, to Elizabeth’s father, who in turn arranged for it to fall to Smithson and his heirs by Elizabeth. In February 1750, Smithson became 1st Duke of Northumberland and assumed the name Percy by a private Act of Parliament.
His arms are blazoned: Quarterly: 1 and 4, grand quarterly; i and iv, Or a lion rampant azure, ii and iii, Gules three lucies or pikes hauriant argent; 2 and 3, Azure five fusils conjoined in fess or. The crest is: On a chapeau gules turned up ermine a lion statant tail extended azure. The supporters: Dexter, A lion rampant azure; Sinister, A lion rampant guardant ducally crowned or gorged with a collar compony argent and azure. The motto: Espérance en Dieu (“Hope in God”).
The Earl's political influence grew; he was Lord of the Bedchamber and Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, and in 1756 a Knight of the Garter. He developed the family estates gained control of a number of “rotten boroughs”, giving him control over their members of Parliament.
In 1762, he became Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, a position he held for the rest of his life.
The second is the arms of James Brownlow William Cecil-Gascoyne, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, here in the left-hand panel of this window:
The full arms are blazoned: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Barry of ten argent and azure six escutcheons sable three two and one each charged with a lion rampant argent langued gules (Cecil), a crescent for difference; 2 and 3, Argent on a pale sable a conger eel’s head erased and erect or charged with an ermine spot sable (Gascoyne). The two crests are: 1, Six arrows in saltire or barbed and flighted argent girt together with a belt gules buckled and garnished or above the arrows a morion helmet proper; 2, A conger eel’s head erased and erect or charged with an ermine spot sable. His supporters are: Two lions ermine. And the motto: Sero sed serio (“Late, but in earnest”)
Born in 1791, James Brownlow William Cecil proved an active, vigorous man, earning himself the nickname “Matador”. He entered the House of Commons in 1813 at the age of 22 (moving to the Lords on his father’s death in 1823). Before the age of thirty-five he had been appointed to the Privy Council.
In 1821 he married Frances, daughter and sole heiress of Bamber Gascoyne, and since Gascoyne had no son to continue his name, he required that Cecil adopt the additional surname “Gascoyne”. He succeeded to the Salisbury title and estates in 1823.
In 1842 Lord Salisbury was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex on the resignation of the long-serving Duke of Portland, whose arms we saw in the post immediatelly before this one. In the same year Salisbury became a Knight of the Garter.
And again, in its own window:
And again, though of only the first quarter, carved in wood and held by a carved wooden angel:
The full arms are blazoned: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Barry of ten argent and azure six escutcheons sable three two and one each charged with a lion rampant argent langued gules (Cecil), a crescent for difference; 2 and 3, Argent on a pale sable a conger eel’s head erased and erect or charged with an ermine spot sable (Gascoyne). The two crests are: 1, Six arrows in saltire or barbed and flighted argent girt together with a belt gules buckled and garnished or above the arrows a morion helmet proper; 2, A conger eel’s head erased and erect or charged with an ermine spot sable. His supporters are: Two lions ermine. And the motto: Sero sed serio (“Late, but in earnest”)
Born in 1791, James Brownlow William Cecil proved an active, vigorous man, earning himself the nickname “Matador”. He entered the House of Commons in 1813 at the age of 22 (moving to the Lords on his father’s death in 1823). Before the age of thirty-five he had been appointed to the Privy Council.
In 1821 he married Frances, daughter and sole heiress of Bamber Gascoyne, and since Gascoyne had no son to continue his name, he required that Cecil adopt the additional surname “Gascoyne”. He succeeded to the Salisbury title and estates in 1823.
In 1842 Lord Salisbury was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex on the resignation of the long-serving Duke of Portland, whose arms we saw in the post immediatelly before this one. In the same year Salisbury became a Knight of the Garter.
I can't speak for you, but I just love finding well-depicted coats of arms like these in buildings of historical significance like this one. Just sayin'.
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