The Armorial Memorial of William Sullivan

Having finished our review of the armorial graves and gravestones outside in King's Chapel Burying Ground, we paid the $5 entrance fee (by credit card; they no longer accept cash) into the interior of King's Chapel, and having asked if photography was allowed inside (Answer: Yes, but without flash), we begin our review of the memorials containing heraldry inside the Chapel.

The first of those memorials is that to William Sullivan.

The memorial contains, as you can see, a long and involved inscription entirely in Latin. Please feel free to click on the image above to go to the full-size photograph that shows this in greater detail.

William Sullivan (1774-1839) was a son of Governor James Sullivan, and is buried outside in King's Chapel Burying Ground in Tomb 146 with his two brothers, John and George.

William was a prominent Boston lawyer, Federalist politician, and author. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1795, served on the Massachusetts General Court (1804-1830), and was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (1830). From 1830, he devoted most of his career to writing about political institutions of the United States. He also wrote the Political Class Book, a textbook which first introduced the study of nature and the principles of our government into the nation’s schools.

But of course, it was the shield, crest, and motto at the base of the monument which attracted our attention.

Lacking the colors, it was somewhat difficult to determine exactly what was depicted on the shield, or to determine what kind of bird was in the crest. So, of course, we resorted to some of the standard reference works for English heraldry, and things became clearer. 

Burke’s General Armory gives us: Sullivan (Thames Ditton, co. Surrey, baronet). Per fess the base per pale, in chief Or a dexter hand couped at the wrist grasping a sword erect pommel and hilt gules the blade entwined with a serpent proper between two lions rampant respectant gules; the dexter base vert charged with a buck trippant or, on the sinister base per pale argent and sable a boar passant counterchanged. (So the field was indeed not "Quarterly" as I had at first suspected; it's even more complicated than that. Good to know!)

And Fairbairn’s Crests cites: Sullivan. On a ducal coronet or a robin holding in its beak a sprig of laurel proper. (A robin and not, as I had thought, a dove. Also good to know.)

Motto: Lamh foisdin eachan uœchtar (The hand of the one who rests above). This is a variant of the Sullivan motto cited in Fairbairn: Lamh foistinneach an uachdar (The gentle hand uppermost).

I don't recall having seen the use of a "motto belt" in place of the more usual motto scroll before. Interesting.