Whose Are the Wife's Arms in This Memorial

The next armorial memorial in King's Chapel, Boston, we find are a bit of a mystery.

Not the husband's arms, but those attributed to his wife.

Further muddying the waters, there have been several men named Charles Apthorp, each with, naturally enough, wives of different surnames.

But before trying to see what we can discover about the wife's arms on this monument, let's deal with the husband and his arms.

The Heraldic Journal, Vol. II, pp. 14-15 gives a transcription of the full Latin text of the inscription on the monument, and then goes on to give additional family information:

The next monument is that of Charles Apthorp, son of John and Susan (Ward) Apthorp, who was born in 1698. Charles Apthorp was a merchant here, paymaster and commissary of the English troops. He married, 13 Jan. 1726, Griselda, dau. of John Eastwicke, by his wife Griselda, dau. of John Lloyd (called by Bridgman  Sir John Lloyd of Somersetshire.) The Apthorps were numerous here, and very well connected. Of the children of Charles, Griselda m. Barlow Trecothick, Lord Mayor of London; John m. Alicia Mann, sister of Sir Horace Mann, British minister at Florence. Rev. Dr. East Apthorp m. a dau. of Foster Hutchinson, &c.

Here is a better view of the arms at the base of the monument, as we consider the husband's arms to dexter and begin to look at the confusion caused by the wife's arms on the sinister side of the shield:

Bolton’s American Armory cites: “Apthorp. Per pale nebuly argent and azure; impaling, Checky gules and ermine (Garter?). Wall tablet to Charles Apthorpe, 1698-1758, Boston merchant, King’s Chapel, Boston, north aisle. He married Griselda Eastwicke. There is no evidence on the shield of the usual “two mullets in pale [sic. Should be “in fess” or even left unblazoned, as that should be the default for two charges on a per pale field] counterchanged.”

The Heraldic Journal, Vol. II, p. 14  notes that “We cannot explain the arms here given, which should be Apthorp impaling Eastwicke.”

The Gore Roll of Arms, no. 20, is labeled "Mary Apthorp wido of Charles Apthorp of Boston Mas 1709." Dr. Harold Bowditch, in his review of the arms in the Gore Roll, ascribes the widow’s arms there (Quarterly or and or four eagles displayed gules) to Mansbridge. Burke’s General Armory cites two different Mansbridge arms, both from London: Quarterly argent and vert four eagles displayed counterchanged; and Quarterly argent and or four double-headed eagles displayed vert. Obviously, neither of these Mansbridge arms are the checky coat to be found here in King’s Chapel.

These checky arms are not found in Burke’s General Armory under Eastwicke or Mansbridge, the surnames of the ladies married to one or another Charles Apthorp.

Burke does cite “Garter. Checky ermine and or” but without any other information. (Presumably, this is where Bolton got his guess that this may be Garter.)

So what are we left with here? The husband's arms, though lacking the two stars, are certainly those of Apthorp. But the wife's arms shown here have left heraldists scratching their heads for at least 160 years (Volume II of The Heraldic Journal having been published in 1866), and I have not been able to shed any additional light upon it, even with the greater access to armorials and information than ever before. As only one example, there is a coat of arms for Eastwick given in the American Heraldry Society's "A Roll of Early American Arms," but it shows a chevron between three bucks statant, not the checky shield we see here.

In the end, it's still a mystery.