Reports are coming in over a purported "backlash" over the removal of a slave from a town's coat of arms.
The BBC have posted the following report on their website:
[Quote] 25 July 2024
A council has defended the disappearance of a slave from a town's coat of arms.
The figure was originally included to reflect the work of the abolitionist William Knibb, who was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire.
A griffin has also been removed from the design.
Kettering Town Council said the changes were the result of heraldry rules.
As first reported in the Northamptonshire Telegraph, external, a black man with a broken chain has been part of the Kettering coat of arms since 1938.
Both the slave, who was depicted holding up the right side of the shield, and a rampant griffin on the other side are known as "supporters" in heraldry.
Supporters had been part of the Kettering Borough Council coat of arms, but rules on heraldry, external meant the town council - which is legally a parish - cannot use them.
The authority agreed at its first meeting in May 2021 to have no supporters on its coat of arms, with one resident telling the meeting, external the image of the slave should have been consigned to history and "we have the chance to be creating something new".
The artwork for the new version has now been acquired.
On social media, Duncan Bain, a former mayor of Kettering, agreed with a George Orwell quote posted by another contributor: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted... History has stopped."
Another correspondent posted: "Stop eradicating history, it's there to learn from. The world has gone mad."
A spokesperson for the town council said: "The College of Arms, which created the new coat of arms, advised that parish councils’ coats of arms cannot include 'supporters' – which in Kettering’s case involved an image of a freed slave – so the resulting coat of arms agreed by them and the King is essentially the central shield and helm.
"It is sad that the William Knibb reference has been lost from the coat of arms, but it is not a reflection of the view that anyone on the town council has about his work. It is not something the town council had any choice over."
The spokesperson added that plans were being made to create a permanent artwork to celebrate Knibb's work. [End Quote]
The original arms were granted, by The College of Arms, to Kettering Borough Council on 26th September 1938
Arms: Sable a Pelt Or in chief a Cross Crosslet fitchy of the last between two Fountains each charged with a Martlet of the first. Crest: On a Wreath of the Colours issuant from a Circlet of Chain Flames proper. Supporters: On the dexter side a Griffin reguardant Or beaked and membered and gorged with a Chain reflexed over the back Azure and on the sinister side a Negro proper habited about the waist with a Cloth and his sinister wrist encircled with a Handcuff pendent therefrom a broken Chain Azure.
Motto 'PROGRESSIO ET CONCORDIA' - Progress and concord.
The new, Kettering Town Council arms are the same but without the supporters.
I have no problem with the alteration, simply because no one is attempting to erase history; the previous coat of arms will always remain on record as being that of the former Kettering Borough Council.
