SCARCE The Observers Book of Heraldry

This one made me really smile!

I noticed on ebay this morning that someone in the USA is attempting to sell The Observers Book of Heraldry by Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin for the princely sum of $22.00 (approximately £11.27) on a Buy It Now option. The seller appears to be specifically targeting UK buyers and is offering shipping to the UK at an additional $10.30. So, if you live in the UK and you are daft enough to buy this book from this seller it will cost you a total of $32.30 (approximately £16.54).

The ebay entry is headed " SCARCE The Observers Book of Heraldry UK Coat of Arms 1966".

Scarce!!??? It may be scarce in the USA but trying to sell one to the UK market is like taking coal to Newcastle. Every antiques fair I've ever visited has been awash with these little books and most are offered for sale at 99p!

If you live in the UK and you're prepared to pay sixteen quid for one of these books drop me a line - I'll sell you one for fifteen quid including post and packing and donate my profit to charity.

Cheshire Heraldry Society AGM

Time has been a little tight this week so I haven't had the time to jot down the happenings at the AGM last Saturday but in brief here goes:

The Committee was re-elected en-block as follows:

Officers:

Chair  Mr. Harold Storey

Hon. Treasurer Mr. Denis Cranston

Hon. Secretary Mrs. Rutha Titterton

Programme Secretary Mr. John Titterton

Committee:

Miss M.K. Gilligan

Mr. D.G. Richbell

Mrs. M. Vaughan

After the AGM John and Rutha showed us a small selection of their "Goss" armorial ware specifically collected for its Ashbourn coat of arms. We then had a report from Mike Thompson on his recent trip to London to present the Badge of the Royal Observer Corps to the RAF.

[Photographs courtesy of the ROC Association]

Mike, the Badge and Peter Owen (from RAF News)

The following is a report first published on the ROC Association web site [My thanks to them]:

On Tuesday18th March a group of former ROC members met at the Hard ROCk Café for coffee before moving on to the RAF Club a hundred yards away, where we had been invited to attend the presentation of an ROC Badge to the club by Mike Thompson, a former member of 16 Group, 16 Post Poynton.

On entering the RAF Club and being directed to the Cowdray Lounge bar we were welcomed by Peter Owen the General Manager and Secretary of the Club, and offered wine or soft drinks.

Mike then gave an excellent talk on the history of the ROC and the reasons why he felt that the ROC Badge should be on display within the RAF Club. He then made the presentation of a framed ROC Badge to the Club, along with an ROC 50th Anniversary Commemorative Plate and a special version of the ROC Squadron Print of the wartime Spitfire, 'Observer Corps' 'EB-Z'.

ROC Squadron Prints of the Spitfire were also presented by Mike to AM Cliff Spink, AVM George Black and Roy McDowell.

Peter Owen announced that the club would provide drinks and buffet lunch in the lounge. This very generous offer was very much appreciated by everyone present.

We were all very proud to be at the presentation, and felt a debt of gratitude to Mike for bringing his idea to fruition.

The Badge will be on display in the Badges Corridor, which is covered from floor to ceiling with paintings of RAF squadron badges and other units.

A little piece of England in Scotland (Royal Gates)

H.R.H. the Duke of Rothesay is due to unveil the new gates at Glamis Castle today and a splendid example of workmanship they are. It's just a pity that no one checked the correct Scottish version of the armorial bearings of the late Queen Mother before embarking on the project to feature them on the gates.

The arms look wonderful and they are a super example of heraldic craftsmanship but unfortunately they are H.M.'s English armorial bearings!

The Scottish version of her arms show the English quarterings and the Scottish quarterings transposed (the Scots one first) and should have a unicorn and a lion as supporters. The Scottish version would also be more likely to show H.M.'s Thistle rather than Garter.  Below is an image of H.M.'s hatchment courtesy of The St. Andrew's Fund for Heraldry to illustrate what her Scottish arms should look like:

Cheshire Heraldry Society - A.G.M.

Fast approaching is the Annual General Meeting of the Cheshire Heraldry Society to be held at the usual time and venue on Saturday 19th April.

Details can be found on the Society's web page:

 http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/society

See you there.

Connections and conspirators.

I am always pleasantly surprised when I come across any armorial connections with Cheshire and this week has proved no exception when, whilst emblazoning the arms of the Gunpowder Plotters for a PowerPoint presentation I am preparing, I found that the family of Wintour quartered the arms of both Keveliok and Lupus in the arms recorded in the Visitations of Worcestershire for the year 1569.

Quarter 7; Azure, three garbs Or [Keveliok]*

Quarter 8; Azure, a wolf's head erased Argent [Lupus]

In addition, quarter 5; Gules, a lion rampant Or, is recorded in the Winter (Wintour) achievement as belonging to Dabigney (d'Aubigny Earls of Arundel); this is also the coat of Randolph Gernons, fourth Earl of Chester.

Quite an achievement!

Robert Wintour was executed on 30 January 1606 at St. Paul's Churchyard, together with Sir Everard Digby, John Grant and Thomas Bates. On the scaffold, he was quiet and withdrawn, and did not speak much. Although he appeared to be praying to himself, he did not publicly ask mercy of either God or the King for his offence.

Robert's brother, Thomas Wintour, was executed on 31st January 1606  at Old Palace Yard, Westminster, sharing the scaffold with Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Guy Fawkes.

* This is a possible error of either blazon or descent as the arms of Keveliok are more commonly known to be Azure, six garbs, 3, 2 and 1 Or.

My Goodness!

I have recently been searching through my old copies of "The Coat of Arms", the (what used to be quarterly) magazine of The Heraldry Society, for an article I intend to mercilessly plagiarise to form the basis of an illustrated talk (credit of course will be given to the original author), when I came across a rather clever advertisement for Guinness in the July 1958 issue. I thought you might like to see it and so reproduce it here:

A Jurisdictional Enigma

Some years ago I had occasion to briefly meet with a gentleman from The United States of America who bore what I understand to be legitimate Scottish armorial bearings with a remarkable likeness to those of a the very old Cheshire family and I have to say, it gave me a feeling of unease. Now I ought to say that I have nothing against the gentleman himself  but unfortunately, throughout our brief meeting, I had no opportunity to question him about his armorial bearings.  I do however know that Major Randal Massey of Dunham acquired a new grant of arms (and recognition of his territorial designation "of Dunham") after purchasing a piece of land in Orkney, naming it Dunham, and thus coming under the jurisdiction, as the owner of land in Scotland, of the Lord Lyon. I'm a little uneasy with the naming of a new piece of land "Dunham" but it is not the use of the name Massey of Dunham which concerns me in this note, it is the armorial bearings Lyon granted anew to Major Massey.

I have not seen the Letters Patent so have no detail other than the image reproduced on the web site of the Society of Scottish Armigers but the arms of Major Massey appear to be:

 Massey of Dunham (modern Scottish)
Arms: Quarterly Gules and Or, in the first and fourth quarters three fleur-de-lis Argent, a canton Argent for difference.
Crest: A demi-pegasus with wings displayed quarterly Gules and Or.

Now take a look at the arms of Massey of Coddington (Cheshire)

Massey of Coddington (ancient English)
arms: Quarterly Gules and Or, in the first and fourth quarters three fleur-de-lis Argent, a canton Argent for difference.
Crest: A demi-pegasus with wings displayed quarterly Or and Gules

These arms appear to be identical with the subtle difference in a reversal of the tinctures in the quartering of the crest alone. I seem to remember that when the College of Arms granted me my own armorial bearings they were careful to check to see that there were none similar in Scotland. It does not appear to me that a similar exercise took place in reversal when the Massey of Dunham arms were granted!

Note also the motto which is pure Massey of Dunham-Massey of Cheshire. Major Massey is clearly proud of his surname but I have to have reservations over the reasons (or indeed how!) Lyon was persuaded to grant arms all but identical to those used lawfully by an ancient and landed English family.