Sep-05 Issue - The Heraldry Society

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4 THE HIGH SHERIFFS OF OXFORDSHIRE - PART ONE Martin Davies's recent appeal for information about court room heraldry made me dig in my files. He is quite right that photography is a problem in any court building as it is feared that photos may fall into the hands of violent criminals who then use them to plan their gang members' break out while on trial. Indeed, even access by the general public is sometimes difficult for similar reasons. Without good cause to be there it may be impossible to gain entry to certain court buildings. Whereas they were seen as prime targets for IRA terrorism for 30 years, that fear has now been supplanted by one of more global origins. As well as the depictions of current royal arms, certain courts display the arms of High Sheriffs or Lords Lieutenant of their county in an ante room. When I was approached by John Brooke-Little some years ago to produce a shield for the upcoming High Sheriff of Oxfordshire I was given the signal honour of being allowed to take a camera into the Oxford Crown Court, albeit carefully chaperoned, to John Thomson 1957 Ermine an eagle displayed Sable charged on the breast and each wing with an escallop Or on a chief Gold a rose Gules barbed and seeded proper between two bulls' heads cabossed also Gules. The first shield in the series. This was painted many years later as Spurrier was only a schoolboy in 1957. It is a good example of his skill as an artist with well drawn charges, nicely balanced and filling their space. Strangely, he varnished the eagle and overlapped the varnish onto the white of the ermine field, a technique known as “pencil varnishing”. This is usually only done on glass to protect the artwork. Here the varnish has yellowed, inevitable over the years, and now shows up on the white. David Wills 1961 Gules three estoiles of twelve points fesswise between two griffins passant Or beaked Azure that in chief charged with a crescent Gold on a mullet Gules for difference. (The stars are composed of alternating wavy and straight lines.) record the existing shields. There are now some 33 adorning the walls of this large room where witnesses and appellants sit waiting for their turn in front of a judge. Most before 1998 were done by that most accomplished heraldic artist and one time herald Peter Spurrier, who is no longer with us. The arms on the wall are not a complete record of the High Sheriffs. The shields have to be paid for by the office holder, no public funds ever being made available. In recent years all have elected to join in and it can be assumed that the gaps relate to those who did not. Nonarmigers can use the badge of office on a blue hexagon with their name and year below. This can be blazoned as, ''Two swords in saltire blades uppermost Argent pommels and hilts Or that in bend broken.'' In this and the following part is a complete list of shields displayed up to the present incumbent of 2005. The post is held for one year starting in April. The names and dates are as written below each shield. Visit the website at www.theheraldrysociety.com J. Heyworth 1962 Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent six lions three two and one Sable; 2nd & 3rd: Argent two barrulets wavy between three bats Sable. Alan Budgett 1965 Azure on a cross invected between four water bougets Or an escallop between as many horseshoes of the field. Charles Radclyffe 1967 Argent two bendlets engrailed Sable a label Gules. Miles Gosling 1970 Gules on a chevron between three crescents Or a squirrel affronty cracking a nut between two like squirrels also cracking nuts respectant proper in chief a cinquefoil Gold. (The cinquefoil is an
oddity as it is in the position of a cadency mark, has been finely outlined to contrast against the boldly outlined crescents and yet has been drawn large enough to be a charge. The impression is that it should have been the double quatrefoil of a 9th son. As a charge it ruins the symmetry of the shield. Spurrier repeated this for Brunner of 1988, yet there is a correct cadency mark in this position for Parker of 1989 also drawn quite large. Both can be viewed in part 2.) The 3 dainty squirrels of Gosling. Note the cinquefoil in chief. Peter Parker 1973 Gules a chevron between three lions' heads affronty Or. W. Birch Reynardson 1974 Quarterly 1st & 4th: Or two chevronels engrailed and in chief a rose Gules barbed and seeded proper on a canton also Gules a mascle Argent; 2nd & 3rd Azure three fleursde-lis and a canton Argent. John Collins 1975 Or on a pale Vert between two apples slipped and leaved proper three bezants on a chief also Vert as many anchors sans cables Gold. J. C. L. Fane 1977 Azure three dexter close gauntlets Or. (This is the coat of the Earls of Westmorland who poetically blazon their charges as three dexter gauntlets backs affronty.) William Bell 1978 Azure a chevron Ermine between in chief two bells and in base a fleam Or. The Hon. Charles Cecil 1979 Barry of ten Argent and Azure six escutcheons three two and one Sable each charged with a lion rampant Argent in centre chief a crescent Argent on a like crescent Sable for difference. (These are the unquartered arms of the Marquesses of Salisbury.) Robert Fleming 1980 Per chevron Sable and Argent in chief two goats' heads erased Argent armed and holding in the mouth a lily slipped Or in base a cross flory Gules. Thomas Hall 1981 Argent three talbots' heads erased Sable between five crosses crosslet Azure on a chief Sable an eastern crown Or. (How three charges can satisfactorily be portrayed between a different number of charges is a challenge to artists. Burke records similar shields for Halls with nine crosslets and five, as here, with no indication of their layout. It is a rare example of artistic licence being allowed to be exercised in heraldry, with numerous alternatives suggesting themselves. Here Spurrier has placed the crosses and heads evenly on the field which ends up with two crosses being obscured beneath the heads. This stretches the term 'between' to the limit.) The challenging arms of Hall as explained in the text Sir Mark Norman Bt 1983 Sable a thunderbolt and in chief two crosses formy pierced with the eight symbols of Fhohe or the Pa-qua and charged with a roundel containing the eastern symbol known as Tae Keigh all Or in centre chief a baronet's badge. (I am grateful to Debrett for this impossible blazon. The first armiger's obvious eastern interests may have been connected to the I- Ching: the crosses are charged with trigrams and pierced with the yin-yang symbol.) Baz Manning SHA . . . to be continued E-mail the editor at gazette@theheraldrysociety.com 5
Page 1 and 2: ISSN 0437 2980 THE HERALDRY GAZETTE
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Page 9 and 10: PRINCE OF WALES’ ARMS AT POUNDBUR
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Page 15 and 16: THE 2005 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The

Sep-05 Issue - The Heraldry Society

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