Jun-09 Issue (Page 1) - The Heraldry Society

10
SPEAKER LENTHALL
The following letter has been received from member Baz Manning:
William Lenthall was
descended from an Agincourt
knight and is the man who, as
Speaker Lenthall, made
political history in 1642 by
refusing King Charles I
demands in parliament by
replying “May it please your
Majesty, I have neither eyes to
see, ears to hear nor tongue to
speak in this place but as the
House is pleased to direct me,
whose servant I am here”. As
many readers will know, this
paved the way for the
independence of the Speaker
in the House of Commons.
Lenthall was called to the bar
at Lincoln's Inn in 1616 and
made a bencher in 1633. He
became an MP in 1640.
Lincoln's Inn has two stained
glass examples of his arms,
one in their chapel sable five
lozenges conjoined in bend
argent in sinister chief a
crescent for difference or
surmounted by another azure,
and one in the Great Hall sable
six lozenges conjoined in bend
or. His shield is also among
the exhaustive series of
shields on oak panels
recording the arms of all the
speakers in Speaker's House
within the Palace of
Westminster. Here it is
painted: argent on a bend
cotised sable three mullets or
pierced gules. Burke records
the same arms in the General
Armory without the piercings
for William's father stating that
the Agincourt ancestor also
used these arms. The Lincoln's
Inn Lenthall has been
confirmed to be the same man
as Speaker Lenthall.
Does any reader know the
story behind these varied
renditions and which is
correct? The Great Hall
version in Lincoln's Inn was
done in the mid-1950s by
Rupert Moore of James Powell
& Sons of Whitefriars, when
dozens of blitzed windows
were replaced. The Inns of
Court have long been a
byword amongst armorists for
the number of bogus arms
displayed but in this case it
was believed that the
hundreds of arms replaced
were all researched by the late
Arthur Cole who is said to have
taken great care over their
accuracy.
Baz Manning
NEW PRESIDENT FOR CUHAGS
E-mail the editor at gazette@theheraldrysociety.com
At the Accession Banquet in
June, Jacob Davis was
installed as President of
CUHAGS. Jacob is starting
his fourth year studying
maths at Trinity College,
specialising in logic and set
theory. He has been Under
Treasurer of CUHAGS, and
admits to a fascination with
Excel worksheets! In due
course he hopes to further his
studies in the USA.