Windsor Herald

Survey of London Monograph 16, College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street. Originally published by Guild & School of Handicraft, London, 1963.

This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.

'Windsor Herald', in Survey of London Monograph 16, College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street, (London, 1963) pp. 167-182. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk16/pp167-182 [accessed 24 March 2024]

WINDSOR HERALD

The office of Windsor is said to have been instituted for the service of the Order of the Garter, but if, as seems probable, 'Andrew Windsor Norroy' who occurs in 1338 was Windsor herald the institution antedates the Order by some years. Other writers date the institution of the office in 1364, when the pursuivant who brought King Edward news of the victory of Auray was made Windsor herald, but that is almost certainly too late. The title has not been met (outside Lant) from 1380 to 1418 or 1419 when Windsor was sent to the Duke of Brittany (Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, ii, col. 930), but since then the succession has been maintained and Windsor is now one of the six heralds in ordinary.

Badge: Edward III's (Edward of Windsor) sun-burst, that is, golden sunrays shooting from a bank of cloud.

1. ANDREW (temp. Ed. III). See Norroy (3).

2. STEPHEN

Windsor, c. 1366, ? cr. 4 October 1364.

Windsor appears repeatedly in public records from 1366 to 1380; he is presumably the pursuivant of Brittany whom the Count of Montfort sent to England with news of the battle of Auray, fought on 29 September 1364, and whom King Edward forthwith appointed Windsor herald (Froissart, trans. Johnes (1844), 1, 335; Bertrand de Argentre, Histoire de Bretagne).

Late 1366 sent to Brittany (wt. for payment of passage WeymouthSt Malo 20 December, 40 Ed. III); 12 June 1367 granted 20 mks a year for bringing good news of the Black Prince (presumably a report of the victory at Najara, previous 3 April), pat. 4 Ed. III, p. 1, m. 13; that annuity confirmed 1379, pat. 3 Ric. II, p. 1, m. 10, 3 August, and payment recorded in Issue Rolls passim down to Easter, 3 Ric. II, 1380, showing that same man was Windsor all that time; named as Stephen 1375 when attending Edmund, Earl of Cambridge and John, Duke of Brittany (protection dat. 3 March, Fr. Roll, 49 Ed. III, m. 25), and 1380 when ordered overseas with William, Lord Latimer (protection 4 July, 4 Ric. II). Sometimes called king of arms. but only styled herald in patents of 1367 and 1379 (Coll. of Arms MS, O.A. I, 78, II, 615, etc.).

Note. Anstis (Coll. of Arms MS. O.A. loc. cit.) calls the grantee of 1367 'P. Windsor Herald' and is consequently involved in a discussion whether Windsor was not simultaneously the title of a herald and of a king of arms, but in fact there is no trace of 'P' in the Patent Roll.

3. THOMAS MORE (temp. Hen. VI). See Guyenne (8).

4. ROBERT ASHWELL

Ashwell

Antelope, temp. Hen. V.

Rouge Croix, temp. Hen. VI.

Windsor, temp. Hen. VI.

? Lancaster, c. 1442.

Lant's statements that 'Robert Ashwell' was Antelope, Rouge Croix and Windsor, and that he bore the same arms as John Ashwell, Lancaster, are unconfirmed. He was perhaps Lancaster herald 1441–2, for 'Robert Ashwell alias dictus Lancaster filius Johannis Ashwell nuper Regis Armorum' occurs on Close Roll, 20 Hen. VI, m. 3d. A moot point whether 'alias Lancaster' means he was Lancaster herald or is a case of a son using his father's title as surname (cf. Genealogists' Mag., September 1954, pp. 503 sqq.).

5. JOHN FERRANT (temp. Ed. IV). See March (2).

6. JOHN BALLARD

Ballard

Wallingford, temp. Hen. VI.

Rouge Croix, temp. Hen. VI.

Windsor, temp. Ed. IV.

? March, temp. Ed. IV.

Arms:..., a bend cotised...between 6 martlets...

Only in earliest version of Lant's Roll; otherwise unknown; probably meant for William Ballard, March.

7. THOMAS HOLME (c. 1461). See Clarenceux (7).

8. JOHN MORE (c. 1468). See Norroy (12).

9. RICHARD SLACKE

Slacke

Comfort, temp. Ed. IV.

Rouge Croix, temp. Ed. IV.

Windsor, c. 1485, pat. 25 November 1486.

Said to have been Comfort and Rouge Croix under Edward IV; already Windsor 25 August 1485, when he announced Richard III's death to Mayor of York; soon after sent to France; married 1486 when King gave him 20 mks for wedding outfit; 11 November 1498 Keeper of Claverdon Park, Warwickshire; d. 1502, will dat. 15, pr. 24 May; to be burd St Dunstan's in the West, although parishioner of St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish St.

Arms: Azure, a cross formy throughout per bend sinister ermine & or charged in the centre with a 4 pointed molet counterchanged.

10. THOMAS BENOLT (1504). See Clarenceux (10).

11. FRANCIS DYES or DEES

Bluemantle, pat. 26 August 1508.

Windsor, p.s. 24, pat. 27 November 1510.

Citizen and Vintner of London; lived in parish of St Peter le Poer. Both as Bluemantle and as Windsor was often employed abroad, especially in Spain. Made his will 16 October 1524, d. within a few days. Will pr. 4 November 1524.

12. THOMAS WALL (1524). See Garter (5).

13. CHARLES WRIOTHESLEY

Wriothesley

Rouge Croix, appd 1524, pat. 29 May 1525.

Windsor, cr. 25, p.s. 28 December 1534, pat. 21 January 1535.

B. Garter House, 8 May 1508, a younger s. of Sir T. Wriothesley, Garter, by Jane Hall; said to have been Berwick but not so; Rouge Croix 1524 aged 16; servant of Lord Chancellor Audley; admitted Gray's Inn 1529 (? 1521); Windsor 1534; attached to Army in France 1544; lived first at Garter House but later (after 1534) in house of Clarenceux Camden's father in St Sepulchre's parish without Newgate; d. there 25 January 1562; burd St Sepulchre's 27 January; funeral paid for by College (Machyn's Diary, pp. 275–6; Coll. of Arms MS. I, 13, 34; etc.).

In Coll. of Arms, Vinc. MS. 152, p. 71 called 'Charlys Wryotesley, of Guyer'.

Twice married; left no children.

Had many books, presumably his father's; Stow complained that he kept them too long from the sight of the learned. According to Noble most were bought at his death by Sir William Dethick (? or his father, Gilbert); some of Sir Thomas's books were certainly in Dethick's possession; Coll. of Arms, Vinc. MS. 152, for example, has additions made by a Dethick; the arms of Dethick on p. 147, for instance, are an obvious addition over an erasure.

Author of Wriothesley's Chronicle, an important original source from 1519 onwards (ed. by W. D. Hamilton (1875), Camden Soc., N.S. xi).

Supposed by D.N.B., etc., to be the 'Charles Wreothesle', of St Giles', Cripplegate, assessed for 1522 loan at £38. 6s. 8d. in lands and fees and £40 in goods. Is that possible? He was then only 14 and his father was only assessed at £40 and Norroy at £40 goods and £20 fees (L. & P. Hen. VIII, iii, 2486).

(See D.N.B.; etc.)

Arms: Quarterly, (1) Wriothesley; (2) Castlecombe; (3) Lusthill (see J. Wrythe); (4) Hall: Argent, on a chevron sable between 3 columbine flowers azure slipped & leaved vert an estoile or (Coll. of Arms, Vinc. MS. 142, p. 71; 'Wriothesley's Crosses' no. 319).

14. RICHARD TURPIN

Turpin

Hampnes, appd after 4 June 1549.

Bluemantle, cr. 21 December 1559, pat. 22 January 1560.

Windsor, pat. 25 January, cr. 19 April 1565, salary from Michaelmas 1561.

Of Calais; either nephew (younger s. of John Turpin of Knaptoft, Leicestershire—Vincent's 'Leics' 217) or s. (Coll. of Arms MS. O.A. II, 628 citing MS. penes P. Le Neve) of Richard Turpin of Calais, whose Chronicle of Calais (1846 ed. by J. G. Nichols, Camden Soc., vol. 35); Hampnes 1549 and Clerk of the Victuals at Calais (salary £40 p.a.); at surrender of Calais 1558 lost lands worth £100 p. a. and goods worth £2000; the last Hampnes pursuivant; Bluemantle 1559; Windsor 1565 with salary from 1561; frequently employed overseas, notably 1562–3 on Earl of Warwick's expedition to Newhaven (Le Havre), his account of which is Coll. of Arms, Anstis MS. H. 4, 58b; 1569 suspended for not paying debts to William and Nicholas Dethick; restored by E.M's wt. 28 July 1570; d. 17 October 1581.

An officer of great industry. 'Turpin's Alphabet of Arms', Coll. of Arms MS. H. xi, contains miscellaneous heraldic collections including alphabets and ordinaries of arms, mostly in his handwriting. Coll. of Arms MS. H. 12 is a copy of 1563 Vis'n of Leicestershire and Warwickshire with notes of obsequies, funerals, fees, etc., written by him. B.M. MS. Add. 17065 and Queen's College, Oxford, MS. H. 30 contain pedigrees said to have been compiled by him.

Arms: Gules, on a bend argent 3 lion heads erased sable. Crest, granted by Hawley, Clarenceux, 1 April 1553: A griffin statant with one claw raised or, the forepart droppy gules, beak & claws sable, wings open or.

15. NICHOLAS DETHICK

Dethick

Bluemantle, pat. 25 January, cr. 19 April 1565.

Windsor, R. wt. for tabard 19, pat. 22, cr. 24 April 1583.

Eldest s. of Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter; b. 1539; educ. Eton. 1563 took a 'view' of the arms of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (Coll. of Arms, Anstis MS. Q. 1); 1565 Bluemantle; later Windsor.

Presumably a skilled herald for Lord Burleigh marked him for promotion to Clarenceux, but he was passed over, and died, still Windsor, 19 January 1596; burd in St Catherine Cree Church.

(Eton Coll. Register; etc.)

Arms: As Sir William Dethick.

16. THOMAS LANT

Lant

Portcullis, p.s. for tabard 19 December 1588, signet 4, pat. 9 January, cr. 4 February 1589.

Windsor, cr. 23 October 1597, pat. 29 November 1600.

B. at Gloucester c. 1556, s. of Thomas Lant, of Stafford and later of Gloucester, by Mayens or Mary Mounsloe of co. Salop; choirboy in Chapel Royal; c. 1568 page to Bishop Cheyney of Gloucester and 1579 to Lord Cheyney of Todington; servant to Sir Philip Sidney, whom he accompanied to Low Countries; 1586 employed by Secretary Walsingham; 1588 Portcullis and 1597 Windsor; d. c. New Year 1601.

Designed roll of Sidney funeral procession, engraved by Th. de Brij and printed 1587.

1595 presented to the Queen a Catalogue of the Officers of Arms from the time of Henry V (Lant's Roll), purporting to show that it had always been customary for officers to proceed regularly from pursuivant extra to pursuivant in ordinary and thence to herald and king of arms. This was apparently provoked, at least in part, by Glover's reversionary grant of Norroy. Many copies in British Museum and elsewhere; unfortunately it is quite unreliable and much seems pure invention (see Landed Gentry (1952), p. cviii, and Danielson, John Hart's Works, p. 35).

'Lant's Observations' (Coll. of Arms MS. Arundel xl) is a vivid description of the College c. 1590.

1589 compiled augmented version of Cooke's Baronage (B.M. MS. Sloane 4959).

Perhaps author of Daily Exercise of a Christian (1590).

(D.N.B.; etc.)

Arms: Per pale argent & gules, a cross engrailed counter-changed with a cinquefoil gules in dexter chief. Crest: A dove argent, beak & legs gules, standing on a serpent fretted proper. Motto: Prudentia et Simplicitate.

17. RICHARD ST GEORGE (1602). See Clarenceux (17).

18. SAMUEL THOMPSON

Thompson

Portcullis, cr. 23 October 1597, pat. 15 May 1602.

Windsor, docquet 21, wt. for tabard 25 February 1604, pat. 19 December 1606.

Of St John Zachary's, London, and of Streatham, Surrey; s. of Henry Thompson of Eynesbury, Bedfordshire, painter-stainer employed by Segar and other heralds before 1593; Portcullis 1597 and thence Windsor; 1620 went to Bohemia (why?); 1623 Camden's deputy on Vis'n of Surrey; d. 15 May 1624, at Streatham; burd St John Zachary's.

Father of Thomas Thompson, Lancaster.

Arms granted to him by Cooke, Clarenceux: Sable, a lion passant guardant or between 3 couped saltires argent. Crest: A lion sejant erect or holding a saltire argent between the forepaws.

19. AUGUSTINE VINCENT

Vincent (2)

Rose Rouge, pat. 22 February, cr. 22 March 1616.

Rouge Croix, pat. 29 May, cr. 6 June 1621.

Windsor, wt. for tabard 2, pat. 5, R. wt. 18, cr. 29 June 1624.

B. c. 1581 or 1584; third s. of William Vincent of Wellingborough and Thingdon, Northamptonshire, a cadet of Vincent of Barnack and Swinford; Clerk in Tower Record Office; 1616 Rose Rouge, thence Rouge Croix and Windsor; Camden's deputy for Vis'ns of Northamptonshire and Rutland 1618–19, Warwickshire and Leicestershire 1619, Surrey and Shropshire 1623; d. 11 January 1626; burd at St Benet's, Paul's Wharf.

Published 1622 A Discoverie of Errours in Brooke's Catalogue of Nobility, drawing largely on Tower records.

Left great collection of MSS. and rolls, some in his own handwriting, others older; his s. John left these to Ralph Sheldon (d. 1684) who bequeathed them to the College, in all some 260 volumes and 90 rolls and other separate documents, comprising Vis'ns and other collections of pedigrees, extracts from public and private records, rolls of arms, copies of grants of arms, treatises, books of precedents, church notes, charters, chronicles and miscellaneous antiquarian collections (see R. & C., pp. 33–4). A few of his MSS. remained in Anthony à Wood's possession and now in Bodleian, e.g., Wood MS. B. 8–10.

Arms: (1) As Rose Rouge: Azure, 3 pierced quatrefoils in a border argent.

(2) As Rouge Croix, granted 1 January 1662: Or, on a pile azure 3 pierced quatrefoils argent. Crest: Out of a crown or a bear's head argent collared sable.

Bookstamp: A bear erect collared & chained holding over his left shoulder a lance with banner of the (1622) arms, & holding with his right paw the mantled & crested helm.

20. JOHN BRADSHAW

Bradshaw

Rose Rouge, cr. 14 February 1624.

Rouge Croix, pat. 8, R. wt. 18, cr. 23 June 1624.

Windsor, docquet 16, pat. January 1626.

Deputy Chamberlain of the Exchequer (Palgrave, Antient Kalendars .... of H.M. Exchequer, iii, 426, 451); successively Rose Rouge, Rouge Croix and Windsor; d. at Southwold, Suffolk, September 1633; burd in St Anne's Chapel, Westminster [Almonry].

Arms: Argent, 2 bends sable & a canton checky argent & azure. Crest: 2 keys in pale back to back encircled by a crown or, the keys respectively or and argent.

21. EDWARD NORGATE

Norgate

Windsor, pat. 28, cr. 31 October 1633, admitted by Parliamentary Commissioners 8 November 1648.

Civil servant, calligrapher, miniaturist, art expert and musician as well as herald; b. Cambridge, baptized St Botolph's 12 February 1581; second s. of Robert Norgate, D.D., Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1573–87; brought up by stepfather Nicholas Felton, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Ely 1619–26; studied limning and heraldry in London, perhaps in household of Lord Arundel, whose sons he taught; 1611 reversionary pat. as tuner and Keeper of the King's musical instruments, succeeding Andrew Bassano 1626; 1642 new pat. with reversion to younger s. Arthur; 1613 already employed as scribe and limner in Signet Office; 1625 Clerk in reversion; 1631 Clerk extraordinary and 1638 Clerk of the Signet in ordinary; 1621–6 wrote treatise on illuminating and miniature painting; 1622 in Rome for Arundel; 1632 attended Arundel to The Hague; 1633 Windsor herald, but irregular attendant at College; 1637 Commissioner of Brewing; 1639 in Low Countries buying pictures for Greenwich Palace, etc.; 1639–40 attended King on Scottish expedition whence his reports chatty and entertaining; at College 2 March 1643, but did not attend King to Oxford; 1646 in Holland with Lord Stanhope; 1648 applied to Parliamentary Commissioners and was admitted as Windsor 8 November; December 1648–October 1650 rewrote Miniatura; d. at College 1650; burd St Benet's, Paul's Wharf, 23 December.

Fuller calls him the best Illuminer of the age, an excellent herald and a right honest man, of exemplary patience in (his last and protracted) sickness.

Many letters, etc., among State Papers; in College a thin volume of pedigrees and arms bought 1899 at Tixall sale.

His Miniatura, or The Art of Limning, written 1621–6 and revised 1648–50, published 1919.

His miniature of his first wife Judith Larner (d. 1617) in Victoria and Albert Museum; other miniatures by him penes Lady Lawson-Tancred (in 1943). Executed letters pat., now at Audley End, appointing Earl of Stirling Commander-in-Chief Nova Scotia.

(See also D.N.B.; 1919 edit. of Miniatura; Life of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, by Mary Hervey; Robert Herrick, Hesperides, no. 301.)

Arms: Gules, 2 gauntlets crossed in saltire palm to palm argent garnished or, the sinister in bend sinister & surmounted by the thumb of the dexter.

His father bore: Per chevron engrailed argent & azure with 3 garden lilies slipped in chief azure. This evidently alludes to his Mastership of Corpus Christi College.

22. ELIAS ASHMOLE

Ashmole

Windsor, pat. 3 July, sworn 10 August 1660, resd 9 July 1675.

B. Lichfield 1617, s. of Simon Ashmole, saddler; probably best known as founder of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and author of The Institution ...of the Order of the Garter (1672). Of great ability and boundless energy with many extra-heraldic offices and activities. A staunch Royalist, rewarded at the Restoration by appointment as Windsor with special precedence immediately after the pre-Civil War heralds, Owen and Ryley. Thereafter concentrated on heraldry and antiquarian pursuits. 1664–6 as Clarenceux's deputy visited Berkshire, and notes then made formed basis of The Antiquities of Berkshire, published 1719. Resigned 9 July 1675, to devote himself to his other occupations. D. 18 May 1692; burd in South Lambeth Church.

On the death in 1662 of the naturalist John Tradescant, Ashmole acquired his collection of curiosities and this was the nucleus of the collections given to Oxford University in 1672 and housed in the specially built Ashmolean Museum. His MS. collections, on astrology and alchemy as well as heraldry and cognate subjects, over 1000 volumes, now in Bodleian Library.

(See also D.N.B.; his own Diary partially printed 1717 and 1774; Athen. Oxon., iv, 354; Black's Catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS., 1845.)

Arms: Quarterly sable and or with a fleur de lis or in the first quarter.

Crest granted 16 May 1661 in lieu of his ancestral crest of a greyhound courant: 'On a wreath sable and or the planet Mercury collocated in the Midle of the caelestiall Signe Gemini proper his right hand extended toward heaven and left holding a Caducan rod or.' (Harl. Soc., vol. 76 (1925), p. 8.)

23. JOHN DUGDALE (1675). See Norroy (37).

24. HENRY BALL

Rose Rouge, appd c. December 1675.

Rouge Croix, signet April, cr. 24 May 1677.

Windsor, signet February, R. wt. 22, cr. 24 March 1686.

S. of John Ball, Captain in army of Charles I; his sister married Thomas Holford, Windsor.

Customer of Newcastle and Clerk to Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary, who obtained his nom. as Rose Rouge, whence in turn Rouge Croix and Windsor; d. Air St, Piccadilly, 3 February 1687; burd St Andrew's, Holborn.

For correspondence with Williamson and others see Cal. S.P. Dom., ch. ii passim; Camden Soc., N.S. viii, ix; Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep., p. 351, etc., and 12th Rep., p. 65, etc.

25. THOMAS HOLFORD

Holford

Portcullis, E.M. wt. 26 May, signet 25 July 1663.

Windsor, signet February, cr. 21 April 1687, resd January 1691.

S. of Benjamin Holford, Steward to Archbishop Laud, slain in service of Charles I; married sister of Ball, Windsor; Portcullis 1663 and later Windsor; a painter; 1664 ordered by chapter and deputed by Bysshe to visit London churches with Sandford and report on hatchments and pennons there set up; 25 April 1665 reported on certain College MSS. tampered with by Bysshe; 1690 charged by certain painters with doing work which should have been given out to them; January 1691 sold place as Windsor to Mauduit. Father of Thomas Holford, Portcullis.

Arms: Argent, a greyhound passant sable.

26. PIERS MAUDUIT

Mauduit

Rouge Dragon, R. wt. 3, cr. 17 January 1690.

Windsor, docquet January, pat. 16 February, R. wt. 5 May 1691, resd 3 December 1726.

Eldest s. of John Mauduit, B.D., of Ottery St Mary, Devon, sometime rector of Penshurst, Kent; Rouge Dragon 1690, giving King £100 for the place; 1691 bought place of Windsor from Holford; 1693 imprisoned at suit of Mary Deeble (why ?) but discharged on ground of privilege as a royal servant (Lord's Journal, xv, 299, 303); 1710 suspended and imprisoned on charge of stealing College books, but discharged some time later; resd 3 December 1726 in favour of Whorwood; d. 1729; burd Leyton, Essex, 10 November.

According to J. C. Brooke seemed to have some professional knowledge. Compiled five volume MS. armorial ('E.D.N. Alphabet') bought by Duke of Norfolk at Warburton's sale and given to the College of Arms.

Arms: Gules, 3 pales dancy or. Crest: A wolf's head per pale indented gules & or, tongue azure. Motto: Deus Me Audit.

27. JAMES WHORWOOD

Whorwood

Windsor, appd 2, pat. 17 December 1726, cr. 9 October 1727, resd 23 July 1736.

Fourth and youngest s. of Thomas Whorwood (d. 1704), of Holton, Oxfordshire, sometime High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, who was illegitimate s. of Brome Whorwood, eldest s. of Sir Thomas Whorwood, Kt., of Sandwell Hall, Staffordshire (d. 1634) by Ursula, dau. and heiress of George Brome of Holton; Windsor 1726; 1736, being crippled by gout, sold place to Kettell; resd 23 July.

Arms granted to him 14 February 1730: Argent, on a chevron between 3 stag's faces sable 3 broom-sprigs or. Crest: A stag's face sable with a sprig of oak proper acorned or in the mouth. Motto: Nunc Et Semper (Misc. Gen. & Her., N.S. iv, 49).

28. JOHN KETTELL, F.S.A.

Kettell

Windsor, pat. 12 August 1736, cr. 21 December 1741.

Baptized 2 December 1697; s. of Wm. Kettell, citizen and haberdasher of London; d. at College 9 May 1745; burd St Peter's, Cornhill.

Appd Windsor 1736, ceremony of creation dispensed with by D.E.M. 9 September 1736, but performed 1741; F.S.A. 1743; executed Coll. of Arms MS. SML. 24, names and arms of Lord Mayors of London and names of Sheriffs 1189–1736. Godfather to two sons of Knox Ward, Clarenceux; named Stephen Martin Leake executor of his will.

A good and useful officer, a good draughtsman, tireless in business and wholly devoted to the College, with a prodigious memory for arms and pedigrees.

Arms: Or, on a fess azure between 2 stag's heads erased in chief & a lion passant guardant in base gules 3 cinquefoils or. Crest: In a mural crown or a mount vert & thereon a lion sejant guardant gules crowned with an Eastern crown or, the dexter paw resting on an antique shield or charged with a cross flory fitchy azure.

29. RICHARD MAWSON

Mawson

Portcullis, pat. ii, R. wt. 18, cr. 23 December 1717.

Windsor, E.M. wt. 1 September 1745.

Youngest s. of Charles Mawson, Chester; b. parish of St Clement Danes, London, 24 January 1686; Portcullis 1717; nom. Windsor 1 September 1745, but d. s.p. 2 September, burd East Barnet.

Lived in College; assiduous in professional duties; reputed honest but not brilliant. Left his widow £1000.

Some of his books bought by the College of Arms; others by Warburton, including 'Mawson's Obits', notes of marriages, deaths and burials 1720–9, in his handwriting, bought from Warburton by Duke of Norfolk and given to the College (Coll. of Arms MS. E.D.N. 61)—see Genealogist, N.S. ii, 143.

Arms: as granted to his father 1692.

30. THOMAS THORNBERY

Thornbery

Portcullis, nom. 1 September 1745.

Windsor, pat. 19 December, salary from Lady Day 1745.

B. c. 1719; grandson of Thomas Thornbery, citizen and Salter of London; related to Thomas Brown, Garter; Clerk in Ordnance Office; lived at Mile End; nom. Portcullis 1745 but did not pass pat.; Windsor three months later; 1752 Secretary to Garter mission to Prince of Orange; d. 24 July 1757, Tottenham Court Road; burd Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire (M.I.).

Leake, who recommended his appt, said he had good qualifications, but took to drink and Townley called him 'a very drunken, sorry fellow'.

Arms granted 16 August 1746, but not entered in Grant Book: Or, a demi-lion rampant erased azure between 2 chaplets of laurel in chief proper & a garb in base gules. Crest: On a torse or & azure a mural crown argent & thereon a Catherine wheel azure encircled by 2 branches of laurel proper issuing from the crown. Motto: Qui Videt Providet.

On his bookplate the chaplets are each flowered with 4 roses (Misc. Gen. & Her., 5s, x, 79).

31. HENRY HILL, F.S.A.

Hill

Rouge Dragon, pat 2 May, salary from 2 March 1755.

Windsor, pat. 11 November 1757, cr. 4 July 1758, salary from 24 July 1757.

Brunswick, 16 March 1763.

S. of Rev. Henry Hill of Guildford, Surrey; b. c. 1730; of Guildford and of Margate, co. Kent; Rouge Dragon 1755 and later Windsor; E.M's Secretary 24 June 1755; Deputy Serjeant at Arms, House of Commons, July 1756; F.S.A. 1759; 1760 much concerned with arrangements for coronation of George III and in 1820 the College bought the detailed working papers from his widow; Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod December 1762 and Brunswick herald March 1763; d. at Avignon (South of France) 30 June 1774; burd in church of St Martin di Gigoniano.

Arms: Vert, 3 talbots passant argent. Crest: A stag's head erased with an oak-branch in the mouth, all proper. Motto: Fidelis.

32. GEORGE HARRISON (1774). See Clarenceux (29).

33. FRANCIS TOWNSEND, F.S.A.

Rouge Croix, pat. 24 February, salary from 31 January 1778.

Windsor, pat. 5 June, salary from 22 May 1784.

B. St Bride's, Fleet St, London c. 1749, s. of Thomas Townsend of Chester and St Albans, Hertfordshire; sometime of Ockley, Surrey; Rouge Croix 1778 and thence Windsor; 1783 bought Latin version of Rous' Warwick Roll for 2 guineas and 1786 sold it to the College of Arms for same sum; accompanied Heard on Garter missions to Cassel 1786 and Vienna 1814; 1786–1812 Deputy Bath King of Arms; F.S.A. 21 June 1787; 1787–8 copied 1682–6 Vis'ns of Worcestershire, etc. (Coll. of Arms MSS. K. 4, 6, 8); 1795 Deputy Ulster; 1809 with Martin, Bluemantle, successfully sued C. P. B. Neale for nearly £300 for genealogical work (report reprinted in The Times, 26 June 1809); 1813 deputy for Heard on Garter mission to Czar Alexander I at Töplitz, accompanied by Beltz and Stephenson (his account of the mission in Coll. of Arms MS. CGY. 884); d. at Oxford 25 March 1819, aged 70; burd churchyard of St Benet's, Paul's Wharf.

Father of Francis Townsend, Rouge Dragon.

Bulk of his collections passed to his s. from whose widow the College of Arms bought them in 1833 for £525. Had perhaps largest practice of his day in peerage cases; his merit as genealogist admitted even by Round. Genealogical collections, more than 40 volumes, include notes towards a new edition of Dugdale's Baronage (parts communicated by Young to Col. Topog. & Gen., iv and v), many peers' pedigrees and extensive collections of royal descents and pedigrees of founder's kin; also 16 volumes of will abstracts and six of church notes. Other of his MSS. among the Young collection in the College, including CGY. 884 above-mentioned, 407 collections about the College and heralds, 411 notes on his work at the College, etc. Yet other MSS. in Phillipps collection, nos. 6531–45 and 10657.

34. FRANCIS MARTIN (1819). See Clarenceux (35).

35. ROBERT LAURIE (1839). See Clarenceux (37).

36. GEORGE HARRISON ROGERS-HARRISON

Rogers-Harrison (2)

Blanch Lyon, E.M. wt. 2, R. wt. 5 September 1831.

Bluemantle, E.M. wt. 11, Gazette 15, pat. 26 November, salary from 10 November 1831.

Windsor, Gazette 6, pat. 18 July, salary from 29 June 1849.

B. 22 October 1805, s. of Daniel Charles Rogers of Bethnal Green who was s. of Joseph Rogers by Mary, sister of George Harrison, Clarenceux. Joseph Rogers took the name Valentine Lott, but by R.L. 30 April 1821 he and his issue were authorized to take the name of Rogers-Harrison.

George Harrison, as he signed himself, attended the coronation of William IV as Blanch Lyon; later Bluemantle and Windsor. D. 2 March 1880, burd in Norwood Cemetery.

Helped in 1870, Debrett's Peerage. Was of Birr, King's Co., Ireland.

An assiduous and active officer. In 1869 A. W. Woods thought he did quite as much business as Young did as Garter.

(Gent. Mag., ci (1831), ii, 224; etc.)

Arms: (1) As Blanch Lyon, granted by Ulster 15 September 1831: Quarterly, (1 & 4) azure, 3 demi-lions rampant erased or each with an eastern crown argent (Harrison); (2 & 3) or, 3 stags tripping proper (Rogers); over all in centre chief a scocheon gules charged with a lion argent (in allusion to his office of Blanch Lyon). Crests: (1) For Harrison: Out of a mural crown azure a demi-lion or with an eastern crown argent holding in his paws a chaplet of roses proper; (2) in allusion to his office of Blanch Lyon: On an open crown or a lion rampant argent; (3) for Rogers: On a chapeau gules turned up ermine a stag tripping proper with the coronet of a king of arms about its neck and a chain therefrom passing between its forelegs or; (4) granted by Ulster 22 October 1841 for his mother's family (Burrow): Out of a coronet of trefoils or a plume of 5 ostrich feathers alternately argent and or.

(2) As Bluemantle and Windsor, granted by Garter and Clarenceux 18 June 1839, to D. C. Rogers-Harrison and his descendants: Quarterly, I & IV. Quarterly, (1 & 4) Harrison as above; (2 & 3) or, a crown vallary gules between 3 stags tripping proper (Rogers); II & III. Argent, a lion with 2 tails sable (Owen). Crests: (1) for Harrison, as above; (2) for Rogers: On a crown vallary or a stag tripping proper with a trefoil vert on the shoulder. Motto: Absque Virtute Nihil.

37. WILLIAM HENRY WELDON (1880). See Clarenceux (40).

Weldon (1)

38. WILLIAM ALEXANDER LINDSAY (1894). See Clarenceux (42).

39. ALGAR HENRY STAFFORD HOWARD (1919). See Garter (31).

40. ALFRED TREGO BUTLER, M.V.O., M.C., F.S.A.

Butler

Portcullis, pat. 19 July, salary from 16 July 1926.

Windsor, pat. 6 February, salary from 29 January 1931.

B. Hornsey 8 October 1880, second s. of Robert Frederick Butler; Clerk to H. F. Burke when only 17, soon became his right-hand man and continued as his Secretary till Burke's death. Portcullis 1926; F.S.A. 1927; Windsor 1931; Genealogist of the Order of the Bath 1930 and of the Royal Victorian Order 1938. Citizen and Glazier of London; member of Council of Harleian and British Record Societies and of Croft Lyons Committee of the Society of Antiquaries.

Perhaps the foremost genealogist of his generation with great capacity for business. During Second World War carried on almost single-handed many activities at the College which must otherwise have ceased. D. in London on 22 December 1946.

Arms: Argent, on a chief indented sable 3 covered cups or.

Crest: On a torse argent & sable a vine fructed proper supported by 2 eagles argent. Motto: Je Sers (Bookplate).

41. RICHARD PRESTON GRAHAM-VIVIAN, M.V.O., M.C.

Graham-Vivian

Bluemantle, pat. 27 March, 1933, salary from 24 December 1932.

Windsor, pat. 30 January 1947, salary from 22 December 1946.

B. 10 August 1896, second s. of Sir Richard James Graham, Bt., of Netherby, Cumberland; educ. Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; Lieutenant K.R.R.C. in First World War. Married 1921 Audrey Emily, dau. of Major Henry Wyndham Vivian, and assumed additional name of Vivian by R.L. 6 November 1929. Bluemantle 1933; Windsor 1947; Earl Marshal's Secretary 1954–61; M.V.O., 1961.

Arms: Quarterly in a border engrailed azure & with a crescent gules over all; (1 & 4) or, on a chief sable 3 escallops or (Graham); (2 and 3) or, a fess checky azure & argent with a chevron gules in chief (Stuart). Crest: 2 wings addorsed or.