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Kerr
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Alistair William Jackson Kerr
Arms: Gules, a chevron argent, three fleurs-de-Lys of the first
Crest: a unicorn's head erased Argent, armed and maned Or , charged on the neck with a fleur-de-Lys Gules
Motto: SEMPER SERIO
Granted at the Court of the Lord Lyon 26th January 2001.
These arms are a modern cadet variant of the very ancient Kerr arms (Gules on a chevron Argent three mollets of the field) that were originally borne by the Kers of Kersland in Ayrshire, with the motto 'Praise God'. There is no surviving record of a crest, helm or mantling, although a tradition suggests that the crest was a stag's head. These Kers were the senior branch of the family but never rose above the rank of feudal baron. Two their cadet branches, which went on to higher things, including a Dukedom and a Marquisate, have overshadowed them. The Kers of Kersland arrived in Scotland from Brittany via Lancashire in the twelfth century.
Here it is worth mentioning that most books about Scottish surnames are incorrect on the origins of the Kers or Kerrs. Because they came over with William the Conqueror in 1066, numerous authors describe them as Norman and therefore ultimately Scandinavian. In fact only about one-third of William's army was Norman. The other two-thirds came from elsewhere in France, notably Brittany* and the Vendée. The Kers are easily traceable to Eastern Brittany, specifically to St Brice en Cogles. The nearest town is Fougères. They were originally gamekeepers to the feudal lords of St Brice, whose descendants, many generations later, became the Bruces, Earls of Annandale and finally Kings. We followed them to England and later Scotland. The Ker name is still found in Brittany, although it is no longer common.+
The main line of the Kers of Kersland became extinct in the eighteenth century, although Kersland Castle still stands. The cadet branches of the Kers of Auchingree, Triorne and Chatto have followed them into oblivion. The undifferenced shield has passed to the Border Kerrs of Ferniehirst, now the senior line, whose Chief is the Marquis of Lothian. Lord Lothian uses the motto 'Sero Sed Serio'. The Supporters are an angel and a unicorn; the two crests are the Sun in his Splendour and a stag's head proper, erased. (The latter almost always indicates a gamekeeper ennobled by his friend, the King). Thanks to Edward I of England and Oliver Cromwell, who on two separate occasions seized the Scots national archives, which then disappeared (on the first occasion) and were lost at sea (on the second), it is unlikely that we shall ever know the origin of the Kerr arms. All that can be said with certainty is that they were in use at the time of Robert the Bruce.
My line can be traced to Mr Mark Ker or Kerr MA, who was born about 1522 and died in 1584. He was the second son of Sir Andrew Ker of Cessford. Mark was the last Abbot and first Laird of Newbattle Abbey. He assumed the style of 'Lord Newbattle', but was not entitled to it; King James VI subsequently conferred it on Mark's eldest son. This would not have been necessary if the father had already been ennobled. Some of my ancestors, possibly following Mark's bad example, used arms that closely resembled those of Lord Lothian, without any traceable right to do so (to be fair to them, the 'Cromwell factor' could have been operative here). I decided to regularise the position and applied in 1999 to the Lord Lyon for a legitimate grant of arms.
I requested arms that resembled those of the Chief but were recognisably different. In the mediaeval tradition, they should use as few tinctures, metals and charges as possible. I chose fleurs-de-Lys to replace the mollets of the Chief's shield and celebrate my family's association with France, where I live at present. We have from time to time renewed our genetic links with France. For example, an ancestor married a Huguenot girl in 1705. The unicorn's head as crest is intended as a courteous inclination in the direction of the Chief, one of whose supporters is the aforementioned unicorn. It is also, of course, a Scottish emblem. The extra fleur-de-Lys on the crest was the Lord Lyon's suggestion as a differencing mark, because so many armigers already bear the unicorn's head. The motto, 'Semper Serio', answers that of the Chief.
* Strictly speaking, Brittany was not at that time part of France. It was, and remained for many years to come, an independent Dukedom with its own laws and institutions.
+ 'ker' in Old Breton means a castle or a stronghold (in Welsh or Brythonic it would be spelt 'caer', as in Caerlaverock, the Fortress of the Skylarks). In modern Breton it means a house with land attached. Ker is, for obvious reasons, a component of many place-names in Brittany, and so also of Breton surnames and titles of nobility, as in Kérouaille, Kergorlay and Kersaudy.
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