|
Brocklebank
|
Ralph Wilfred Brocklebank
Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th grandquarters, Azure, an escallop Or between three brocks Argent, on a chief engrailed of the Second a cock Proper between two escallops of the First (for Brocklebank): 2nd grandquarter, Ermine, on a cross engrailed between four lions rampant Gules, a tilting spear erect Or between four bezants (for Royds): third grandquarter quarterly (i) and (iv) Gules, a fess chequy Argent and Azure, (ii) and (iii) Or a lion rampant Gules debruised of a riband in bend Sable, all within a bordure per pale dexter Azure charged alternately with four stars Or and four lozenges also Or, sinister Argent charged in the sinister chief with a martlet Azure (for Lindsay).
Crest: in front of a mount Vert thereon a cock Proper three escallops Or.
Motto: GOD SEND GRACE
Matriculated: 26th October 1993, Court of the Lord Lyon. Register, volume 76, page 18.
This shield has an unusual feature, in that each of the grandquarters is a differenced version of an earlier coat, and each for a different reason, and from a different era.
The first was granted to Ralph Brocklebank of Childwall Hall, Liverpool, in 1884, when it was discovered that the arms which he and his family had been using for several generations were not recorded at the College of Arms. The new grant incorporates elements of the assumed arms with various added complications, in true Victorian fashion, done by Garter Woods. The grantee's second son, Thomas, married Mary Petrena, daughter of Henry Royds, and during his lifetime differenced his arms from those of his elder brother by impaling them with his wife's. When it was realised that she had been an heraldic heiress, all their descendants became entitled to use the Royds quartering.
The Royds arms seen here was granted in 1820 when it was found to be impossible to prove descent from the holder of the 1585 grant which was a typical Tudor design by Robert Cooke. The differences introduced were a field Ermine in place of Argent, and the centre bezant of five being replaced with a tilting spear (from the 1820 grantee's maternal arms).
The Lindsay quartering is differenced in the special Scottish manner that gives an indication of the line of descent. At a recent Annual Dinner of the Society, a table banner of these arms caught the eye of the Earl of Crawford, who not only recognised a distant cousin but spotted from the stars that the derivation was from the Balcarres line of the Lindsays. In fact, the differencing was worked out in 1969 by the then Lord Lyon, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, for my mother Kathleen, when it was discovered that she was an heraldic heiress.
The last ancestor who had matriculated arms, from whom a start was taken, was James Lindsay (1691-1768), 5th Earl of Balcarres and 30th Lord Lindsay of Crawford, who bore the ancient medieval Lindsay and Abernethy quarters within a border Azure studded with sixteen stars Or. He had married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Dalrymple, and their sixth son, Charles Dalrymple Lindsay (1760-1846), became Bishop of Kildare. For his difference, alternate stars in the border were replaced with lozenges Or (the famous Dalrymple diamonds). The Bishop's third son, by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Evert George Coussmaker, was George Hayward Lindsay (1799-1886) of Glasnevin House, Dublin, and a man of some distinction in public life, for whose difference the border was parted per pate, the sinister half Argent. He had married Lady Mary Catherine Gore, sister of the 4th Earl of Arran KP and their eldest son, Henry Gore Lindsay (1830-1912), also achieved distinction in his life, becoming Chief Constable of Glamorgan among other attainments, but he required no further differencing to his father's arms. He married the Hon. Ellen Sarah, daughter of Charles, 1st Baron Tredegar, and they had five sons, each of whom had a distinguished career. The fourth of these, Colonel Walter Charles Lindsay, MVO (1866-1929), received the martlet for difference. He married Lady Kathleen Butler, OBE, daughter of the 6th Earl of Carrick (in the Irish creation), by whom he had two daughters.
The elder daughter, Doreen, married Major Richard Archer Houblon, DSO, RHA, and she became an expert on side-saddle riding. She was often seen at rehearsals for Trooping the Colour, training the Queen's mount in the necessary techniques. The Queen herself was a first-rate horsewoman and needed virtually no coaching in the niceties of side-saddle, but she only ever rode in this manner at the annual Trooping ceremony. Doreen was appointed CVO, but she died without issue. The younger daughter, Kathleen, married my father, Denys Royds Brocklebank, eldest surviving grandson of Thomas and Mary Petrena, and I am their only son.
Although the Lord Lyon worked out these differences stage by stage, there is no evidence that the Bishop or any of his line, however eminent, actually used their arms - even undifferenced. For the 1969 matriculation, the newly quartered arms were inelegantly compressed into a lozenge (as was required for a woman) and for reasons of space the Abernethy quarters were omitted. For the 1993 matriculation, I asked for them to be restored, as the lions nicely complement those in the Royds quarter. Charles Burnett, Ross Herald, was instrumental in making the necessary arrangements and the Lord Lyon, Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight, readily agreed.
These arms look at their best on a square banner with the quarters representing designs from three of the great eras of heraldry: the medieval, the Tudor and the Victorian. A version painted by the late Dr Patrick Barden has been displayed at several Annual Meetings of the Society. It is better still to see it flying.
This rendition is by the Lyon Court artist Miss Clare McCrory.
|
|
