Cheshire Heraldry - Arms of The Bishops of Chester

The Armorial Bearings of the Bishops of Chester

The Diocesan arms of Chester

Arms: Gules, three mitres with their lables Or.
[Surmounted by a Bishops Mitre]

John Bird
1542 - 1554
Sable, a mace Or in bend surmounted of a pastoral staff in bend sinister Argent headed Or on a chief Argent three shovellers also Argent.

All Bishops are entitled to impale their armorial bearings with those of the Diocese and I have illustrated those of John Bird impaled in this way to give an example.

George Cotes
1554 - 1555
Argent, fretty Azure, on a canton Or a lion rampant Sable.

Cuthbert Scott
1556 - 1559
Argent, a chevron between three pelicans' heads erased at the neck Sable.

William Downham
1561 - 1577
Azure, on a chevron between two doves Argent beaks and legs Gules and a wolf's head erased Argent in base, a rose between two books Gules clasped Or.

William Chaderton
1579 - 1595
Quarterly:
1 and 4 Gules, a cross potent Or.
2 and 3 Argent, a chevron between three crampirons Gules.

Hugh Bellott
1595 - 1596
Or, on a chief Gules three cinquefoils of the first.

Richard Vaughan
1597 - 1604
Sable, a chevron between three fleur-de-lis Argent.

George Lloyd
1604 - 1615
Sable, three horses' heads couped Argent.

Thomas Morton
1616 - 1619
Quarterly Gules and Ermine, in dexter chief and sinister base a goat's head erased Argent attired Or, a fleur-de-lis in a crescent in fess point

John Bridgeman
1619 - 1652
Sable, ten plates in pile, on a chief Argent a lion passant also Sable.

Brian Walton
1660 - 1661
Three geese passant close [no tinctures given]

Henry Ferne
1662
Party per bend indented Argent and Gules a crescent for difference.

George Hall
1662 - 1668
Sable, three talbots' heads erased Argent langued Gules.

John Wilkins
1668 - 1672
Argent, on a pale engrailed cotised plain Sable, three martlets Or.

John Pearson
1673 - 1686
Argent, a chevron Erminois between three leaves Vert.

Thomas Cartwright
1686 - 1689
Ermine, a fess Sable between three fireballs inflamed.

Nicholas Stratford
1689 - 1707
Gules. a fess humetty Or between three tressels Argent.

Sir William Dawes Bt. (3rd)
1708 - 1714
Argent, on a bend Azure cotised Gules between six battle axes Sable three Swans Or.

Francis Gastrell
1714 - 1725
Checky Argent and Sable on a chief Or three bucks' heads couped of the second.

Samuel Peploe
1726 - 1752
Azure, on a chevron counter-embattled between three stringed bugle-horns Or a mitre with labels of the first.

Edmund Keene
1752 - 1771
Argent, a talbot passant Sable collared Or on a chief indented Azure three crosslets of the third.

William Markham
1771 - 1777
Azure, on a chief Or a lion issuant Gules.

Beilby Porteous
1777 - 1787
Azure, a book Or between two mullets in chief and a saltire humetty in base Argent.

William Cleaver
1788 - 1800
Sable, two bars between three castles masoned Or.

Henry Majendie
1800 - 1809
Or, on a mount Vert a tree between a serpent erect and a dove close proper.

Bowyer Sparke
1810 - 1812
Checky, Or and Vert a bend Ermine.

George Law
1812 - 1834
Argent, on a bend engrailed between two cocks Gules three pierced mullets of the first.

Charles Blomfield
1824 - 1828
Quarterly per fess indented Or and Azure a bend Gules.

John Sumner
1828 - 1848
Ermine, two chevrons Gules.

John Graham
1845 - 1865
Argent, on a pile Azure a dove close bearing in her beak an olive branch ppr on a chief Sable a cross potent Argent between two escollops Or.

William Jacobson
1865 - 1884
Argent, a chevron Gules between three trefoils slipped Sable on a chief also Sable an estoile Silver.

William Stubbs
1884 - 1889
Sable, on a bend nebuly Or betweeb two bezants each charged with a pheon also Sable three buckles ppr.

Francis Jayne
1889 - 1919
No Arms.

Henry Paget
1919 - 1932
Sable, on a cross engrailed between in the first and fourth quarters an eagle displayed and in the second and third an heraldic tyger passant Argent an escallop also Sable.

Geoffrey Fisher
1932 - 1939
Argent, a fess wavy between three fleur-de-lys Sable.

Douglas Crick
1939 - 1955
No Arms.

Gerald Ellison
1955 - 1973
No Arms.

Hubert Whitsey
1974 - 1981
No Arms.

Michael Baughen
1982 - 1996
No Arms.

Peter Forster
1996 - date
No Arms.