Cheshire Heraldry Web Journal (Blog)

Bookplate, a photo by quercus_woodelf on Flickr.

Of interest to Cheshire Heraldry is this bookplate which has recently appeared on Flickr. Bookplate of Sir William H. Bailey of Sale Hall, Cheshire (sadly now demolished and lying under a motorway).

Tomorrow, Saturday 21st April, is the Annual General Meeting of The Cheshire Heraldry Society.

As well as the usual business of the A.G.M., I will be presenting a small power point talk on the heraldic illustrations of Dan Escott as published in the children’s magazine Look and Learn between 1962 and 1982 and we also hope to have one or two “show and tell” items from our members. It is the usual venue at Townley Street Schoolroom, Townley Street, Macclesfield and we start at 2.30 pm, (room opens at 2.00 pm).

I look forward to seeing you there.

I am a great fan of the BBC’s Antiques Road Show and take great pleasure when an antique catches my fancy. Last evening’s Road Show proved to be an absolute delight when their second visit to Manchester Town Hall (an heraldic delight in its own right) turned up an armorial panel which used to be housed in Mottram Church but found its way by a circuitous route to a biscuit factory!

The company which is now the proud owner of the panel purchased an old cotton mill for use as a biscuit factory in 1980 and the panel was discovered when the junk left by the previous owner was being sorted out and disposed of. The panel has been hanging in the reception of the biscuit factory ever since its discovery.

Valued by the Road Show’s Elaine Binning at between £12′500 to £15′000, the panel, said to date from 1694, is inscribed with the words ” The South Side of Mottram Chancel is repaired by and belongs to the Earl of Warrington, as Lord of the Manor of Staly”. Mottram Church is in the village or Mottram between Stalybridge and Glossop.

The company representative stated that the panel is thought to have hung in the chancel for about one hundred and fifty years until it was moved by a Mr. Chapman, a wealthy mill owner, who acquired ownership of the chancel in approx 1854 and felt that he was wealthy enough to remove all the existing accouterments in the chancel and replace them with his own; the panel disappeared at that time and it is thought that everything else in the chancel was simply destroyed!

George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington (May 2, 1675 – August 2, 1758) was the son of Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington by his wife Mary, the daughter and sole heiress of Sir James Langham, Bart. As the eldest surviving son, he inherited the title of Earl of Warrington on his father’s death in 1693.

It’s proud owner declared that it was not for sale.

These are the same 48 quarterings as those in the the armorial bearings of Booth which are displayed as a monument to Langham and Henry Booth seen in the Dunham (or Booth) Chapel at Bowdon Parish Church.

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/gallery_image48.html

I’ve had a wee bit of time this week to return to the Visitations and have added a few more images to the 1663 pages. 

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/visitations1663/CV1663_6.html

Just occasionally I find what are probably transcription errors in the Harleian manuscripts and one such (it seems to me) is that of the record of Grosvenor of Eaton which has the quarter for Eaton erroneously recorded as Per Pale Sable and Argent, a cross patonce counterchanged. The Eaton coat is quarterly Argent and Sable, a cross patonce counterchanged as in the Eaton of Sandbach coat; which, ironically, is actually recorded as being not proved!

The arms of Eaton of Sandbach.

The Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society has just published details of their forthcoming Heraldry Study Day.

You can download the poster and booking form from The Cheshire Heraldry Society site.

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/society/salford-poster.pdf

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/society/salford-application.pdf

It’s always a pleasure to hear from fellow heraldry addicts and especially so when one gets the opportunity to share another’s passion.

Peter Harling, Fellow of The International Association of Amateur Heralds, has just dropped me a note informing me that he has created a website introducing all to part of his ever growing heraldic bookplate collection. It’s a very welcome addition to my favourites folder.

http://armorialbookplatesmodern.weebly.com/

I’ve had quite a busy week since my talk on the arms used by the Town Council of Knutsford. It was an absolute pleasure to meet with the staff and volunteers from the Knutsford Heritage Centre who, along with an attentive audience, made me most welcome. Photos were taken with a view to reporting on the series of talks given during February and I was rather surprised, upon my return from holiday (I had a marvelous week with my extended family), to find that the Knutsford Guardian had published a wee bit about the talk. One of the most enjoyable aspects of giving a talk on heraldry is that it presents the opportunity to answer questions; I am very pleased to report that the Knutsford audience took full advantage of the session to satisfy their curiosity both general and specific to the town arms.

I reproduce here the photo used in the article; I am smiling honest!

With me is Dorothy Webster and we are  looking at an old Knutsford guide book.

Photo courtesy Knutsford Heritage Centre/Knutsford Guardian.

I really do recommend a visit to the heritage Centre.

http://www.knutsfordheritage.co.uk/

Some time ago I stumbled across a couple of Will’s Cigarette Picture-Card Albums at our usual visit to a local antique fair; I paid six pounds for the two albums, which I think was a bargain. Both albums, at first glance appeared to be complete. The first album, The Arms of Companies, is complete but the second album, The Arms of Public Schools, has a cheeky duplication which lent the initial appearance of being complete. After I got home, whilst relaxing over the compulsory cuppa, I noticed that the card for Shrewsbury School was a duplication. After some online searching I discovered that the missing card is that of Edinburgh Academy. Now comes the quest to obtain the missing card!

This series was issued by Will’s Cigarettes UK in 1906.

I have a spare Shrewsbury School but need Edinburgh Academy to complete the set.   

It’s that time of the month again. On Saturday (Feb 18th) Dr Andrew Gray will be giving us a talk on “East Indiamen and Other” and this month on Saturday 25th I will be giving a talk at The Knutsford February Forum.

The February Forum is a series of four Saturday lunchtime talks organised by The Friends of Knutsford Heritage Centre. Talks start at 12 noon and are followed by light refreshments. Details are available from Knutsford Heritage Centre 01565 650506.

 It must be the silly season again. Despite the fact that we are in a financial depression we appear to still be spending money on salaries for people in such public posts as chairman of the Speaker’s Advisory Council on Public Engagement. Yesterdays Telegraph newspaper reported that Dr Jonathan Drori, chairman of the Speaker’s Advisory Council on Public Engagement has told MPs that the Parliamentary “logo” is “hardly welcoming”.

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9019327/Parliament-logo-should-be-axed-according-to-adviser.html

A typical display of the usual ignorance. It isn’t (as we here all know) “the parliamentary logo”; it is but one of the many Royal badges used by parliament with the permission of the Crown. Parliament can if it so wishes take yet another step to divorce itself from its historical links with the Crown and spend countless (useless) thousands of pounds commissioning a marketing company to devise for it a rather twee fashionable logo which will doubtless have to be changed again and again to keep it “up to date and politically correct” or, if it chooses to be more rational, it can simply ignore the advice of Dr Jonathan Drori altogether and find other, more productive, ways to spend my hard earned tax pound. We are after all in a recession!