Heraldry Crests and Coats of Arms

[alleeoop77]

 

Looking for Arkless

[Bookbox]

Coats of arms are awarded to individuals, not to families. If you believe that a member of your ARKLESS family bore arms, can you tell us who it was, and at what date?

[KGarrad]

First a crest is the bit of the full achievement of arms that sits on top of the shield!

Second, there is no such thing as a coat-of-arms belonging to a surname!

Coats-of-arms were granted to a named individual, and only he, or his direct descendants, are permitted to use the coat-of-arms. In fact, in Scotland, it is still illegal to use a coat-of-arms to which you have no entitlement.

Having said that, the arms i use as an avatar (left) were used by a John Garrad in the 1700's, whose line became extinct. I use them solely as an avatar on RootsChat.

See: http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/faqs