Arms - what should this look like - DAVIES

[bean]

Can anyone point me at an internet resource, or provide a picture, of what this should look like:

Davies (moor court, co. Hereford: as borne by James Davies Esq., of that place, a magistrate for the county)
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, gu. a Griffin sergeant or., for Davies; 2nd and 3rd, ar. a lion ramp. sa. over all a fesse engr. gu., for Powell. Crest - A griffin sergeant or.

Any help would be really good,

Thanks

[behindthefrogs]

Your shield is divided into four quarters by a vertical and horizontal line.  Looking at it the top left and bottom right quarters contain a griffin standing on its hind legs with its wings on its back seen from the side. The griffin is gold on a red background.  Its head is like an eagles head with ears.

The crest is a similar gold griffin standing on top of the shield

The other two quarters of the shield are silver (White) with sable (black) rampant lion in front of (? I am not sure) two red horizontal lines.  I must admit there is one word that I haven't explained "engr."  This may indicate a pattern on the red horizontal lines.

Both animals will face left as you look at them

David

[bean]

Thanks for your help - do you know of any programs etc that i could use to draw it out?
bit of a coincidence looking at your signiture - my origin Northampton and living near to MK

[behindthefrogs]

The problem is there is too much money in the coat of arms game.  I have never found anything beyond the trivial in what you are looking for.  The descriptions are so strict in their rules that there should be something.

What I would suggest is looking in your local library.  There are many books on the subject, some very good but expensive ones.

[bean]

i'd better get searching then - thanks for all your help

[Little Nell]

Hi bean,

I used to use a a Win 3.1 program called Blazon which could draw out relatively simple shields for you.  It is still around in a Win 95 version - it is freeware and can be downloaded here:

http://petebarrett.members.beeb.net/blazon.htm

"Engr" is an abbreviation for engrailed and it means that the fess ( in this case red) has scalloped edges, like lots of arcs of a circle joined together all facing the same way.  (Have to be careful because a line can also be described as wavy and that looks likes the picture one might see of a wave on an oscilloscope.)  Look at this site - about 3/4 of the way down you will see a shield which is described a per fess engrailed.  The site itself may help a bit -I must confess I prefer my book on the shelf!  As David says, your local library will probably have something on the shelves - try Boutell's Heraldry or the Art of Heraldry by A.C. Fox-Davies.

Nell



http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/bruce.html

[bean]

Hi Nell

been a bit lax on checking this thread - thanks for your help, i'll have to give blazon a go. really just being curious about the whole thing - the arms were carried by a distant relative who had no children, he bequewathed a large chunk of his estate to his nieces children. one of them, who got the lions share, was to change his surname by royal licence or act of parliement within 12 months before he could inherit. the only reason i can think of for this is to pass down the arms?

[behindthefrogs]

The name change was much more likely to preserve the family name.  Coats of arms usually only pass down the male line and there are standard variations which show relationships if it is not through the eldest son.

People who apply for a grant of arms will often have one which shows a variation from that of the male lineage.

If this coat of arms could in fact be traced back to a direct ancester then it can be a huge aid in building a family pedigree.  In particular the quartering would seem to show the joining of two families with the one whch used the griffin as a crest matching its shield being the most important of the two families.  The crest rather than the shield because it spreads across a family is often a better indication of ancestry.

[bean]

the arms show the joining of the Davies and Powell families - James Davies, whose arms they are, was the son of William Davies of Bronllys Castle who married Esther Powell circa 1767. i have her lineage back 1592 as it is outlined in Jone History of Brecknockshire as Powell of Glynatrell.