Family Crest - Gilbert

[Loupy]

Good afternoon

Can anyone help me please?  I have a "coat of arms" which I am led to believe was "given" to Thomas Gilbert in  c 1740s (Marden, Kent).  Apparently he owned quite a bit of land - or so I am led to believe.   Can anyone verify the coat of arms for me please and give me any other details/ history / accuracy on it?  I would be most grateful.  Many thanks.  Picture attached.

[Little Nell]

Not quite sure how this would be blazoned, but the best I can come up with is this:

Gules, a saltire or, on  a chief ermine 3 piles of the first (i.e.gules) - that's just the shield

Your best bet is to look in a good heraldry reference book at your local library and see if you can find the arms granted to Thomas Gilbert in 1740.  A number of Gilbert families have been granted arms and all appear to be quite different.  My own book doesn't help me except with the general idea.

Some coats of arms can be notoriously innaccurate, so personally, I would treat with a large dose of scepticism 

Nell

[behindthefrogs]

The helmet confirms that the coat of arms belonged to a gentleman rather than someone of higher rank.  It is unusual to have wreath on top of the helmet without a crest.  I also find the mantling rather worrying and feel that this is a more modern reproduction where the artist has taken a certain amount of licence in his reproduction.

David

[Loupy]

Thank you both - this is all so interesting as first time I have found a "coat of arms" supposedly belonging to a member of the family, albeit an ancestor.

Your help is always appreciated.  Keep it coming!!!

Kind regards

Loupy

[Temic]

I've found this in Burkes GA (1884): Gilbert (Svratt, co. Hertford, and Sandwich and Westbury, co. Kent; granted 1593). Gules a saltaire or, on a chief ermine, three piles of the field. Crest - A griffins head azure beaked or, with a collar ermine.

[behindthefrogs]

The shield which you hve described is of course the one pictured above.  The crest would also seem to have been used by Gilbert families in Kent over many years and is found in a number of reference books.

David

[Temic]

The shield which you hve described is of course the one pictured above.  The crest would also seem to have been used by Gilbert families in Kent over many years and is found in a number of reference books.

David

Quite.

I don't know if the person who started the thread is still active here, but no one seemed to have pointed out the Burke's reference to them which may or may not be of use to them. Perhaps it was a little too obvious 

[Little Nell]

no one seemed to have pointed out the Burke's reference to them which may or may not be of use to them.   Perhaps it was a little too obvious   

Perhaps, but which Burke's? The General Armoury has been described by at least one authority (J.P. Brooke-Little) as unreliable.  Some editions of Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage are less reliable than other, depending on which edition.  Makes life a little difficult trying to recommend 'the best book.'   

Nell

[Temic]

no one seemed to have pointed out the Burke's reference to them which may or may not be of use to them.   Perhaps it was a little too obvious   

Perhaps, but which Burke's? The General Armoury has been described by at least one authority (J.P. Brooke-Little) as unreliable.  Some editions of Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage are less reliable than other, depending on which edition.  Makes life a little difficult trying to recommend 'the best book.'   

Nell

Sorry - when I wrote (above) "Burke's GA (1884)" I meant the General Armoury (1884 edn.). It certainly wasn't meant to be a recommendation; merely a refence which (I thought) may be of interest to Loupy. The validity of Burke's generally has indeed been questioned, rightly in my view, but that's a whole different question, and something that Loupy will no doubt consider in the course of his/her researches.