Identify button please

[PrueM]

Bingo!

Yes, Bob, it is a scourge.

STOURTON, Baron, (Stourton a demigray-friar, ppr., habited in russet, girt or, in his dexter hand a scourge of three lashes, with knots, in his sinister a cross, both of the last. p1.47, n. 18. Loyal je serai durant ma vie.

Well done Roger! 
I found this image of a coat of arms in an old Debrett's Peerage (1838) available on Google Books. The crest (I think that's what it's called) is our friar, looks a little bit different but I'm no heraldry expert:




Is the button therefore from a livery uniform relating to the Barons Stourton?

Prue

[Roger in Sussex]

Thanks Prue and Rabbit, but it was really a team effort, I was just lucky to score the goal from Bob's pass.

Well done you too, Prue, I hadn't found an image to check, so that's goal two to you!.

As I understand it, the Grey Friars (Franciscans) were so called because they wore grey habits. That is why I don't understand why one would be depicted in a russet habit. Probably someone on here will know.

Roger

[PrueM]

I think "demi gray" is probably some heraldic term meaning he's cut off at the hips or something    rather than referring to whatever colour he's wearing.

Added:  it seems that "demi" is the term referring to it being half a man 
http://flagspot.net/flags/vxt-dv-d.html#demi

...so perhaps it is suppose to be "demi grey-friar" rather than "demi-grey friar".  Still doesn't explain why the grey friar is dressed in red though!

[Rabbit B]

Hi Folks,
 
I have been searching the net I have found a site
http://www.rootschat.com/links/07bz/  and I then remembered that Cadfael who is a medieval monk in a brown robe was a Benedictine.  But the Clunic Monks in the site I found have Russett robes.

Now bearing in mind that Thomas a Beckett was murdered in Canterbury cathedral, and the King Henry, who made the remark that caused the murder had himself scourged as a penance.  I cannot find the picture at the moment but I have an engraving in an old History book.

I wondered if this button and the associated coat of arms could have stemmed from that era???  ie come down through the generations in the coat of arms from the knights involved!

Rabbit B 

[PrueM]

Here's another version of the little friar on top of the coat of arms:



He looks more like 'our' fellow.

[Roger in Sussex]

Hi all,

Prue, I'm sure you're right about half a friar - it would be clearer if they had put demi-greyfriar (shades of Billy Bunter ) Demi-lions, for example, are commonplace in heraldry. You're latest picture looks more like ¾ of a friar though   

Rabbit, even back in the nineteenth century, the Baron Stourtons were the oldest family of barons, according to something I saw in google books, (but I've lost track of the reference  ), so you're probably right too.

I reckon the actual button might be about 1900 though, as it says "& Co" on the back.

Roger

[mike175]

About 20 years ago a work colleague found the button in a garden in Seaton Ross, East Yorkshire, and asked if I could find out what it was. ...

I found Alfred Stourton in the 1861 census b.1829 Holme, Yorkshire . . . and other references to the Stourtons at Holme Hall, Holme on Spalding Moor and Seaton Ross! . . .

Mike.

[Rabbit B]

Hi Folks,,
 
I found in my searches last night that Stourton is a very old family that does go back to medieval England, although of course the button is a 'modern one'.

I think that Prue has the right one.  Please Prue may we have a link!

Rabbit B 

[PrueM]

Hi Folks,,
 
I found in my searches last night that Stourton is a very old family that does go back to medieval England, although of course the button is a 'modern one'.

I think that Prue has the right one.  Please Prue may we have a link!

Rabbit B 

Do you think I can find the link now?!  Grrr!

I'm pretty sure I just searched for Stourton in Google Books.