Dating of a Coat of Arms - COMPLETED

[behindthefrogs]

Sorry about getting too Technical.

Cross Crosslet Fichy is just the strict definition of the type of cross on the shield.

Differences are the small changes made when a coat of arms is changed to be granted to another member of the family who does not inherit it by right.

Marshalled is when two shields are combined onto a single shield as a result of a marriage.

Engrailed is the strict description of the bumpy boundary between the two fields

Ducally gorged describes the crown round the throat and indicates that the crest was granted as part of a dukes coat of arms. However if the coat of arms belonged to a duke it would have a completely different visor on the helmet.

All of these elements contribute towards finding out how old a coat of arms is and to whom it belonged.

Your latest picture by the way shows a shield not a coat of arms and so loses some of the possible value.

Do you know if and when Thomas Ayling was knighted?  There would have been a grant of arms at that time.  Also where possible such a grant would use the existing arms of a relative with differences (that word again) applied to show that they were not inherited.  This was often done by adding a cross or similar from arms on a female line.

His appointment as sherriff was announced in the London Gazette in November 1801 while he had been appointed Deputy Lieutenant 2 May 1798

David

[behindthefrogs]

Looking at the memorial it appears that he was not knighted.  Maybe there was a grant of arms associated with his appointment as Sherriff.

David

[grantleydawn]

Thankyou David,

I hadn’t planned on heading down this path, but you have inspired me.

Getting my terminology correct (I am learning), the first example of the Shield appeared on the Memorial to Thomas AVELING who died in 1806.

The next dated example is of the AVELING Coat of Arms is as it appears on the attached memorial. I assume the memorial was created some time after 1876.

Don't know if this helps.

Regards
Grantley

[grantleydawn]

David,

You mentioned "His appointment as sherriff was announced in the London Gazette in November 1801 while he had been appointed Deputy Lieutenant 2 May 1798".

Notes by other Aveling researchers say that in 1798 he was made a Deputy-Lieutenant of the Eldernell Country.

I have not been able to verify that. Where did you discover the "appointed Deputy Lieutenant 2 May 1798"? I would love to quote that reference & validate what area he was appointed for.

Regards
Grantley

[behindthefrogs]

I found the Deputy Lieutenant in the London Gazette as well.   It just gave a list of appointments for the county.  I just searched for his name in the archive between 1750 and 1820.  About a dozen entries were found but the rest seemed irrelevant.  You might find more by just searching for Aveling but it will take longer to check them all.

By the way in your coloured versions I think that you were wrong to add the blue.  Those areas should have remained gold.

David

[Little Nell]

I've just looked up the blazon in Burke's (1884 edition).  For the Aveling family of Wisbeach it reads:

Arms: Azure, a griffin passant argent on a chief engrailed or, a cross crosslet fitchee of the field.
Crest: A griffin passant or winged & ducally gorged azure, resting dexter foot on a cross crosslet as in the arms.

There were also some arms for the Evelyn family/families of Surrey.

For Evelyn of Long Ditton (baronetcy extinct 1692) descended from Thomas Evelyn eldest son of George Evelyn who purchased Wotton in 1579:

Arms: Azure a griffin passant and a chief or.
Crest: a giffin passant or beaked forelegged and ducally gorged

For Evelyn of Godstone (baronetcy extinct 1671 ( I think - can't read my own scribble) descended from John Evelyn second son of George:

Same arms and crest

Evelin or Avelin of Surrey:

Arms: Gules, a griffin passant or, on a chief of the second three mullets sable
Crest: a demi hind ermine vulned on the shoulder gules

All these arms bear a resemblance to one another, but there are differences.  In the last one I quoted, the colours and charges are different.  Mullets can be used as a a mark of cadency for the third son.  The other arms would appear to be variations on a theme: the shield background is blue, the top is gold, but one does not bear any charge on the gold chief, while others have the cross.  One has the chief in its original form, the other has the bottom not straight i.e. engrailed.

Not quite sure what it all means though!

Nell

[behindthefrogs]

If you use the colours as described in Nell's first example to replace my guesses then they are as follows.

A blue field with a silver (usually shown as white) griffin.  The top field is gold with a blue cross.

The crest is a gold griffin with a blue crown as a collar with its left foot on a blue cross the same as the one on the shield.

The cross seems to have been added to both the crest and shield of the the Evelyn arms. and this is the only one engrailed.  This in my experience means that a descendancy from the Evelyn family was claimed but not proven.  It was usual to add a cross or similar "charge" as a difference in these circumstances to both shield and crest.  The engrailing if means anything could suggest the descent was from a second or third son but this is usually in Scottish rather than English heraldry.  As I said previously the cross probably came from a the line of a female ancestor often the mother of the person to whom they were first granted.

In the final arms from the Surrey Evelyns the mullets (five pointed stars) could as Nell said indicate descent from a third son but usually only a single mullet is used for this. The various differences including the colour changes and different crest would indicate that these Evelyns were remote "cousins" of the baronetcy.

All this raises a further worry of when the cross was lost from the the crest in your arms. 

One other small point is that the the griffin in black and white drawing seems to be white with dots which usually indicates gold rather than silver where there would be no dots.  However azure (blue) is usually indicated by horizontal lines and so it was not drawn according to convention.

David

[grantleydawn]

Thankyou David, I have now found the reference to him as Deputy Lieutenant in the London Gazette.

Regarding the coloured version, I am innocent. That is an unaltered photo of the memorial in the St Mary Whittlesey Church. But I take your comments on board.

I need to now get a strong cup of coffee, to help me absorb Nell’s & your reply. Some things don’t come easy to me, but I am following each step you take, just dragging my feet a little.

Just repeating what I said previously, there appears to be no connection between the AVELINGs of Whittlesea and the EVELYN family that have similar Arms.

Regards
Grantley

[grantleydawn]

Once again, thankyou Nell & David.

I have now located an online version of “The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales” by Sir Bernard BURKE, 1884 edition.

That has filled some gaps that I had.

And I now totally understand what you are saying and all those technical words used for the AVELING Coat of arms.

I can’t add anything other than I have three known dated examples;
•   The earliest known example appears on the memorial to Thomas AVELING (1740-1806) in the Whittlesey, St Mary church. On that memorial appears a shield, only.
•   The next known example appears on the memorial to Stephen AVELING (1804-1876) in the Whittlesey, St Mary church. On that memorial appears the Coat of Arms.
•   The Coat of Arms next appears in the book “Fenland Notes & Queries” by W. H. Bernard Saunders, 1891.

And of course, I have the 1884 description in Burke’s book.

I am assuming the Coat of Arms was adopted by the Thomas AVELING, high sherriff in 1802, who died in 1806. There is another memorial that may be significant. It is a memorial to his two sons, who died in 1804 (aged 30) & in 1805 (aged 33). There is no shield or coat of arms on that memorial.

Regards
Grantley