College of Arms Newsletters 2016

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Arthur Radburn
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College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Arthur Radburn » 25 Jan 2016, 08:03

Newsletter 45 (January 2016) is now online : http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news- ... tter-no-45
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Arthur Radburn

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Chris Green
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Chris Green » 25 Jan 2016, 09:16

The University of Manchester's purpure and bleu-celeste? The College of Arms must really dislike new universities.
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Bertilak de Hautdesert

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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby JMcMillan » 25 Jan 2016, 13:36

Chris Green wrote:The University of Manchester's purpure and bleu-celeste? The College of Arms must really dislike new universities.


Isn't it awful? What's even more awful is that the heralds rationalized the tincture violation not with the straightforward approach of describing the chief as "cousu" but by pretending that the partition is "per fess enhanced!"

The saving grace is that none of the current officers were complicit, the grant dating back to 1956: Garter Bellew, Clarenceux Heaton-Armstrong, and Norroy & Ulster Wollaston.
Joseph McMillan
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Iain Boyd » 25 Jan 2016, 20:56

On the other hand, the arms of David Woolf, in which the principal tincture is murrey, were granted in October 2015.

Also, as far as I am concerned, it was nice to see that the pun on his surname was the main element of the design.

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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Chris Green » 26 Jan 2016, 06:08

Iain Boyd wrote:On the other hand, the arms of David Woolf, in which the principal tincture is murrey, were granted in October 2015.

Also, as far as I am concerned, it was nice to see that the pun on his surname was the main element of the design.

Iain Boyd


But how predictable (the wolf not the murrey).

Picture the scene: "Look lads, we've got an application here from a Dr Woolf. Now let's see. What shall we suggest?" "Erm ..." "Dunno." "Pass." "Get back to you on that." "C'mon colleagues. Someone must be able to think of something!" Hardly.
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Iain Boyd » 26 Jan 2016, 09:33

Okay, Chris, what would you have suggested?

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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Martin Goldstraw » 26 Jan 2016, 10:43

I have to say that if my name were Wolf, I would have to have a wolf as the main charge in my arms. A perfectly simple and uncomplicated cant on the name is not to be sneered at.
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Chris Green
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Chris Green » 26 Jan 2016, 12:08

Iain Boyd wrote:Okay, Chris, what would you have suggested?

Iain Boyd


Dr Woolf is, I believe an optician, so an iris (flower) might have been a subtle canting charge. The College may of course have been following Dr W's wishes to the letter, but giving him both the principal charge and the crest as "snow wolves" (by which I assume Arctic Wolves is meant) is hammering the point home without any subtlety whatever.

When canting charges were new and innovative, giving anyone whose name ended in "...ton" a tun (wine barrel) was doubtless considered the height of drollery.To do so today would merely be boring. But to give a tun to someone whose name is Waite might pass.

So my point is that in the 21st century heralds should try just a bit harder to avoid the obvious.
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Arthur Radburn
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Arthur Radburn » 26 Jan 2016, 15:01

There's more to the story behind the University of Manchester arms than is revealed in the newsletter. The university is the product of amalgamations, and its arms incorporate elements from those of the earlier institutions.

Victoria University of Manchester — Founded in 1851 as Owens College. Arms and crest were granted in 1871 :

Image
Argent, a serpent nowed Vert; on a chief nebuly Azure a sun issuant Or.

Became the Manchester Campus of the Victoria University in 1880 (other campuses were in Liverpool and York).

Victoria University's arms :

Image
Globe and bees = Manchester (the crest of the city arms); fleece = York; liver bird = Liverpool; rose = Lancashire and Yorkshire.

In 1904, the Manchester campus became the Victoria University of Manchester [VUM], which used the Owens College arms.

University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology — Founded in 1824 as the Manchester Mechanics Institute. Several changes of name, became 'Manchester Institute of Science & Technology' [MIST] in 1955, and 'University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology' [UMIST] in 1966.

Arms and crest were granted in 1956. I've not been able to find details or a pic. However, it later used this device, which might have been derived from its arms :

Image

University of Manchester — UMIST and VUM amalgamated in 2004 to form the University of Manchester [UM].

Arms and crest were granted to UM in 2010. Clearly the shield is based on the old Owens College/VUM shield, with the serpent replaced by the bees. In 2013, the Queen approved the substitution of the crest with the crest from the 1956 grant to the MIST. So what the pic in the newsletter shows, then, is the 2010 UM shield with the 1956 VUM crest (or a slightly differenced version of it) :

Image

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As an aside : while researching this, I found that the university has a small collection of medieval armorials and other heraldic artwork, which has been digitised and can be enjoyed at : http://enriqueta.man.ac.uk/luna/servlet ... q=subject="Heraldry"
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Re: College of Arms Newsletters 2016

Postby Iain Boyd » 26 Jan 2016, 20:12

As an aside : while researching this, I found that the university has a small collection of medieval armorials and other heraldic artwork, which has been digitised and can be enjoyed at : http://enriqueta.man.ac.uk/luna/servlet ... q=subject="Heraldry"


A pity that the University employees were not able to correctly attribute the burnt pages on page 2 as being Scottish rather than English.

Otherwise, very interesting.

I am sure that the members of the HSofS forum would be interested in this collection. Will I leave it to you to make a posting, Arthur?

Regards,

Iain Boyd


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