Tuesday 6 August 2019

It's been a year.

I've neglected this for a year, but not genealogy. I've just completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Genealogical,  Palaeographic & Heraldic Studies (with pretty good marks even though I say it myself) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (by the miracle of the internet) it's the first year of an intended masters. I need to keep up with my own family though.

An interesting part of the course was Heraldry:
Firstly an adapted extract from one of my assignments, then a bit about the various Colclough Coats of Arms, there will be more than one as we might see.


If you search for your surname in any of the ubiquitous search engines abounding, invariably towards the top of that search will appear offers to sell you a family ‘Coat of Arms’. It is my contention that such a family coat of arms does not exist in England , Scotland or Ireland, for legal reasons I will outline. The use or misuse of these devices is governed in England by the Law of Arms[1], and disputes settled in the Court of Chivalry[2] a civil court whose only judge is the Earl Marshall (who if not a lawyer can appoint one in his stead)[3]. In Scotland all matters dealing with granting of and use of arms is by The Court of the Lord Lyon[4]. In Ireland it is the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland (or the Norroy and Ulster King of Arms in the six counties)[5]. Hence, from first principles there exists legal process in these countries covering the use of coats of arms, which would indicate a regulated non-trivial process. A point to note also, would be that it is not the depiction of the coat of arms but it’s written description in prescribed manner or blazon, which is important in having a standard for reproduction of the arms[6]. Thus, this should be regarded to be the legal entity rather than a picture, drawing or sculpture.

Now consider, who is entitled to use the coat of Arms? In England the College of Arms is quite clear, for someone to have a right to a coat of arms it must have been granted to them or they must prove descent in the legitimate male line from someone holding that coat of arms in the past by grant or confirmation[7], this is consistent with the Irish position[8] . By this statement, it is clear that it is an individual who holds the coat of arms by descent or grant. The College of Arms will also point out that many people holding the same surname will be entitled to different coats of arms or no arms at all. By this definition covered by a legal process there is no entitlement to a coat of arms merely by possessing a certain surname or seeming member of a family group[9]. In Scotland, as mentioned above The Court of the Lord Lyon has jurisdiction. This also is quite prescriptive, with its legal basis, that the coat of arms of a clan, or family, in Scotland is a misnomer, the coat of arms belongs to the chief of the clan and is received by descent, eldest son to eldest son, so as in England the coat of arms belongs to an individual not a group[10].

To sum up, the coat of arms in England, Scotland and Ireland will belong to and individual and passed on as inheritance as the blazon, covered by law in both England, Scotland and Ireland, not belong to the whole family group even if they share the same surname.

So now for us…

I remember the inordinate pride seeing a wooden plaque with the Colclough Arms, but now I know that was not mine.

It was broadly based on this:



Colclough (Bluerton, Staffordshire, Richard Colclough, Esq. of Bluerton, was living 40 Edward III., 1367. Visit. Stafford, and Visit. London). Blazon: Argent. five eaglets displayed in cross sable try this in the free app, see below.














Then one below from Eddie Geoghegan, from a very interesting site.





Now here’s what Sir Bernard Burke in his tome will give you if you care to look. But to claim any of these arms you need to prove descent. Good luck!

Colclough (Ingston, Yngton, or Erdington, and Bluerton, Staffordshire. Visit. Stafford, 1583. Same Arms, quartering, ar. a fess between. three martlets sable., for Lockwood. Crest — A demi eagle displ. sable. ducally gorged or.

Colclough Ireland, Sir Anthony Colclough, Knt., of Bluerton and Woolstanton, Staffordshire, settled in Ireland 34 Henry VIII., 1542, as Captain of the Pensioners, got a grant of the house, abbey, and lands of the dissolved monastery of Tintern, co. Wexford, 18 Queen Elizabeth, 1576, and was ancestor of the Irish family of Colclough of Tintern Abbey and Duffry Hall, and the branches formerly living in Carlow, Queen's County, etc. Sir Adam Colclough, grandson of the grantee of 1576 was created a bart. of Ireland 1628, which title became extinct on the death of his grandson. Sir Caesar Colclough, 3rd bart., s. p. 16S7. Caesar Colclough, Esq., of Tintern Abbey, eighth in descent from Sir Anthony, d.s.p. 1842, when the Abbey and estates devolved on his cousin and heiress-at- law, Mrs. Rossborough-Colclough, now of Tintern Abbey. The representative and heir male of the family was Lieut. - Col. Beauchamp Henry Dudley Colclough, Wexford Militia; Visit. Stafford 1583; Visit. Wexford 1618; Fun. Ent. Ulster's Office. Ar. five eaglets in cross sa. Crest — A demi eagle displ. sa., ducally gorged or. Motto— "His calcabo gentes”.

Colclough. Rossborough-Colclough, Tintern Abbey, co. Wexford, exemplified to John Thomas Rossborough, Esq., of Tintern Abbey, co. Wexford; and Mary Grey Wentworth, his wife, only daughter of Caesar Colclough, Esq., of Duffrey Hall, in same co., Chief Justice of Prince Edward's  Island, and sole heiress of her kinsman, Caesar Colclough, Esq., of Tintern Abbey aforesaid, on their assuming, by royal licence, 1853, the additional surname and arms of Colclough). Quarterly, Ist and 4th, ar. five eaglets displ. in cross sa., for Colclough; 2nd and 3rd, az. on a chev. or, three roses gu. seeded or, barbed vert, for Rossborough. Crests — 1st: A demi eagle displ. sa. gorged with a ducal coronet, or, for Colclough ; 2nd : On a dexter hand in fess a dove close with a branch of olive in his beak all ppr., for Rossborough. Mottos (over the second crest) — God is my shield; (under the arms) — His calcabo gentes.

Colclough (London, founded by Mathew Colclough, second son of Bichard Colclough, Esq., of Bluerton, and brother of Sir Anthony Colclough, Knt., of Tintern. Visit. London, 1568). Arms, Crett, and Motto — Same as Sir Anthony Colclough, with a crescent for diff. Colclough (Delph House and Cheadle, co. Stafford, descended from Thomas Colclough, second son of John Colclough, Esq., of Bluerton, and uncle of Sir Anthony Colclough, Knt., of Tintern Abbey, which Thomas had Delph House by gift from his father, 1522; Visit. Stafford and Derby 1662-4). Same Arms as Sir Anthony Colclough, with the proper mark of cadency.

Colclough (Burslem, descended from a younger brother of Sir Anthony Colclough, Knt., of Tintern Abbey. Dugdale's Visit., 1664). Same Arms as Sir Anthony Colclough, with a canton gu. for diff.[11]

 I'm working on being able to find a graphic design app which would let me draw from some of the blazons any recommendations welcome.
Now here's a link to a small venture I'm attempting:
Thanks. 
I'm going to use my new found knowledge to post links and information for the Colclough family, one soon will be mentions of Caesar Colclough in the Stewart Papers, he even had his own 'spy name' in correspondence from France.



[2] College of Arms. Court of Chivalry. https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/court-of-chivalry : accessed 24 May 2019.
[3] College of Arms. The Law of Arms. https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/the-law-of-arms : accessed 24 May 2019.
[4] Court of the Lord Lyon. The Court of the Lord Lyon. https://courtofthelordlyon.scot/ : accessed 24 May 2019.
[5] Slater, Stephen. (2017) The complete book of heraldry. pp. 194-5. London: Baker & Taylor.
[6] Heraldry Society. The Emergence of the Heraldic Phrase in the Thirteenth Century. https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/the-emergence-of-the-heraldic-phrase-in-the-thirteenth-century/ : accessed 24 May 2019.
[8] National Library of Ireland. Applying for a Grant of Arms. https://www.nli.ie/en/applying-for-a-grant-of-arms.aspx : accessed 06 August 2019.
[9] College of Arms. FAQs: heraldry.  https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/faqs : accessed 26 May 2019.
[10] Court of the Lord Lyon. Frequently asked Questions. https://courtofthelordlyon.scot/faqs.htm : accessed 26 May 2019.
[11] Burke, John Bernard. (1884) The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time. London: Burke’s Peerage. [reprinted London: Harrison, 2005]. P 212. http://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk : accessed 06 August 2019.

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