Registered: The International Register of Arms, 8th Jan. 2016. Registration No. 0380 (Vol.3).

Arms: Or semy of Millrinds Azure a Chief dancetty of two full points upwards Purpure pierced twice of the field billetwise throughout.

Crest: Upon a Mount growing therefrom Giant Red Paintbrushes (Castilleja miniata) slipped and leaved proper an Heraldic Antelope statant erect per fess dancetty Gules and Purpure armed tufted unguled and winged Or holding with the sinister forehoof and by a guige Tenny in the dexter forehoof an Escutcheon Argent.

Motto: Sine Qua Non

Grant: College of Arms. Granted 30th December 2000. Agent, Robert Noel, Lancaster Herald.

Arms painted by John Ferguson

The armiger’s artistic career is symbolised throughout the achievement. The field is based on the arms of Lincoln's Inn, the armiger’s first major client, with the tinctures reversed and the purple of its lion colouring the chief and crest. The chief represents a portion of a raised portcullis, the first example of this in heraldry. This symbolises the armiger’s two most important clients: the Palace of Westminster (which has a portcullis badge) where he has painted the heraldry on the inside walls, ceilings and shields since 1999, and Windsor Castle, (where the portcullis reference is obvious) where he has painted the Garter Knights' shields since the restoration of St George's Hall. His mother's family claim decent from the first Baron Cloncurry, whose arms are remembered in the chief and the escutcheon in the crest.

The heraldic antelope is a direct reference to heraldry, holding a white shield as the symbol of the heraldic artist, as it is a blank shield ready for painting. The beast is winged as a reference to the armiger’s time in the RAF and his lifelong interest in aviation, while it has both hooves planted firmly on the ground because this passionate interest is just that and has never enabled him to fly. It stands in a bed of paintbrush flowers which are a new plant for British heraldry, only once being used before in a Canadian corporate grant. These are an obvious reference to a life of painting and a more subtle one to commemorate, at the then Chief Herald of Canada, Robert Watt's request, his attendance at the Artists' Workshop of the Ottawa Heraldry Congress of 1996, the giant red paintbrush being a North American wild flower.

The personal motto , Sine Qua Non, is used because a coat of arms is the basis of everything for any heraldic artist and without it there would be nothing to do, so 'without which nought.' It is also a pun on his previous life as a signwriter.

The arms are, without intention, also perfect as a symbol for the armiger’s son, Alex. After they were designed he gained a degree in the Built Environment and has gone on to a successful career in the construction industry, so it could be said that the portcullis on the shield has been raised to allow him access to the field of millrinds, the millrind being the closest heraldic charge to the wall tie of a bricklayer, the most fundamental job in any construction, and without which, nought. Despite this he prefers to use Semper Porro (ever onward) for his own motto.

Crest painted by Anthony Wood

Search By Surname

NEED AN HERALDIC ARTIST?

Contact us for

Further Information