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In
creating these Arms the
armiger was faced with
the difficulty of a
blank canvas, as no
McGeachie had ever been
granted Arms in either
Scotland or
Ireland.
After
many hours of discussion
with his family, it was
decided that the basic
layout for the shield
would be a chevron with
three charges. His
reasoning behind this
was that Mr McGeachie’s
wife's maiden name was
Cooper and they had a
rendition of Cooper arms
which has the same
layout (a chevron with
three charges) which
they all liked.
The
base colours of black
and white were chosen to
signify the armigers
thirty years as a
martial artist taking
part in Karate and
Iaido. The charges are;
two gillyflowers and a
chrysanthemum. The
gillyflowers were taken
from the armigers’
present location
Livingston and are
similar to the charges
used on the Livingston
Development Corporation
arms. The chrysanthemum
is a reference to his
love of all things
Japanese, including his
martial arts and a
particular brand of
motorcycle manufacturer
whose bikes he prefers
to ride - their colour
scheme usually being
green, black and white.
The number of petals in
the chrysanthemum is
also significant, as
each petal represents a
generation traced back
on Mr McGeachie’s
lineage. The green
(Vert) of the charges is
another reference to
having traced his family
back to Ireland.
The fimbriation was
necessary due to the
rules of heraldry,
having to place a metal
between two
colours.
The
reason behind the
armigers crest, the
leopard and the
ell-measure, is to
represent the armigers
family origins of
weavers in Glasgow,
Lanark in the 18th &
19th century and earlier
back to Ireland. The
leopards head is a
charge on the
Incorporation of Weavers
arms from Glasgow which
had been in existence
from 1514 – 1905 (again
as above, the same
shield layout of a
chevron and three
charges).The Scottish
ell-measure (usually 37
inches long) was once
used by weavers to
measure cloth in the
market-place.
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