The Wilford Archive

Grant of Arms

The Company did not have its own Coat of Arms until it sought one and was granted by the Garter King of Arms on March 5, 1963. The formal Grant itself is a beautifully embellished document lodged with the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, but a framed copy is displayed in the Entrance Hall.

The Arms are based on the Arms of the London Company of Merchant Taylors, depicted in each of the two windows in the Blue Hall.

Both the London and the York Arms include the two camels as supporters and within the central shield, two robes of estate and a pavilioners’ tent. The York Arms were not permitted to incorporate the lion passant used in the London Arms, as this had become part of the Royal Arms.  This was overcome by the York Arms, including the lion head caboshed.    

Both Arms include the Holy Lamb/Pascal Lamb/Agnus Dei, the emblem of St John the Baptist, their patron saint.  It is shown as a lamb passant with a nimbus about its head, carrying either a cross staff (London) or pennon (York).  The London Company’s Arms enjoy a Peers helm: the York Company’s Arms contain only a Gentleman’s helm!  The York Arms include the white rose of Yorkshire  

The heraldic description of the Arms granted to the Company in 1963 by the Garter King of Arms and which are quoted in the Company’s Handbook are as follows:   

Arms - Or a Pavilion Purpure Lined Ermine on a Chief Azure a Lion's head cabo shed affronte Or over all two Robes of Estate Ermine lined Purpure.  Crest - Out of a Coronet composed of four Roses, Argent barbed and seeded proper and as many Roseleaves Or set alternately on a Circlet Gold a Mount Vert thereon a Paschal Lamb proper. 

Supporters - On either side a Camel Erminois gorged with a Collar Azure charged with a Rose Argent barbed and seeded proper.

 

The motto ‘Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt’ translates as ‘With Harmony, Small Things Flourish.’ 

Why were the Company’s Arms granted in 1963 - in early 1962, when the new panelling in the Small Hall was nearing completion, the question was raised over what should fill the otherwise blank panel above the mantelpiece.  The suggestion of displaying the Company’s Coat of Arms was adopted, and it was agreed that it should be in carved relief rather than painted onto the panel. However, as the Company at that time did not have its own Arms – the Company had previously used those of the London Merchant Taylors with specific, very minor alterations - it was agreed that the Company should apply to the College of Arms for its own Arms.                                                                                                             

George Potter-Kirby generously met the cost of the application.  Following the granting of the

Company’s Arms, they were carved by Dick Reid, emblazoned by Alderman Bellerby’s company at his own expense and were in place above the mantelpiece in the Small Hall before the end of 1963.   

In 2007, to permit the installation of the new Treasury Display Case, the panel on which the Arms were fixed was replaced with a lightweight removable board.  With the Arms affixed, the board could be used as a cover for the Display Case or, when not required for that purpose, could be placed within a frame provided in the Blue Hall Annex.

 The Arms granted to the Company of Merchant Taylors of York in 1963 can be seen.  

• on the panel over the fireplace in the Blue Hall, carved by Dick Reid, the well-known York wood and stone carver, in 1963

• on the Entrance Porch pediment carved by Dick Reid in 1998, and

• In the East window of the Great Hall, Barley Studios of Dunnington, York, made and installed the window to a design by their Artistic Director Helen Whittaker in 2015 to mark the 600th Anniversary of the Hall's construction. 

over the fireplace in the Blue Hall

on the Entrance Porch pediment

in the East window of the Great Hall

The carved stone plaque, built into the western boundary wall of the Hall’s forecourt, contains the Arms of the London Company. It was placed there in 1952, saved from the 1887 archway opening off Aldwark during the latter’s demolition.  

GAW  24/4/17, 7/9/20 & 23/1/22

Why did the London Company have ‘camels’ as supporters in its Arms in the first place, which were then copied into the York Company’s Arms?  The London Company offers one possible explanation - that St John the Baptist is typically depicted wearing a raiment of camel skin.

Interestingly, one of the panels in the East window of Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, shows St John the Baptist wearing camel skin, readily identified by the visible camel’s head and feet—see image below.  

They offer a second possible explanation for why camels symbolised the London Company’s international trade. The London Company recognises both as potential explanations.