Brick Church, New York.

At the instigation of our member, Ellsworth Stanton, the Lord Lyon has granted the Brick Church in New York a Coat of Arms. Snawdoun Herald will present the Letters Patent to the Brick Church congregation on the first Sunday in April. the beginning of New York Tartan Week. She will also make a presentation to The American Coat of Arms Foundation of which our member John Shannon is the President and Ellsworth is the Secretary.

Heraldic wine-labels

This evening in Manhattan, HSS members John Shannon and Paul Campbell continue their fascinating tour of heraldic wine-labels followed by a welcome tasting: I wonder if they will find a qualitative connection between the Arms and the wine.....
Here is one I found in the cellar at Castello Petrasancta this morning:

Salve

We welcome our first new corporate member for many years - The Armorial Register.:

The bookplate was digitally painted by Ljubodrag Grujic.

Gordon Casely made a Knight of St John

One of our most distinguished Founder Members, Gordon Casely, received the accolade of Knighthood from the Grand Prior of the Order of St John, HRH the Duke of Gloucester:

Anthony Maxwell, Heraldic Artist, has now painted an updated version of Gordon's arms to  include this honour and  including his baton as baron baillie of Miltonhaven and key as keeper of Lauriston (Aberdeenshire):

Membership Subscriptions

Membership Subscriptions will be due on April 1st. The rate is £35 per annum.

You can pay by Paypal here

Alternatively, you might prefer to pay by Standing Order; the form for this can be downloaded HERE..

For those who prefer to use electronic banking, the account details are:
RBS, Edinburgh, St Andrew's Square
sort code: 83-06-08
account no: 00175911

Or you can send a cheque, payable to "The Heraldry Society of Scotland" to:
Liam Devlin
Membership Secretary HSS,
93 Lomondside Ave
Clarkston
Glasgow G76 7UH

However you pay your subscription, if you are a UK taxpayer, you can greatly increase its value to the Society at no cost to yourself if you fill in and return a Gift Aid form. It can be found HERE.
Overseas members may need the following information for bank transfers:
IBAN no: GB50 RBOS 8306 0800 1759 11
BIC reference: RBOSGB2L

Watson and the Shark

A rather unusual coat of arms is that of Sir Brook Watson, 1st Baronet (7 February 1735 – 2 October 1807) who lost his leg to a shark and then had this incident recorded in his grant of arms when he became Lord Mayor of London. His wife was a Helen Campbell of Edinburgh.

Until 1963, Christ's Hospital owned his friend Copley's painting of the incident, now in Washington D.C.

A political satirist penned the following about it all:

                                             Oh! Had the monster, who for breakfast ate

                                             That luckless limb, his noblest noddle met,

                                             The best of workmen, nor the best of wood,

                                             Had scarce supply'd him with a head so good.

New Year Greetings and Honours

A Happy New Year to all.

Many congratulations to retiring Lord Lyon, David Sellar, who was made an MVO in the New Year Honours List.