college crest and shields

COLLEGE COAT OF ARMS, CREST, SHIELD AND DISPLAY SHIELDS

The following information has been researched and compiled by Adrian Hanwell

1964-1969

Introduction

Below, you can see the official Coat of Arms which was issued to Scarborough

College by the College of Arms (London) in 1963.

Explanatory notes

To avoid confusion in the following notes, it is necessary to explain the terms used

in a Coat of Arms because incorrect terms are commonly used by the press and

by people in general.

1). THE CREST: This is the section which sits on top of the helmet (helm). The

Scarborough College crest consists of the owl, sprigs of green (Vert) laurel, a red

(Gules) crown (Mural) and a two-tone green (Vert) and silver (Argent) binding

(Wreath). The binding was used in the days of jousting etc, to hold the crest onto

the helm. White is often used in place of silver. The words which have been placed

in brackets are the terms used in heraldic descriptions.

2), THE HELM: Helm is the heraldic word for helmet. The type of helm and the

direction which it faces have meanings which tell the expert the status of the arms

holder.

3). THE SHIELD: This is normally painted with various heraldic devices. In the case of

the Scarborough College shield there is no repeat of the crest design on the shield.

(More about this later). The shield contains a blue (Azure) background to represent

the sky, a golden (Or) sun and a silver (Argent) erect (Haurient) dolphin on an

arched black (Sable) background.

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4). THE MOTTO: This is usually placed on a scroll underneath the shield. In the case

of the 1963 Scarborough College grant of arms, the motto is “PENSEZ FORT”. More

about the pre-1963 motto “PENSEZ FORTE” is written later in this text.

The English translation of the earlier Latin motto Pensez Forte is as follows: “Pensez”

is “Think” and Forte is “Strongly, powerfully, mightily, vigorously, firmly, steadfastly,

courageously, bravely and/or boldly”. I do not have access to a medieval French

dictionary to find the exact medieval French equivalent, but it will be very similar. A

modern dictionary will not help, as it would be written differently in modern French.

5). THE COAT: This is represented by the heraldic device of the (almost plant like)

two coloured fabric which envelops the rest of the arms. The Scarborough College

coat is gold (Or) on one side and brown (Mushroom) on the other.

A photo of the Grant of Arms document is shown below.

Below the document are three suspended seals in brass protective cases. These

are not shown in the photograph. However, you can see the suspension ribbons.

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Image supplied by Richard Winn

Explanatory notes

The above is NOT a heraldic shield as such, but is a DISPLAY shield showing the

school crest, which is not a device used on the shield in the official coat of arms. In

the early days, before the school was even built, *someone decided that the

school would need a crest to put on the school paperwork and on a plaque to

erect over the main entrance.

The correct route to have used would have been to apply to the College of Arms

in London for a Coat of Arms before Scarborough College opened in 1901, but this

was not done. Someone simply created an unofficial crest with the owl (for

learning) the sprigs of laurel leaves and the binding. This illegal crest was used for

many years, along with the Latin motto “PENSEZ FORTE”. The display shield shown

above carries an example of this early unofficial crest.

* It has been suggested that one of the College founders’ family came from Normandy and had a

Coat of Arms with the Motto “Pensez Forte”. The founders’ decided to adopt the motif and Motto

for the College, however to date, this hasn’t been ratified.

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Shield located by Anne-Marie Coulson

Photo by Chris Coulson

Explanatory notes

The display shield shown above is more puzzling. It shows the Owl and Laurel crest

superimposed on a blue and white sea with a red and gold sun.

A design painting of this display shield is shown later in this article and was drawn

by G. K. Beaulah & Co. Ltd. of Hull in 1952.

This is another pre 1963 display shield which carries the pre-1963 Latin motto

“Pensez Forte”. It is interesting to note that it shows an intention to introduce the

additional heraldic devices of the golden sun and the symbol for water.

The sun WAS used in the later (1963) College of Arm’s design, but the heraldic

symbol for water was NOT used and was replaced by a silver dolphin on a black

background.

The College of Arms is always keen to ensure that the Coat of Arms which it issues

cannot be confused with Arms which have already been issued, and this is

probably the reason for the introduction of the red crown in the crest and the silver

dolphin on the shield. See blow.

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Image supplied by John Isles

Explanatory notes

The above display shield correctly shows the shield from the fully legal Coat of

Arms which was issued to the school by the College of Arms in 1963. This shield

would have been manufactured at that time, or made afterwards.

The change of motto has a story. The original school motto “PENSEZ FORTE” was

Latin and was generated by someone who did not know that properly granted

arms have mottos written in medieval French (or no motto at all). When the school

under Denys Crews, who was the Headmaster at that time, decided to legalise the

hitherto illegal use of the crest, the College of Arms was not willing to include the

Latin version of the motto in the proper Coat of Arms. “PENSEZ FORTE” would be a

miss-spelling of the medieval French, so the spelling was corrected to “PENSEZ

FORT”.

When the College of Arms granted the Coat of Arms to Scarborough College, the

new arms carried the medieval French version of the motto and the old (incorrect)

Latin version was dropped.

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Shield as advertised on eBay

Image of display from shield found in Spantons Clothing Retailers

Explanatory notes

This further example of a display shield shown above, is also puzzling and is not

dissimilar to the image supplied by Ann-Marie Coulson. It shows the owl and Laurel

crest superimposed on a blue and white sea with a golden sun and black

bordered sunrays.

The shield was found in the back of Spantons Clothing Retailers in Whitby, North

Yorkshire”. Description: “Pensez-Forte School plaque shield crest with Owl design.

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Explanatory notes

Messrs G. K. Beaulah & Co. Ltd of Hull are manufacturers of heraldic devices and

were commonly used by most Yorkshire retailers during the times when these were

most popular.

The above pages appear to be abstracts from a couple letters sent from Beaulah

& Co. to a prospective purchaser of Scarborough College display shields.

These drawings are of post 1963 display shields and a note on the L.H. shield

addresses the issue that pre 1963 display shields were made (incorrectly) to carry

the unofficial crest of Scarborough College and Beaulah & Co. wanted to point

out that it would be better to use the properly awarded shield on future display

shields.

The text below the left hand sketch reads as follows:

“To show the shield alone is the traditional and more correct practice when

making an escutcheon for wall decoration [most of the Oxford and Cambridge

Colleges have complete achievements like yours; but for their wall shields (as the

name implies) they use only the shield.”

The text below the right hand sketch reads as follows:

“It is not correct to put a full achievement within another shield because doing

that would create an entirely different Shield of Arms. *This straight sided mounting

may be termed a “panel” and that is in order”.

* John Isles has an example of this straight sided mounted shield.

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Explanatory notes

This undated piece of artwork from the files of Beaulah & Co. shows the intended

colouring scheme for the shield in the left hand sketch above.

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Explanatory notes

This is another sketch from the files on Beaulah & Co. It is dated 1955. It indicates

that some sort of design change was made at that time, as new dies had to be

made to press out multiple shield centres with the owl, laurel sprigs and binding

motif embossed into it. Beaulah & Co. still have many of their dies for Scarborough

College display shields so they would still be able to produce display shields with

EMBOSSED and painted shield centre sections. Without the dies, only FLAT painted

shield centres can be made.

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Explanatory notes

These two undated pieces of artwork from the files of Beaulah & Co., clearly show

the post 1963 Scarborough College Coat of Arms. The left hand design puts the full

official coat-of-arms onto a display shield.

The note on the right hand image says “Note dolphin outlined in red” which

indicates that someone had pointed out that this is the way that the dolphin was

represented on the painting in the College of Arms Deed of Grant.

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Explanatory notes

This sketch from Beaulah & Co. archives is dated 1964 shows that Beaulah & Co.

had been made aware of the changes made in 1963, because it is marked

“obsolete version in archives”. It is also marked “New die” and “superceded by

another version” so this must have been an ex-archive sketch re-marked in

preparation for the new design which was to include the red crown that had been

added in the previous year by the College of Arms.

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Explanatory notes

This artwork from the Beaulah & Co. archives is dated 1936 and 1952.

The lower design, which dates from 1936 is a very simple crest design which does

not include the sprigs of laurel leaves. With the maroon background, I wonder if

this was intended to be a blazer badge?

The upper design is from 1952 and shows the shield described previously as

“puzzling” and shown in the section with photographs of actual display shields.

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As G. K. Beaulah & Co. Ltd. were kind enough to search their archive records to

find their designs and other information for us, we supply their full details, in case

readers wish to buy Scarborough College Heraldic items (or other heraldic items)

from them. Their contact details are as follows:-

G K Beaulah & Co. Ltd.

23 Park Street, Hull, Yorkshire, HU2 8RU.

Tel: 01482 223521

Web: www.beaulah.com and www.facebook.com/GKBeaulah

If you want to buy a display shield. G.K. Beaulah & Co. charge £24.25 + P&P and

VAT for a standard 7" X 6" shield that has simple artwork but this can rise to £29.10 +

P&P and VAT for one with complex artwork. Prices stated as at December 2017.

These prices are for quantities between 1 to 4. If additional quantities are required,

reduced prices will apply.

Adrian Hanwell 1964-1969

December 2017

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