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(9a)

Arms: chapter from David Brind's family history (section 10a)

The King of Arms visited Wiltshire in 1565 and 1623. On the second visit the Brind family living at Wanborough claimed a 'Coate of Arms', but their application was turned down. However they appear to have continued to use the unauthorised arms as A W Brind in a letter to one of his daughters date 28 May 1910 states that he had seen "large old family tombs in Wanborough Churchyard with the Arms on viz 3 hands"- they are not now visible. It is likely that a branch of this family moved to Liddington as there is an 18th century wall memorial inside the church bearing these arms, i.e. a chevron and three hands (no spear heads), with a helmet as a crest.

Our predecessors in London did not research the family pedigree properly before William of Highworth (1691-1732) and assumed that he was descended from the Wanborough family, and as arms were included in Burke's General Armory which was published in 1884 they thought that they were entitled to use them.

Our ancestors at South Marston and Highworth did not use or claim arms. We now know that the Wanborough claim was not authorised and that in any case as far back as C1480 no link can be found with the Wanborough family.

The two attached letters from the College of Arms confirm that our family is one of many without arms. The Hugh G Brind OBE TD mentioned, appears on Annex B of Section 4 of these notes.

Left from Vincent's Ordinary 446 Arms of Bren (coat A). Right Arms of Brend or Brand of Lincolnshire (coat B). Argent, on a chevron sable, between 3 sinister hands of the second, 3 spear heads of the field.

Crest: A dexter arm erect holding a spear head, all proper.

Motto: NIL SINE LABORE. (Nothing without labour.)


D.H.B CHESSHYRE MA, FSA, CHESTER HERALD COLLEGE OF ARMS, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON EC4V 4BT. TEL: 01 248 1137
13th September 1984.

Mrs Nancy Graham
Buffets Road,
Sturminster Newton,
Dorset DT10 1DZ

Dear Mrs Graham,

The searches which you asked me to undertake in the records of the College of Arms have now been completed and I write to report on the results, which may be summarized as follows:--

1. The Herald's Visitation of Wiltshire in 1623 contained a five generation pedigree headed by Thomas Brind of Wanborough in that county. It was carried down to his two great grandsons Thomas a merchant in London and Nicholas aged 28 in 1623. Nicholas married and had two sons John and William. No arms are given for this family.

2. A grant of arms was made recently in 1980 to a Hugh George Brind of Lodge Rockos Cottage, Billbrook, Somerset, OBE, TD. Although this grant is registered in our indexes the engrossed Patent has not yet found its way into a bound volume, so I have not examined the design to see if it is in any way similar to the arms of your embroidery.

3. The records of pedigrees, grants and confirmations of arms, funeral certificates and so on, from earliest times have been searched without finding any reference to families of the surname Brind, except for those in paragraphs 1 and 2. I also searched our photographic copies of the official registers of the former Ulster King of Arms in case there was any Irish connection, again without success.

4. The Harleian Society's printed version of the 1623 Wiltshire Visitation was examined and a photocopy taken of the Brind entry , for your interest. You will note that the printed version is collated between our official entry here and the Harleian manuscript version now housed in the British Museum. This shows additional information, in that other children appear in the third generation who do not feature in the College pedigree. Also it would seem that a coat blazoned as Argent a chevron between three sinister hands sable, is given, which for ease of reference I will call Coat A. A note is made to the effect that although the coat was produced, not enough evidence was forthcoming at the time for the arms to be officially recorded for the family in the College's version.

The search was extended here to cover unofficial printed sources, which may be briefly summarized as follows:

Burke's General Armory published in 1884, which is an unofficial dictionary of Arms, includes one blazon attributed to a family named Brind. The Arms are given as Argent on a Chevron between three hands couped and bendways sinister sable as many spears' heads of the first, which I shall call Coat B. The blazon of coat B seems to be identical to that in the arms embroidered by your great grandmother Mary Brind in 1828. However, I can find no official entry of Coat B here, so it would seem that these arms were used without authority. Unfortunately, Burke does not state the source of this information concerning this coat.

6. Marshall's Genealogists Guide was consulted and the following three entries noted:--
(a) Pedigree of Brind of London (T.P. 1871)
(b) Pedigree of Brind of Stanton Fitzherbert (T.P. 1866).
(c) Pedigree of Brind of London (T.P. 1867).

the initials "T.P." refer to Sir Thomas Phillips, bt, whose genealogical manuscripts are housed at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. I have examined Lewis's Dictionary of English Topography (1842) without finding a Stanton Fitzherbert, although there is a STanton Fitzwarren in Wiltshire, which is the same County as the family of Coat A.

7. Phillimore and Fry's Index to Changes of Name (1760-1901) was consulted with the following result:
Taylor: A. C. Brind of 46 Park St. Dorset Square, Middlesex, gent. The Times 5 February 1875.

8. The Dictionary of National Biography contains one entry for the surname Brind (died 1718) was a chorister and later organist of St Paul's in London. Administration of his estate was grated to his father Richard. He is believed to have been a bachelor.

9. The Gentleman's Magazine which is a useful source of genealogical information for families in the 18th Century, used much as The Times, is at present, was also examined. Six Brind entries occur in our indexes which date from about 1730 to about 1853. No Mary Brind appears here nor is there any reference to Lovegrove Waldron or their marriage.
NOTE: See this family. Jonathan Brind


10. Alumni Oxonienses, from 1500-1886, which is a list of Oxford graduates shows one Brind entry: Charles Brownlow Brind 1st son of Charles of Lee, Kent. gent, matriculated aged 17 from Balliol College 17 October 1882.

11. Alumni Cantabvigienses 1752-1900 which is likewise a list of Cambridge graduates contains the following entry:

Walter Hinde Brind, son of Charles of 2 Marlborough Road, Lee, wine merchant born 1874. Pensioner of Corpus Christi. Later Rural Dean of Nantwich (see Crockfords Clerical Directory 1938).

12. Wiltshire Coroners Bills 1752-1796 published by the Wiltshire Record Society, contains one Brind reference.

No. 374-31 Oct, 1763. East Grafton, Thomas Brind: no marks of violence; accidental (? recte natural) death 18 miles-- £1.13.6d.

13. Several indexes of the Wiltshire Note and Queries series were examined with the following results:
(a) P.C.C. Administrations (of estates)
John Brinde of Wanborough to brother Owen 18 June 1562.
(b) Peculiars of the Dean and Chapter of Sarum (marriage licences).
Owen Brinne of Wanborough, Wilts, bodier maker and Susannah Coventry of same, spinster, 5 July 1682

(c) Reference to wills
1542 Edmund Brynde (South) Marston, Wilts
1557 Joanne Brynd Marston, Wilts

There were other notes concerning variants of the surname, but these have not been noted.

14. A typescript index of apprentices bound to their masters between 1710 and 1774, include several references to persons of the surname Brind, Brine, and Bryne and other variants among which include.
(a) 1718 Brind, Daniel son of John of Wanburgh, yeoman bound to Thomas Moore, citizen and cooper for £10.
(b) 1735 Brind, Isaac son of Catherine bound to George Davis of Highworth, Wilts; cordwainer for £8.
(c) 1761 Brind, William bound to Richard Dorman of Malmesbury pigcutter for £10.

15. A very quick look in our modern official records to see if an immediate reference could be found concerning Lovegrove Waldron proved negative, I regret. However, there are three short Waldron pedigrees recorded here. From my personal knowledge I am also aware of a Waldron family which lived at Bovey House near Beer in Devon.

I am sorry to have to give you this disappointing result. Further genealogical work may extend the knowledge of Mary Brinde's family before 1828, and she may be descended from the family of Cat A, seated in Wiltshire in 1623. However, as a minor difference exists in the blazon of Coat A and Coat B, it may be that the latter coat was assumed unofficially by a family called Brind who were unable to prove a direct male descent from the Coat A family, and who never officially obtained a new Grant of Arms. It would be useful to know where Burke found his reference to Coat B. Also, any further work on this should be prefaced by an examination of the Phillipps pedigrees, which are probably at Oxford.

Yours sincerely,
Hubert Chesshyre
Chester Herald



HUBERT CHESSHYRE LVO MA FSA  
NORROY AND ULSTER KING OF ARMS  
COLLEGE OF ARMS QUEEN VICTORIA STREET LONDON EC4V 4BT TEL:0171 248 1137  
Major General P H W Brind 28 June 1996
Dear General Brind
Norroy & Ulster King of Arms has asked me to answer your letter of 15 January from which I understand that you wish to determine which of the several arms attributed to Brind is correct.

Since the 15th century the Kings of Arms have been making grants 'to men of virtue, worthy to be received among noble gentlemen' and the official records of these grants are recorded here at the College and have been ever since its foundation in 1483/4. In order to establish a right to a particular coat of arms, it is necessary to prove and register here a legitimate male-lined descent from an ancestor to whom arms have previously been granted or allowed.

In his letter of 12 September 1984 to Mrs Graham, Mr Chesshyre advised her that despite a lengthy search of all the official records of Grants here, only one Grant had been made in the name of Brind and that was to Hugh George Brind of Billbrook co Somerset in 1980. I am sorry to have to tell you therefore that there is not a right or wropng version of the arms you mention in your letter because none of them has been granted in your surname.

I knew how much this will be a disappointment to you. So I decided to look into this matter a little further to see where the arms had come from. Burke's General Armory is not as authoritative a work as many believe- it is an interesting collection of examples of arms used on monuments, bookplates, silver, seals etc. but was not checked against the College Records for validity. Many of the arms had been granted officially to the ancestors of the families named in Burke's volume but probably as many had not. Nevertheless Burke had collected these examples from somewhere where they had been displayed.

Nowadways, when a grant is made, much care has to be taken to ensure that the arms are distinct in at least two visible ways from any other already on record; to assist the Heralds in the checking process, the College has a series of Indexes known as Ordinaries which contain pages of miniature shields grouped together by the various elements.

As a senior army officer, it would of course be open to you to apply for a grant on your own behalf and after searches ahve been made in all the Ordinaries, it may be possible to include some of the elements from the assumed arms. On the other hand you may prefer to start afresh with a completely new design. furthermore, your cousin might wish to join forces with you.

The fees for a grant of Arms and Crest to an individual and his descendants stand at present at £2450, plus £50 for coloured approval sketches and other preliminary disbursements. The limitations of the grant could be extended backwards for one or two generations (for additional fees) to include cousins is this was wanted.

Please let me know if you think we can be of further help.

Yours sincerely,

pp Mrs John Comyn

Assistant to Norroy & Ulster King of Arms


HUBERT CHESSHYRE LVO MA FSA  
NORROY AND ULSTER KING OF ARMS  
COLLEGE OF ARMS QUEEN VICTORIA STREET LONDON EC4V 4BT TEL & FAX:0171 248 1137  
Lt Col David Brind 16 July 1997
Dear Colonel Brind

Thanks you for your letter of 1 July which was awaiting my July visit.

I have now had another good dig in the records and I hope the information will be helpful for your family history. First, I enclose an article on the Visitations in England which comes from A New Dictionary of Heraldry, edited by Stephen Friar and published by Alpha Books, which you may find useful. It explains what happened during Visitations and why there often appear to be discrepancies between the published versions of some counties' Visitations and the College's official records.

Next I had a quick look (at home) in my copy of the Concise Dictionary of National Biography which tells me that there is a fully entry in the DNB for Augustine Vincent; however all you may wish to know of him is that he was born c1584 and died 1626 and that he was one of the few early seventeenth century heralds who really understood the necessity of making proper searches in original records in order to prove (or disprove) a pedigree's authenticity. He was apparently Rouge Rose Pursuivant in 1616 (a position no longer in existence), Rouge 1624. He was a great collector of genealogical and heraldic information and many of his private volumes, some in his attractive and legible handwriting, were acquired from his son John by Ralph Sheldon of Beoley co Worcestor and were given/ sold by him to the College in 1684.

I looked for and found Vincent's "Ordinary of Arms" which is in two large leather bound volumes. There are two types of Ordinaries of Arms-- which are both armorial reference books- the first lists the blazons of shields of arms alphabetically by the first charges they contain (and the best known example is probably J W Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials first published in 1874) while the second contains 'tricks' (ie black and white sketches with the tinctures indicated by letters), again arranged by the charges but usually without any text.

Vincent's Oridnary is of the second type so each page contains rows of little shields set within rectangles at the top of which are (usually)the names of the family using the arms and sometimes a cross reference to a Visitation. It is in the nature of an 'aide-memoire' or collection of arms which Vincent (or his assistants) had seen displayed or had read about but is not in itself confirmation that the arms were valid (except where there is a cross reference to an official record). The same is true of Papworth- he collected arms from all sorts of souces and gave attribtuions in the majority of cases but inclusion in his armorial does not necessarilymeans that the arms were genuine.

On page 446 of Vincent is a picture of the arms you sent with your letter of 16 May: the letters A (for Argent) and S (for Sable) appear as on your diagram but nothing more in the way of text. The title is merely 'of Bren' (ie Arms of Bren) with no place. This trick is next to similar arms (with variations in the chevron and/ or the colours) attributed to the families of Berne, Godhand and Maynard (of which there are two examples, both linked to Visitation volumes).

I then looked through our index to the various families named in the Visitations and checked for Brend(e)/ Brind(e)/ Brynd(e).

The Visitation of Wiltshire (our reference C.2294) of 1623 shows the pedigree of Brind of Wanborough-- as do the printed versions (a) edicted by George W Marshall in 1882 and (b) of the Harleian Society Vol 105/6. Our volume shews no arms and has no comment; Marhsall's says "A coate produced to be better proved" while HS 105/6 gives a blazeon and the same annotation as Marhsall.

There is a pedigree for Brend in the Surrey Visitation of 1662 (but in the volume itself, the name is written Brent), another entry (under Reade) in the Oxfordshire Visitation of 1574 which records the marriage of a Reade daughter to a Brend (no place) and a final reference in the Visiation of Lincolnshire 1592.

This last volume (H.11.19) contains a four generation pedigree headed by Thomas Brend alias Brande of Ledesham in co Lyncoln who married Margaret daughter of ---- Andeley of Welbourne in the smae county and had issue Jerome Brand, Thomas Brande (sic) Christopher and william Brand. The line is continued through Jerome's son Robert Brand of Branston co Lincoln who in 1592 had issue five daughter and coheiresses) Jane, Elixabeth, Anne, Marie and Catherine. NO other date is given so it is not possible to say whether Robert's line ended with daughters or whether they were all quite young and a son might have followed soon after. However, the most siginificant part of this entry is that the arms depicted are Argent on a chevron Sable between 3 sinister hands of the second, 3 spear heads of the Field (ie the arms enclosed with your letter of 1 July) which I shall call coat B.

There are also references to families named Brynn(e), Brins and Bryne(e) but the arms attributed to them bear no relation to the arms claimed by your family.

The 'Index of Grants' (mostly 1673-1880) contains one reference to Brand of Whersted near Ipswich co Suffolk of 1741 and another later one to Brand of London. There is also an example of BRond of Edwarston co Suffolk (see below) but no example of Brend(e) Brind(e) or Brynd(e).

I regret therefore that I must conclude that

(i) the arms attributed to Bren in Vincent's Ordinary do not appear to have been granted nor recognised officially.

(ii)these Bren arms were not connected to the Brewnd(e)/ Brind(e) family of the Wiltshire Visitation of 1623 by Augustine Vincent himself.

(iii) the Brind family of Wanborough were unable in 1623 to substantiate their claim to the arms shen in your letter of 16 May; and

(iv) the arms shewn in hyour letter of 1 July were recognised in 1592 as those belonging to the family of Brend or Brand of Ledensham and Branston, co Lincoln.

I am afraid that I cannot comment on the likelihood or otherwise of arms having been granted by or during the lifetime of John of Gaunt as that is a matter well beyond my knowledge. However, whether they had been granted or assumed before the foundation of the College, it should have been a fairly simple matter for the Brend(e)/ Brind(e) family to regularise the position once the Visistations had begun (in 1530). That they do not appear to have done so implies either that the proofs required were wanting or that the family were not considered eligible for a grant. I think that before the institution of parish registers in the 16th century, most people might have had difficulty in proving a legitimate descent of any kind.

In your most recent letter, you ask what should be done by your family to claim the arms. In the case of the Wanborough family, it does not seem that they had valid arms to claim so that even were you able to prove a close kinship with them, you would be no better off because they were not consiered armigerous.

We should of course be very happy to help you prove and record your pedigree here but I fear that it is unlikely to lead to your being able to claim arms by descent. If you and your cousin would like a Grant (and as both you and your cousin have been serving officers in HM Army, you would of course be considered eligible to apply).

Yours sincerely,

pp Mrs John Comyn

Assistant to Clarenceux King of Arms

Noel F Jotham                                                        

Strangely gravestones at All Saints, Liddington, dating back to the 18th century, show a different view of the Brind crest from Vincent's Ordinary (see below).