The Curious Case of the Multiple Quarterings
Sable, a Cross patonce within a Bordure or.
Even a bookplate of the couple which must date between 1922, when Mary and Henry got married at Westminster Abbey and Henry was appointed Knight of the Order of the Garter, and 1929, when Henry succeeded his father as Earl, shows the simple Arms of the then Viscount Lascelles with a Label for an eldest son. It does, however, show a different Motto, namely: ung roy, ung foy, ung loy, which is archaic French for 'one king, one faith, one law'. It is one of the Mottoes of the de Burgh family and originates from when the family moved to Ireland. This bookplate is shown in The Royal Heraldry of England by J. H. & R. V. Pinches, 1974, and no mention is made of Quarterings. The illustration for the bookplate here is taken from the website of online valuers Worth Point. |
The Honourable Henry G. C. Lascelles was born at Goldsborough Hall on the Harewood estate that traditionally housed the heir to the title. The 5th Earl and his wife Lady Florence inherited the Earldom in 1892 and moved to Harewood House. Henry, in turn, became Viscount Lascelles. Privately educated, he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and gained the rank of Captain in the Grenadier Guards. He fought in the First World War, was mentioned in dispatches, was wounded twice and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) and a bar both in 1918.
An eccentric uncle and a royal princess would change the course of Lord Lascelles’ life and make a public figure of a quiet, unassuming northern landowner.
Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricade, (1832-1916) - widely known as "Lord Clanrackrent" – was Lord Lascelles’ great uncle on his father’s side. The Marquess spent much of his time in London and never co-operated with the Land Commission, refusing to help his tenants to buy their holdings. In 1915, part of his estate was compulsorily expropriated by the Land Court. A notorious miser and eccentric, the 2nd Marquess had taken to dressing as a tramp and haunting the royal parks of London. Lord Lascelles had, apparently, espied the old man and taken the trouble to spend an hour speaking with him despite his eccentric costume. This earned the Marquess’s endearment and his estate, including Portumna Castle.
Now independently wealthy, Viscount Lascelles was mooted as a suitable groom for Princess Mary, the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. According to Kenneth Rose’s 1983 biography of King George V, ‘The King shared his son-in-law’s interest in racing, the Queen his knowledge of pictures and furniture. “Being my only daughter” the King wrote, “I confess that I dread the idea of losing her, but thank God she will live in England”.'
The Harewood Arms (not a public house, by the way) feature a Cross patonce, rather than flory, which is said to end in what represent a bear's paw, which would tie in with the Supporters.
The second Quarter is for de Burgh and is blazonned as follows:
Or a Cross gules in the dexter canton a Lion rampant sable.
The House of de Burgh was an ancient English family most likely deriving from Burgh-next-Aylsham, Norfolk. William de Burgh (c.1160–1205/06) settled in Ireland in 1185, founding the Irish line of the family. The black Lion in the Canton is more than likely to be a form of difference. The undifferenced de Burgh Arms had featured in the Arms of Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of HM King Henry VII. She descended in that line from the Earls of Ulster. The Arms also formed the basis of those for the Ulster King of Arms, differenced by its Chief, and therefore formed the basis of the new post of Norroy and Ulster King of Arms in 1943.
The third Quarter for Canning is blazonned as follows:
Argent three Moors' Heads in profile two and one couped proper wreathed about the temples of the first and azure.
Clanricarde married the Hon. Harriet Canning (13th April 1804 – 8th January 1876), daughter of Prime Minister George Canning, on 4th April 1825 at Gloucester Lodge in Brompton. The couple had seven children. The collpase of Canning's health lead to his death in August 1827, after just 119 days in office, the shortest tenure of any British Prime Minister to date. Harriet had two elder brothers, who both died young, and and a younger brother who succeeded to their father's titles of Viscount and Earl Canning. She was co-heiress of Maj Gen John Scott of Balcomie through her mother, Joan Scott.
On the death of the 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde all his titles became extinct except for the Earldom of Clanricarde created in 1800, which, under the terms of the special remainder contained in the Letters Patent creating the title, passed to his cousin once removed George Ulick [Browne], 6th Marquess of Sligo, passing over five sisters and their descendants.
A quiet man, Henry, 6th Earl of Harewood, certainly had an interesting background which might have remained quiet if he hadn't quartered his benefactors' Arms with his own. Sunday, 7th February, would have been Henry's son's 98th birthday. First cousin of HM Queen Elizabeth II and King George V and Queen Mary's first grandchild, George, 7th Earl of Harewood, was famous for being Director of the Royal Opera House, Managing Director then Chairman of Royal National Opera and also, probably most widely-known, President of the British Board of Film Classification. It was his signature on the certificate at the beginning of every film up until 1996...