Clarenceux King of Arms
Encyclopedia
Clarenceux King of Arms is an officer of arms
at the College of Arms
in London
. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms
and his jurisdiction is that part of England
south of the River Trent
. The office almost certainly existed in 1420, and there is a fair degree of probability that there was a Claroncell rex heraldus armorum in 1334. There are also some early references to the southern part of England being termed Surroy, but there is not firm evidence that there was ever a king of arms so called. The title of Clarenceux is supposedly derived from either the Honour (or estates of dominion) of the Clare earls of Gloucester
, or from the Dukedom of Clarence
(1362). With minor variations, the arms of Clarenceux have, from the late fifteenth century, been blazoned as Argent a Cross on a Chief Gules a Lion passant guardant crowned with an open Crown Or.
The current Clarenceux King of Arms is Patric Laurence Dickinson
, MA (Oxon)
.
Officer of arms
An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...
at the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms
King of Arms
King of Arms is the senior rank of an officer of arms. In many heraldic traditions, only a king of arms has the authority to grant armorial bearings. In other traditions, the power has been delegated to other officers of similar rank.-Heraldic duties:...
and his jurisdiction is that part of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
south of the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
. The office almost certainly existed in 1420, and there is a fair degree of probability that there was a Claroncell rex heraldus armorum in 1334. There are also some early references to the southern part of England being termed Surroy, but there is not firm evidence that there was ever a king of arms so called. The title of Clarenceux is supposedly derived from either the Honour (or estates of dominion) of the Clare earls of Gloucester
Earl of Gloucester
The title of Earl of Gloucester was created several times in the Peerage of England. A fictional earl is also a character in William Shakespeare's play King Lear. See also Duke of Gloucester.-Earls of Gloucester, 1st Creation :...
, or from the Dukedom of Clarence
Duke of Clarence
Duke of Clarence is a title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the English and British Royal families. The first three creations were in the Peerage of England, the fourth in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the fifth in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.The title was first...
(1362). With minor variations, the arms of Clarenceux have, from the late fifteenth century, been blazoned as Argent a Cross on a Chief Gules a Lion passant guardant crowned with an open Crown Or.
The current Clarenceux King of Arms is Patric Laurence Dickinson
Patric Laurence Dickinson
Patric Laurence Dickinson, LVO is Clarenceux King of Arms.Dickinson was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire before going up to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated as MA. He was President of the Oxford Union Society and was subsequently called to the bar at the Middle Temple...
, MA (Oxon)
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Holders of the office
Brackets indicate a date for which there is evidence the named person held this office- (1334) Andrew (surname unknown) 'Clarencell'
- (1383) Richard Spenser
- (1419) William Horsley
- 1425-1428 John Cosoun
- 1435-1460 Roger Legh or Lygh
- 1461-1475 William Hawkeslowe
- 1476–1483 Sir Thomas Holme
- 1483–1516 Roger MachadoRoger Machado (officer of arms)Roger Machado was an English diplomat and officer of arms of Portuguese extraction. He lived among the Portuguese merchants at Bruges in 1455.-Early heraldic career:...
- 1516–1534 Thomas Benolte
- 1534–1536 Thomas Tonge
- 1536–1557 Thomas HawleyThomas HawleyThomas Hawley was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He began his career of royal service as a groom porter to Queen Margaret of Scotland from her marriage in 1503 until 1508...
- 1557–1567 William HarveyWilliam Harvey (officer of arms)William Harvey was born June 1510 to Turner and Mary Harvey in Ashill, Somerset. He was an only child. According to the Dictionary of National Biography vol 1-20, 22, William Harvey became a junior officer of the college of arms and was appointed the Bluemantle Pursuivant in ordinary on 18th June...
- 1567–1594 Robert Cooke
- 1594–1597 Richard Lee
- 1597–1623 William CamdenWilliam CamdenWilliam Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
- 1623–1635 Sir Richard St GeorgeRichard St GeorgeSir Richard St George was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms on London during the seventeenth century.The date of birth of Richard St George is unknown. In 1575 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas St John of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire. He joined the College of Arms in 1602...
- 1635–1646 Sir William Le Neve
- 1646–1650 Arthur Squibb
- 1650–1658 Sir Edward ByssheEdward ByssheSir Edward Bysshe FRS was an English barrister, politician and officer of arms. He sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1679 and was Garter King of Arms during the Commonwealth period.-Life:...
- 1658–1661 William Ryley
- 1661–1680 Sir Edward Bysshe
- 1680–1704 Sir Henry St GeorgeHenry St George- Life :He was born in 1581 at Hatley St George, Cambridgeshire. He entered the College of Arms as Rouge Rose pursuivant-extraordinary in 1610 and was promoted to Bluemantle pursuivant the following year, in which capacity accompanied his father in his visitations of Derbyshire and Cheshire...
- 1704–1726 Sir John VanbrughJohn VanbrughSir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
- 1726–1741 Knox Ward
- 1741–1755 Stephen Martin LeakeStephen LeakeStephen Martin Leake was a numismatist and long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Though he eventually rose to the highest rank in the College, he was born as Stephen Martin and was the only son of Captain Stephen Martin, a naval officer, and his wife, Elizabeth...
- 1755–1773 Charles TownleyCharles Townley (officer of arms)Sir Charles Townley was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.-Early and private life:Charles Townley was born on Tower Hill in 1713, the son of Charles Townley, of Clapham, Surrey and Sarah Wilde, daughter of William Wilde of Long-Whatton in Leicestershire. His mother...
- 1773–1780 Ralph BiglandRalph BiglandRalph Bigland was an English officer of arms and cheesemaker. He was born at Stepney, Middlesex, and was the only son of Richard Bigland and his wife, Mary. His father was a native of Westmorland, descended from the Bigland family of Bigland, Lancashire.-Early career:In 1728 Bigland was...
- 1780–1803 Isaac HeardIsaac HeardSir Isaac Heard was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He began his heraldic career as Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary. He would go on to hold the posts of Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary, Norroy King of Arms and Brunswick King of Arms. In 1784, he was...
- 1803–1820 George Harrison
- 1820–1822 Sir George NaylerGeorge NaylerSir George Nayler, KH was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London....
- 1822–1831 Sir Ralph BiglandRalph BiglandRalph Bigland was an English officer of arms and cheesemaker. He was born at Stepney, Middlesex, and was the only son of Richard Bigland and his wife, Mary. His father was a native of Westmorland, descended from the Bigland family of Bigland, Lancashire.-Early career:In 1728 Bigland was...
- 1831–1838 Sir William WoodsWilliam Woods (officer of arms)Sir William Woods was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was said to be an illegitimate son of the Duke of Norfolk and was appointed to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms in 1831...
- 1838–1839 Sir Edmund LodgeEdmund LodgeSir Edmund Lodge, KH , herald, was a long-serving English officer of arms, a writer on heraldic subjects, and a painstaking supplier of short, accurate biographies.-Life and career:...
- 1839–1846 Joseph Hawker
- 1846–1848 Francis MartinFrancis Martin-Biography:He was born in Galway during the occupation of the town by the Cromwellian army, his family been one of the Tribes of Galway. He was educated in one of the secret schools in the city. In 1673 he began his studies for the priesthood in Louvain with the Augustinian order. Ordained there in...
- 1848–1859 James Pulman
- 1859–1882 Robert Laurie
- 1882–1894 Walter Aston BlountWalter BlountWalter Aston Edward Blount Esq. FSA was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was born the eldest son of Edward Blount...
- 1894–1911 George Edward CokayneGeorge CokayneGeorge Edward Cokayne FSA was an English genealogist and long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.-Life:...
- 1911–1919 Sir William Henry Weldon
- 1919–1922 Charles Harold AthillCharles AthillCharles Harold Athill, MVO, FSA was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He began his heraldic career by joining the College of Arms in 1882 as Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary. The position lasted until 1889, when he was appointed Richmond Herald of Arms in...
- 1922–1926 William Alexander LindsayWilliam Lindsay (officer of arms)William Alexander Lindsay, CVO, FSA was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Lindsay was the son of Hon. Colin Lindsay and Lady Frances Howard. On 7 May 1870, he married Lady Harriet Gordon, a daughter of the 5th Earl of Aberdeen and Mary Baillie...
- 1926–1927 Gordon Ambrose de Lisle LeeGordon Lee (officer of arms)Gordon Ambrose de Lisle Lee, CB, CVO was a British officer of arms.Born in Aberdeen, the son of the Reverend F. G. Lee, vicar of All Saints, Lambeth, he was educated at St Mary's College, Harlow and Westminster School and became an artist and designer. In 1889 he joined the College of Arms as...
- 1928–1954 Sir Arthur William Stuart CochraneArthur CochraneSir Arthur William Steuart Cochrane, KCVO was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.-Biography:...
- 1954–1955 Archibald George Blomefield Russell
- 1956–1967 Sir John Dunamace Heaton-ArmstrongJohn Heaton-ArmstrongSir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong, MVO was a long-serving English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.During the First World War he was commissioned into the Cavalry Branch of the Reserve of Officers of the British Indian Army as a second lieutenant, and was later promoted to...
- 1968–1978 John Riddell Bromhead WalkerJohn Walker (officer of arms)John Riddell Bromhead Walker, CVO, MC was a soldier and long-serving English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London....
- 1978–1995 Sir Anthony Richard WagnerAnthony WagnerSir Anthony Richard Wagner, KCB, KCVO, FSA was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms...
- 1995–1997 John Philip Brooke Brooke-LittleJohn Brooke-LittleJohn Philip Rudolph Dominic Derek Aloysius Mary Brooke-Little, CVO, KStJ, FSA, FSG, FHS, FHG , FRHSC , FHSNZ, KM, GCGCO was an influential and popular British writer on heraldic subjects and a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London...
- 1997–2010 David Hubert Boothby ChesshyreHubert ChesshyreDavid Hubert Boothby Chesshyre, CVO served for more than forty years as an officer of arms to Queen Elizabeth II.-Family background:...
- 2010–present Patric Laurence DickinsonPatric Laurence DickinsonPatric Laurence Dickinson, LVO is Clarenceux King of Arms.Dickinson was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire before going up to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated as MA. He was President of the Oxford Union Society and was subsequently called to the bar at the Middle Temple...