York Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms 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...

. The first York Herald is believed to have been an officer to Edmund of Langley, Duke of York

Duke of York

The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...

 around the year 1385, but the first completely reliable reference to such a herald

Herald

A herald, or, more correctly, a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is often applied erroneously to all officers of arms....

 is in February of 1484, when John Water alias Yorke, herald was granted certain fees by Richard III

Richard III of England

Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

. These fees included the Manor of Bayhall in Pembury, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, and 8 pounds, 6 shillings, and 8 pence a year from the Lordship of Huntingfield in Kent. The badge of office is the white rose of York en soleil ensigned by the Royal Crown.

Holders of the office

Parentheses indicate a date or approximate date for which there is evidence that the named person was holder of this office. The reigning monarch is given if the date is not known more precisely.

• (Edw IV
  Edward IV of England
  Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
  
  ) Henry French or Franke, Esq
  Esquire
  Esquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
  
  .
• (Edw IV) Thomas Hollingworth, Esq.
• (1484) John Water, Esq.
• (Hen VII
  Henry VII of England
  Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
  
  ) Rowland Playnford, Esq.
• (Hen VII) John Mynne
  John Mynne
  John Mynne was an English officer of arms. He was the son of Henry Mynne of Gloucestershire, and son-in-law of John Writhe, the Garter King of Arms from 1478 to 1504.-Heraldic career:...
  
  , Esq.
• 1509-1513 William Writhe or Wriothesley
  William Wriothesley
  William Wriothesley or Wrythe was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the second son of Garter King of Arms, John Writhe; the younger brother of Thomas Wriothesley; and the father of Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton.-Personal life:Wriothesley was probably born in...
  
  , Esq.
• 1513-1522 Thomas Tonge, Esq.
• 1522-1528 Ralph Lagysse, Esq.
• 1528-1530 Thomas Bysley, Esq.
• 1530-1538 Allan Dagnall, Esq.
• 1538-1553 Bartholomew Butler, Esq.
• 1553-1564 Martin Maroffe, Esq.
• 1564-1567 William Colborne, Esq.
• 1567-1570 Ralph Langman, Esq.
• 1570-1587 William Dethick
  William Dethick
  Sir William Dethick was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Sir Gilbert Dethick and followed his father as Garter Principal King of Arms...
  
  , Esq.
• 1587-1593 Humphry Hales, Esq.
• 1593-1625 Ralph Brooke
  Ralph Brooke
  Ralph Brooke was an English Officer of Arms in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. He is known for his critiques of the work of other members of the College of Arms, most particularly in A Discoverie of Certaine Errours Published in Print in the Much Commended 'Britannia' 1594, which touched...
  
  , Esq.
• 1625-1633 William Le Neve, Esq.
• 1633-? George Owen, Esq.
• (1658) (intruded)
• 1660-1663 George Owen, Esq.
• 1663-1675 John Wingfield, Esq.
• 1675-1700 Robert Devenish, Esq.
• 1700-1717 Laurence Cromp, Esq.
• 1717-1722 Thomas Whitwick, Esq.
• 1722-1735 Philip Jones, Esq., FSA
  Society of Antiquaries of London
  The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
  
  
• 1735-1753 Charles Townley, Esq.
• 1753-1786 George Fletcher, Esq.
• 1786-1794 Benjamin Pingo, Esq.
• 1794-1820 George Nayler
  George Nayler
  Sir George Nayler, KH was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London....
  
   Esq., FAS
• 1820-1842 Charles George Young
  Charles Young (officer of arms)
  Sir Charles George Young was an English officer of arms. He served in the heraldic office of Garter King of Arms, the senior member of the College of Arms in England, from 1842 until his death in 1869.-Life:...
  
  , Esq.
• 1842-1848 Edward Howard Howard-Gibbon, Esq.
• 1848-1872 Thomas William King, Esq., FSA
• 1872-1886 John von Sonnentag de Havilland
  John de Havilland
  John von Sonntag de Havilland, FSA was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London during the 19th century...
  
  , Esq., FSA
• 1886-1904 Sir Alfred Scott Scott-Gatty
  Alfred Scott-Gatty
  Sir Alfred Scott Scott-Gatty, KCVO, KStJ, FSA was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London and a successful composer.-Personal life:...
  
  , KCVO
  Royal Victorian Order
  The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
  
  , KStJ
  Venerable Order of Saint John
  The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
  
  , FSA
• 1904-1905 George William Marshall
  George William Marshall
  -External links:**...
  
  , Esq., LLD
  Doctor of Letters
  Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
  
  , FSA
• 1905-1922 Gordon Ambrose de Lisle Lee
  Gordon 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...
  
  , Esq., CB
  Order of the Bath
  The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
  
  , CVO
  Royal Victorian Order
  The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
  
  
• 1923-1932 Hon. Philip Cary, FSA
• 1932-1957 Aubrey John Toppin
  Aubrey Toppin
  Aubrey John Toppin, CVO, FSA was a long-serving English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.Toppin was born in Twickenham in 1881. His first job was at the Science and Art Museum, Dublin from 1901 to 1906, until he gained the post of First Assistant to the Keeper of Irish Antiqities...
  
  , Esq., CVO, FSA
• 1957-1968 Charles Murray Kennedy St Clair, 17th Lord Sinclair, CVO
• 1968-1992 Sir Conrad Marshall John Fisher Swan
  Conrad Swan
  Sir Conrad Marshall John Fisher Swan, was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Having been first appointed to work at the College in 1962, he rose to the office of Garter Principal King of Arms in 1992, a position he held until 1995...
  
  , KCVO, PhD
  Doctor of Philosophy
  Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
  
  , FSA
• 1992-1993 Peter Brotherton Spurrier
  Peter Spurrier
  Peter Brotherton Spurrier was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was appointed Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary in 1981 and York Herald of Arms in Ordinary in 1992. He retired from the College of Arms in May 1993....
  
  , Esq.
• 1993-2010 Henry Edgar Paston-Bedingfeld
  Henry Paston-Bedingfeld
  Sir Henry Edgar Paston-Bedingfeld, 10th Baronet is an Officer-at-Arms of the College of Arms in London, EC4.He currently serves as Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, the junior of the two provincial Kings-at-Arms, to which office he was appointed 20 September 2010...
  
  , Esq.
• 2010 Vacant

External links

• The College of Arms
• CUHGS Officer of Arms Index