changed_coat_of_arms

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The Prior and Murray-Prior coat of arms

Families with the status of gentry and above, were entitled to their own coat of arms.1)





The photo far left is a faded painting of the Prior crest.2) The black and white drawing of the crest is by TLM-P.3) It appears that TLM-P had tried to find out what the Prior coat of arms were, and got it slightly wrong. On 23 November 1885, he wrote in his Imperial Family Bible containing the Old and New Testaments (London: Blackie and Son, 1845).4) Part of it is hard to read now, but it appears to describe his crest as he drew it: that the family arms are ‘Sa. on a bend arm, three chevronels gn. between stars of eight point wavy’. Motto: Malo mori quam foedari. Seat: Rathdowney, Queens County. This all was part of his determination to assert his family's gentry status. As Burke's entry 'Prior of Netherfield' in his Landed Gentry book, TLM-P 'obtained confirmation of Arms from the Ulster King of Arms 1888 - Quarterly 1 and 4, vert on a bend ermine three chevronels gules (PRIOR); 2 and 3 per fess gules and or four mullets countercharged (MURRAY).' You really have to be into heraldry to understand - or, easier by far, just look at the following photo of a section of the parchment scroll sent to TLM-P and which confirmed the M-P coat of arms. As seen, it retained the Prior motto, translated as 'death before dishonour'. The first photo below is of the parchment scroll acquired by TLM-P; the second is a close-up of the M-P coat of arms.5)
 Part of crest used in M-P's signet rings.6)
Another depiction of family crest in one of TLM-P's family bible.7)

The M-P seal apparently acquired by TLM-P or his son, R.S. M-P.

Another version of the coat of arms appears in Charles Low, A Roll of Australian Arms, Corporate and Personal:Borne by Lawful Authority Rigby, 1971, p.145-46, although it is hard to argue that any but the scroll sent by the Ulster King of Arms is the correct version.

Once TLM-P confirmed he was entitled to heraldic symbols, he had the M-P crest engraved on many of his belongings. As in the case of this is a watch, it also served as a useful point of identification.8)


2)
Provenance: From Geoffrey M-P to T.A. M-P.
3) , 4)
Provenance: J. Godden.
5) , 6)
Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P.
7)
Provenance: Glenn M-P
8)
Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P
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  • Last modified: 2018/11/28 21:49
  • by judith