ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The earliest documentation we have relating to the Arms is a letter dated 5th October 1878, addressed to the Very Rev. the Dean of Peterborough (J.J.S.PEROWNE, 1823 -1904) by Stephen Tucker, Rouge Croix Pursuivant at the Heralds' College, confirming that there was at that date "no entry of Arms here to Perowne and there is no entry of pedigree". The matter does not seem to have been pur­sued further until 1891, when Dr PEROWNE was nominated to the See of Worcester and the provision of Arms became an urgent practical necessity. "I venture most respectfully to remind you that your Registrar will most probably be needing your Episcopal Seal almost immediately after your consecration".(letter d/12th January, 1891, from Alan Wyon, Medallist and Chief Engraver of Her Majesty's Seals, 287, Regent Street, London W.)

Fig. 1

At Great Snoring in Norfolk it was then recalled that BENJAMIN PEROWNE (1806 - 1881) had habitually made use of a signet remembered as "like three doves on a ped­estal”, but this signet could not then be found, nor has it since come to light and it is surmised that it was buried with its owner., The description given could, however, with some allowance for imprecise observation and lack of her­aldic perception, be identified with (oradapted from) the Arms of one of the French families duPerron, blazoned “de gueules, a unecolonned’argent; au chef d'azur, charge d'uneaigleeployeed’argent, bq., m., et cour. de sable".(Fig.1) (NB In the Appendix to "Origins" the ‘colonne’ was inter­preted as a 'pale' but the illustrated edition of the "Armorial General Rietstap” shows this quite properly as a pillar)

There is, no proof of entitlement to this device and we must presume that its user adopted it in much the same way as Bishop PEROWNE was to 'assume' the Arms of Piron de la Pironnais at his consecration. On5th January, 1891, Wyon is writing: "Should you determine to adopt these Arms, they should be impaled with those of the See of Worcester" &c (see illustration facing p.12 of "Origins"). That there was no legal obstruction to such appropriation is confirm­ed in a letter dated 20th November, 1895, from E.S.M.PEROWNE (1864 - 1947), solicitor, in which it is noted that a Grant of Arms at that date would have cost the applicant between £75 and £80; "no-one will interfere with him except the family whose Arms he has taken".

Meanwhile, Dr EDWARD HENRY PEROWNE (1826 - 1906), Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, had taken to his own use as a crest a Harp, from the Arms of David duPerron (“Azure; a chevron argent between three harps or"), but he did not copy the design precisely.(Fig.2) With the motto "Nil MortaleSonans”, this crest is found on plate and personal effects formerly belonging to the Master.

Fig. 2 Perowne duPerron

Thus the matter rested until 1924, when Colonel J.T. WOOLRYCH PEROWNE (1863 - 1954) encountered the obstacle of proving Arms in connection with his advancement to the Grade of Knight of Justice in the Order of St John, and the appointmemt of his wife, Edith Marione Perowne (1874 - 1947) as a Dame Grand Cross. Accordingly:

“ on8th February, 1924, a Grant of Arms was made to JOHN THOMAS WOOLRYCH PEROWNE, eldest son of the late Rt.Rev.JOHN JAMES STEWART PEROWNE DD, Bishop of Worcester, deceased, to be borne by himself and his descendants and the other descendants of his father.” (letter d/21st October, 1949, from R.P.Graham­Vivian, Windsor Herald)

The Arms (illustrated on the following page) assigned under Letters Patent were:

“Azure; a fesse engrailed or, between in chief three fleurs-de-lis or and in base as many escallops argent; Crest:- In front of a harp or, two sprigs of oak in saltire, proper; Motto:­’Nil Mortale Sonans’”

The colours used in the torso, or wreath, and for the mantling, derive from the principal colour and metal of the Coat viz: Azure and Or, prescribing a livery of blue with buff facings. The principal differences in the armorial bearings assigned, when compared with those previously adopted are

a) thefesse engrailed in place of the straight ­edged form in the Arms of Piron;

b) the female torso in­corporated in the construction of a more elaborate Harp than that of duPerron;

c) the sprigs of oak beneath the Crest which stipulate an English attachment.

It may here be observed that the use of Arms by members of the family other than those bounded by the Grant of 8th Feb­ruary, 1924, requires properly a separate assignment by the Heralds College, incorporating appropriate heraldic diff­erences. The Perowne Arms are to be seen at Hartlebury, Worcs., where they serve to commemorate two Perowne Bishops. In the stained-glass windows of the Chapter Hall at St John's Gate,Clerkenwell, they pay tribute to the long service of Colonel Woolrych Perowne to the Order of St Johnof Jerus­alem. In the same context, and rendered in sculpted stone, they were placed in 1965 in the Khan of the old OpthalmicHospital of the Order (now a school) outside the walls of Jerusalem; and, later, included among those which decorate the modern building inside the HolyCity.