Grant of arms

Grant of arms

GRANT OF A R M S BY receiving a Grant of Arms the British Association of Plastic Surgeons has, at last, reached maturity. The full significance of t...

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GRANT

OF A R M S

BY receiving a Grant of Arms the British Association of Plastic Surgeons has, at last, reached maturity. The full significance of this Grant is that ideals for which the Association stands are understood and recorded. " The purpose of the Association is to promote and safeguard the interests of the surgeons practising plastic surgery and to direct the development of plastic surgery along sound and progressive lines." The Grant is made and recorded by the College of Arms. This College was founded in media:val times to control the design of armorial bearings, the title to which is awarded by the sovereign. The complete achievement is reproduced here and consists of the shield with supporters, a crest, a badge, and a motto. This is described below in the Grant, which reads as follows :-" T O A L L AND S I N G U L A R to whom these Presents shall come, the Honourable Sir George Rothe Bellew, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Garter Principal King of Arms, Archibald George Blomefield Russell, Esquire, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Clarenceux King of Arms and Sir Gerald Woods Wollaston, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, Send Greeting WHEREAS Richard John Vulliamy Battle, Esquire, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, President of the B R I T I S H A S S O C I A T I O N OF P L A S T I C SURGEONS, hath represented unto the Most Noble Bernard Marmaduke, Duke of Norfolk, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England and One of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, that the purpose of the Said Association is to promote and safeguard the interests of Surgeons practising plastic surgery and to direct the development of plastic surgery along sound and progressive lines. That the Council of the said Association is desirous of having Armorial Bearings duly assigned for the Association under lawful authority and he hath requested the favour of His Grace's Warrant for Our granting and assigning such Armorial Ensigns and in the same Patent such Supporters and such Device or Badge as may be proper to be borne and used for the British Association of Plastic Surgeons on Seals, Shields or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms AND FORASMUCHas the Said Earl Marshal did by Warrant under his hand and Seal bearing date the Twelfth day of December I952, authorize and direct Us to grant and assign such Armorial Ensigns, Supporters and Device or Badge accordingly KNOW YE THEREFORE that We the said Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy and Ulster in pursuance of His Grace's Warrant and by virtue of the Letters Patent of Our several Offices to each of Us respectively granted do by these Presents grant and assign the Arms following for the B R I T I S H A S S O C I A T I O N OF P L A S T I C S U R G E O N S that is to say: Gules the branch of an Apple-Tree couped and leaved proper fructed Or with a slip of Apple Tree leaved also proper grafted to the top in dexter chief a Dagger in bend point upwards Gold around the hilt and handle a Thread loosely tied Argent. And for the Crest On a Wreath of the Colours Upon a Rock a Li,~ard proper as the Same are in the Margin hereof more plainly depicted. IA

I

BRITISH

JOURNAL

OF

PLASTIC

SURGERY

And by the Authority aforesaid We do further grant and assign the following Device or Badge that is to say: A Dagger point upwards proper hilt and pomel Or around the hilt and handle a Thread loosely tied Sable as here depicted to be borne and used upon Standards or otherwise. And by the Authority aforesaid I the Said Garter do by these Presents further grant

and assign the Supporters following for the B R I T I S H A S S O C I A T I O N OF P L A S T I C S U R G E O N S that is to say: On the dexter side a figure representing Podalirius habited in a Robe Argent resting his exterior Hand on a Staff Or entwined by a Serpent and on the sinister side a figure representing Machaon habited as the dexter holding in his exterior Hand a Dart broken the point downwards Gold around the neck of each figure a garland of Flowers of the British Empire as the same are also in the margin hereof more plainly depicted the whole to be borne and used for the British Association of Plastic Surgeons on Seals, Shields or Otherwise according to the Laws of Arms. I~ WrTlqESS whereof We the Said Garter Clarenceux and Norroy and Ulster Kings of Arms have to these Presents subscribed Our names and affixed the Seals of Our Several Offices this Twenty-Seventh day of April in the Fourth year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

GRANT OF ARMS

3

Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith and in the year of Our Lord One thousand nine hundred and fifty-five." G. R. BELLEW, Garter. ARCHIBALD G. B. RUSSELL, Clarenceux. GERALD W. WOLLASTON, Norroy and Ulster.

In case the parlance in the official document may not be understood, the following notes on the achievement may prove helpful. Upon a red shield, the branch of an apple tree is shown in its proper colours with green leaves and golden apples. A graft is bound to its upper extremity. In the upper corner of the shield (to the left) there is a golden dagger around the hilt of which a thread of silver is loosely tied. As will be seen from reading the Grant, this dagger with its thread has been chosen as the badge of the Association. Supporting the shield are Podalirius and Machaon--two skilful doctors chosen from Greek mythology, who support the shield in the achievement of the Royal College of Surgeons of England--but in the reversed position. We are indebted to Sir Richard Livingstone for the following notes on these two :-" Podalirius and Machaon, the sons of Asklepios, are mentioned first as leading a detachment of thirty ships from Thessaly to join the Greeks (Illiad II, 73 I). The next mention is when Menelaos is wounded with an arrow and Agamemnon sends the herald ; ' with all speed call Machaon, the hero son of Asklepios, the noble leech, to see Menelaos whom one skilled in archery has wounded with a bow shot . . . . ' ' When they were now come where the golden-haired Menelaos was, the god-like Hero (Machaon) came and drew forth the arrow from the clasped belt and as it was drawn forth the keen barbs were broken backward. Then he loosed the belt and when he saw the wound where the bitter arrow had lighted, he sucked out the blood and cunningly spread thereon soothing drugs ' (Illiad IV). In the third mention Machaon is ' smitten on the right shoulder with a three-barbed arrow.' Then Nestor, one of the Greek chiefs, puts Machaon into his chariot and drives him back to the camp. ' For a leech is worth many other men, to cut out arrows and spread thereon soothing drugs ' (Illiad, XI)." Around the necks of these figures are hung garlands to emphasise the wide influence of the Association within the British Commonwealth. For the crest which surmounts a helm wreathed in red and gold there is a green lizard standing on a rock. The Association wishes to thank Sir John Heaton Armstrong, K.C.V.O., Chester Herald, for having guided it on all questions of procedure and design and for having brought its request for a Grant of Arms to so successful a conclusion. It wishes also to acknowledge a debt to Air Commodore H. F. V. Battle, O.B.E., D.F.C., R.A.F. (Retd.), who made many helpful suggestions and who is responsible for the conception of the apple-tree graft. This Grant of Arms was first sought in I952 and received in I955. The Presidents of the Association during that period--Richard Battle (I95Z), John Barron (I953), David Matthews (1954), and T. Pomfret Kilner (I955)--all contributed a great deal of time and thought to this problem and together with the Council Members for those years are to be congratulated on the highly successful result of these protracted negotiations with the College of Arms.