Farmer Coat of Arms

In an earlier blog, we highlighted the fascination that two characters from William Shakespeare’s play had with a coat of arms. Even today, there is a modern fascination with wanting to display family heraldry. You see it on family trees, or with companies selling you a certificate or coffee mug. Regrettably, some of these companies and genealogists are assigning the wrong coat of arms. This blog examines various Farmer family heraldry and how it can be used to build a good family tree.

When the Heralds convened their county visitations, they called “all persons that do pretend to bear arms or are styled Esquires or Gentlemen… to produce and show forth by what authority they do challenge and claim the same.”[1] Families or their agents arrived and provided documentation of their family pedigree. Additionally, the Heralds documented the arms displayed at the churches, universities, and other houses. Those persons who could not defend their claim or stole the arms were shamed in the market square and the wrongfully displayed arms were pulled down or defaced. When the Heralds visited Shropshire in 1623, Edward Farmer of Brome, John Farmer, and Roger Farmer were disclaimed.[2]

The visitations provide a good source of genealogical data; however, the Heralds’ abilities to take good notes, the abilities of families to document their family trees, and editorial mistakes have produced some errors. Some good examples include children listed as siblings, incorrect names, and omissions of entire generations. One slight issue is one heraldic description, with a multi-generational pedigree.

A descendant may have made at least two changes to have a new coat of arms granted. Therefore, as shown below, family heraldry is subject not only to geography – of Northamptonshire, or of Leicestershire – but also subject to a moment in time.

Richards

Henry Richards, of Welsh ancestry, was born in 1420. At the age of twenty-four, he met Agnes Fermor, born in 1426.[3] Sometime after their 1446 marriage, Henry took his wife’s surname, an indication that Agnes, the daughter and heiress of her father’s estate, was from a family of higher social distinction than the Richards. Henry Richards alias Fermor had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Thomas.

We know this from the tomb of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s great grandson Sir George Fermor in St. Mary’s Church at Easton Neston. The dexter spandril of the arch has the Fermor arms, and on the sinister spandril:

The Hervey arms signify the marriage of Thomas Richards alias Fermor to his second wife Emmote Hervey. The Browne arms signify the marriage of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s son Richard to Anne Browne.

Fermor (ancient) & Wenman

When Thomas Richards alias Fermor married Emmote Hervey as his second wife, the expectation would be for the Richards arms on the dexter to impale Hervey on the sinister, with possible quarterings to signify Emmote’s first marriage to Henry Wenman. The Wenman coat of arms granted by Roger Machado, Clarenceux and King of Arms in London, is described as:

However, Richard Lee, Portcullis and Pursuivant of Arms, in his 1574 visitation of Oxfordshire, records among the arms in Witney Church the following below the inscription “Thomas Ffarmor and Alice and Emote his wyfes.”

Interestingly, the Wenman and Fermor heraldry is very similar, signifying there may have been a family connection much earlier than Thomas and Emmote’s marriage.

The “anchors and lions” coat of arms remained with Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s line with his sons William and Richard, and then by Richard’s son Sir John Fermor. The arms were passed down to Sir John’s sons and daughters. For example, Mary Fermor married Thomas Lucas, son of John Lucas of London and Colchester by his first wife Mary Abell of Essex. Mary (Fermor) Lucas died on 05 July 1613, and the Lucas coat of arms on her tomb has three shields impaling Fermor.[7]

Fermor (modern)

Sir John Fermor’s son Sir George Fermor had the anchors removed in 1591 with approval from Clarenceux Robert Cooke and Richard Lee of Richmond.[8]

These arms were passed down to Sir George’s sons and daughters, as also seen on his tomb.

Burke’s A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1884) has “lions and anchors” for the Farmers of London; of Somerton, Oxfordshire; and from Northamptonshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire. For descendants who claim Sir George Fermor as an ancestor, “lion heads,” to include the descendants of Oxfordshire; Mount Pleasant, Sussex; Nonsuch Park, Surrey; Northumberland; and Clarvil, Sussex.

For the Irish descendants of Sir George’s son Robert Farmar, to include the Farmar’s of Bloomfield and Dunsinane, County Wexford, a crescent signifies the difference, with exception to Robert’s son Major Jasper Farmar.[10]

Farmer (other)

Descriptions of the heraldry for other Farmer families are as follows.

Draper alias Farmer

At one time, the Fermor’s became Draper’s through the line of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s son John, born to his first wife Alice ___, possibly Draper.

When examining the arms granted to Thomas Draper alias Farmer, the letters included in the Visitation of Berkshire are those of Thomas Draper of Lincoln’s Inn (Thomas^A) whose arms granted in 1612 are identical to the arms of Thomas Draper of Great Marlow (Thomas^B) granted in 1571.

On a column within the Old St. Pancras Church near Islington are the same arms belonging to Richard Draper, Serjeant-at-Law, who died at Highgate in 1756 at the age of sixty-one (b. ca. 1695). The same arms are claimed by Richard Draper’s father Thomas Draper. When proof of descent was requested at the 1687 visitation of London, Thomas produced an untinctured steel seal.[16]

At another point in family history, the surname dropped the alias and simply became “Farmer.” The arms for John Farmer of Cookham, son of Thomas^B, at his tomb in the north transept of the All Saints church in Great Marlow has the sinister showing the relationship of his father’s marriage to Agnes Barker,[17] while the dexter description is described as…

The 1797 and 1847 description has led to speculation that Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s first wife Alice may have been related to John Norman, Lord Mayor of London in 1453 based on descriptions for his coat of arms.

Ferney

When Sir George Fermor changed his arms, the Fermor coat of arms became identical to Fiernye of Yt Ilk from Fife, Scotland. According to Robert Stodart in Scottish Arms, Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678 (1881), the arms in Illuminated Heraldic Manuscript (ca. 1565) once owned by James Workman in 1623 are described as…

Burke’s General Armory notation for Ferny in Scotland is slightly different, perhaps as a result of location and moment in time for the family:

Burke’s Ferney tinctures were used by Thomas Trotter for his 1801 watercolors of the Fermor family monuments at Somerset church,[26] including the arms above the monument to Sir George’s uncle Jerome and his wife Jane. Today, the tinctures on the monument are of the sable fess and lions gules impaling “sable, a bend between two leopards’ faces or.”

As Jane’s identity is unknown, a study of arms and pedigrees may suggest that she descended from the Isaacs of Kent. The research is supported by multiple associations with the Fermors. The Isaacs family arms changed over time, including the tincture of the leopard faces changing from gules to or, and the sinister bend changing to dexter bend.

Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” tracing the family history from 1420 to 1685, and “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh” following their 1685 arrival from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.

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Featured image: “St Mary’s Church, Easton Neston, Northamptonshire,” SeeAroundBritain.com. nd.

[1] Rylands, Disclaimers At The Heralds’ Visitations (1888), pp.iii-viii, 26.

[2] Rylands, Disclaimers At The Heralds’ Visitations (1888), pp.iii-viii, 26.

[3] Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer:  His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers Along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), p.212; Howard et al, Genealogical collections illustrating the history of Roman Catholic families of England (1887).

[4] Baker, History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.148.

[5] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.121.

[6] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), pp.103, 121; Turner, The Visitations of the County of Oxford (1871), p.46.

[7] Raven Visitation of 1612. Metcalfe, Visitations of Essex, p.235.

[8] Rylands, Grantees of Arms Named in Docquets and Patents to the End of the Sixteenth Century (1915), p 86.

[9] Baker, History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.148. Installed in 1609 on the east wall of the All Saints Church in Bisham is a window consisting of six panes, each pane with a shield on the top and a shield on the bottom. Presently, the bottom shield on the fifth pane from the left has Hoby impaling Fermor (modern). Also reference: Page, A Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, vol.3 (1923), pp.139-152.

[10] “Colonial Estates – Philadelphia, PA & Bucks County, PA,” Hobbs and Phillips Family Genealogy; Cook, “Farmar of Ardevalaine, County Tipperary, Ireland and of Whitemarsh, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, vol.21, no.2 (1959), p.93; “Wills Proved at Philadelphia 1682-1692,” Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, vol.1, no.2 (1896), pp.58-59. Endorsed on reverse: Mary Farmers Will 1686 Prob**1 in forme of Law l: 5^th month 1687 & registered Book A: fol: 45 #32. In America, the arms were used by: 1) Edward Farmar (Committee on Heraldry, New England Historic Genealogical Society. A Roll of Arms. 9 vols. Boston, 1928-1980; Jordan, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, vol.4 (1932), p.168/169); 2) Edward’s nephew Thomas Farmar (NEHGS aforementioned; Crozier, William Armstrong. Crozier’s General Armory (1904, reprint 1972)); and 3) Robert Adolph Farmar who was the son of Major Robert Farmer, the British Governor of Mobile (Crozier aforementioned; Matthews, John. Matthews’ American Armoury and Blue Book (1907, reprint 1962). An incorrect coat of arms of “a fess between three cocks’ heads” appears in Bean, History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, vol.2 (1884), p.1139.

[11] Rye, The Visitacion of Norffolk (1891), p.119; Rye, A List of Coat Armour Used in Norfolk Before the Date of the First Herald’s Visitation of 1563 (1917), p.23; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.340.

[12] Bannerman, The Visitations of the County of Sussex, Made and Taken in the Years 1530 (1905), p.113. “by patent dated the xth of November 1575 17 of Q. Elizebeth by Cla. Cooke.”

[13] Metcalfe, The Visitations of Suffolk Made by Hervey, Clarenceux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux 1577, and Raven, Richmond Herald, 1612 (1882), p.113.

[14] Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire (1873).

[15] Fetherston, The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the Year 1619 (1870), p.179. Arms tricked for the descendants of Bartholomew Farmer and Margery ___ of Ratcliff. The coat of arms patented on 20 October 1663 by Sir Edward Walker to George Farmer of Holbeach, Lincolnshire, the fourth son of Bartholomew Farmer of Leicestershire and Ursula Mootus of Whitchurch, removed several charges as follows: “Sable, a chevron between 3 lamps Argent, flames Or.” (Ryley et al, The Visitation of Middlesex, Began in the Year 1663 (1820), p.50; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.340.)

[16] Woodcock, “Heraldry in Old St Pancras Church,” The Coat of Arms; Annual Journal of the Heraldry Society, ser.4 vol.1 no.235 (2018), pp.60-61. Thomas Woodcock, Garter Principal of Arms, writes, “As Thomas’ father Joshua Draper of Braintee [sic], Essex, died in 1686 aged 73, he must have been born in 1613, a year after the grant [to Thomas Draper of Stroud Green in Middlesex by William Camden, Clarenceux in 1612], so would not appear to be a descendant of Thomas Draper the grantee, particularly as his father is also recorded as another Joshua Draper of Braintree, who died in about 1630…” Woodcock also notes that its location as described in Lyson’s time was on the east wall of the chancel and had been relocated to the north wall of the nave (Lysons, The Environs of London, vol.3 (1795), pp.351-353).

[17] “[the] coats-of-arms for Barker and Burghley signify the marriage of William Barker and Anne Burghley, daughter and coheir of William Burghley who lived in Sonning… Who Thomas married though is unknown. John Barker of Wokingham and his wife Katherine Martin had two daughters, Anne and Bridgett, who are not shown in the visitations. All of the children of John Barker and Katherine were listed in John Barker’s will, dated 1551. Neither Ann nor Bridget were married at the time of his death. Both were given an inheritance, to be paid to them should or when they married… It is not clear how the coat-of-arms would have become attached to the Farmers…” (Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer:  His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), p.234.) Per parish records, “1592. Dec. 19. Agnes ffarmer, wife of Thomas ffarmer alias Draper, gent., was buried…” (Stephenson, “Monumental Brasses Formerly In Great Marlow Church,” Records of Buckinghamshire, vol.8 (1903), p. 456.)

[18] Langley, The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough, and Deanery of Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire (1797), p.128.

[19] Lipsomb, The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, vol.3 (1847), p.603.

[20] Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.341.

[21] Bax, “On Some Armorial Ledgers in the Cathedral Church of St. Saviour, Southwark,” Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol.22 (1909), pp.23-24; Boumphrey, Surrey Coat of Arms (1983), p.123.

[22] Stephenson, “Monumental Brasses Formerly In Great Marlow Church,” Records of Buckinghamshire, vol.8 (1903), pp.454-455; Stephenson, A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (1926), p.55. Based on a rubbing in the Society of Antiquaries. The 1673 Roll of Arms for Thomas Draper, Baronet, of Sonninghill Park will also omits the ermine as “656. Three bends, on a chief per fess and argent three fleurs-de-lis, badge of Ulster (Schomberg, “A Roll of Arms, 1673,” The Genealogist, vol.25 (1909), p.245.)

[23] Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer:  His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), pp.215, 224-225; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.737.

[24] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.121; Stodart, Scottish Arms, Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678 (1881), pp.168-169. “William de Ferny occurs in 1390; his descendants held the various Offices of keeper of Falkland forest, constable of Cupar, and mair of fee of Crail. Ferny was alienated early in the seventeenth century, and the heiress married Lovell of Ballumbie. The arms are cut in stone on a monument at Cupar of the fifteenth century. The coat given here is exactly that of Fermor, Earl of Pomfret, in England, and a family of Farmer, in England, bore the same, with three anchors or on the fess; anchors are the bearing of Ferme or Fairholme in Scotland, so it would seem that these southern families, with a surname certainly derived from an occupation, have wished to make out a Scottish descent…”

[25] Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.341.

[26] CMD ID 19903, MS. Top. Oxon d., “Drawings of Somerton church and of the Fermor family monuments there,” Bodleian Library, Oxford.