Questions like this from other family historians as well as some really bad family trees out there is the reason I published “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” complete with source citations.
The article does a good job pointing out that Laurence would never have been referred as “Sir Laurence Fermour de Richards.” Research shows he clearly adopted the Fermor surname and its various spellings like Fermour or Farmor. There is no evidence he was a knight or clergy to have been referred as Sir Laurence.
Research also shows that Laurence was the son of Thomas Richards alias Fermor by his first wife Alice. When his father remarried to the widow Emmote (Hervey) Wenman, Laurence married Emmote’s daughter Elizabeth Wenman and had four children: William, Thomas, Johan (Joan), and Mary.
In an earlier blog, we examined how the answer to a brick wall can be found… on a brick wall. In this blog we again use heraldry and burial tombs combined with wills and deeds to verify the identity and marriage order of William Fermor’s four wives.
“William Farmor of Somerton, co. Oxon, Esq., first son to Thomas [Richards alias Fermor] by his second wife [Emmote (Hervey) Wenman], mar[ried], to his first wife, the widow of … Marrow of co[unty] Midd[lesex], Esq[uire], and, to his second wife da[ughter] to … a merchant of London ; thirdly, he mar[ried] the da[ughter] of John Pawlet of Basing, co[unty] South[amp]ton, Esq[uire] ; and, fourthly, he mar[ried] Elizabeth, da[ughter] to Lyonnell Norrit of co[unty] Berks[hire], Esq[uire] [sic] by all the which four wives the said William Farmor had no issue, and so dyed without issue…”[1]
Other publications have William’s marriage order as Catherine Paulet, Joan “widow of Marrow”, third wife unknown, and Elizabeth Norris.[2]
William Fermor’s Last Will and Tomb
William Fermor died on 29 September 1552, having made his will eighteen days earlier.[3] His wife Elizabeth was appointed sole executrix and directed to “bear and pay all my funerals after a convenient degree and order and with no pomp or vainglory.” By the terms of William’s will, Elizabeth was to hold the Somerton estates for her life and she was still lady of the manor as late as 1568. By 1573 her nephew Thomas Fermor, the youngest son of William’s brother Richard Fermor and William’s heir, had succeeded her.
At the church in Somerton, William had lengthened and converted the east end of the south aisle into a burial chantry. He installed new windows, constructed a new entrance, and built a round-headed arch giving access to the aisle from the chancel. It is here we find William’s tomb in present St. James Church and use it to work backward into his life.
Burial brass of William Fermor.
Thomas Trotter’s 1801 watercolor of William Fermor’s tomb at St. James Church, Somerton.
Elizabeth Norreys
William’s fourth wife was Elizabeth Norreys, married from after 1510 to his death.
Here lyeth Mr. William Fermour Esq. whyche was lord of this towne and patrone of this churche and also clarke of ye Crowne in ye kings bench by King Henry ye 7th and King Henry ye 8th dayes whyche dyed ye 29th day of 7ber in ye year of our lord god MCCCCCLII and alsoe here lyeth Mestres. Ellsabeth Fermour his last wyffe which was ye daughter of Sr Willm Norrysee Kt. upon whose & all Christen soules Jesu have mercy.[5]
Brasses on tomb of William Fermor and Elizabeth Norreys.
The arms on the brass over Elizabeth’s head is documented as…
[FERMOR, on a fesse between 3 lyons heads rased. 3 anchors]… impaling a chevron between 3 ravens heads rased. q. 1. A chevron between 3 unicornes heads rased. 2. 3 de lis within a border ingrailed. 3. Bends of 8 within a border.[6]
Upon closer inspection, the charges and tincture of her arms are best described as: argent on a fess sable between three lions’ heads erased gules three anchors or [FERMOR] impaling argent a chevron sable between three ravens’ heads erased sable [RAVENSCROFT / NORREYS], quartering 1) argent a chevron gules between three unicorn heads erased azure [HORNE]; 2) argent three fleur-de-lis gules a bordure gules engrailed [FABIAN]; 3) a bend of ten or and azure a bordure gules [MOUNTFORT / MERBROOKE].[7]
The same descriptions were also provided by Anthony Wood on 28 February 1675 for a coat of arms displayed at Sarsden House, Oxfordshire, and arms at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame.
XXXVIII. On a fess between three lions’ heads erased three anchors (untinctured), [Fermor] impaling, Ravenscroft, quartering, Per fess Or, two bars Gu. within a bordure Az.[8]
NORRIS and FERMOR. 1 and 4, NORRIS, Quarterly argent and gules, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a fret or, over all a bend azure. 2 and 3, FERMOR. Argent a chevron sable between three ravens’ heads erased of the last.[9]
Coat of arms for William Fermor impaling Elizabeth Norreys.
From her coat of arms, we are able to conclude that Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir William Norreys (d. 1507) and Anne Horne, the daughter of Joan Fabian and Robert Horne, fishmonger, alderman, and Sheriff of London. Sir William was the son of Alice Merbrooke and John Norreys, son of Christian Streche and William Norreys of Bray, son of Anne De Rivers and Roger Norreys, son of Millicent Ravenscroft and John Norreys of Bray. When John married Millicent, daughter and heir of Ravenscroft of Cotton, the line of Norreys assumed the Ravenscroft arms. Likewise, a line of the Merbrooke family adopted the Mountfort arms.[10]
William secured an annuity of £20 in 1539 for himself and Elizabeth who, by some sources, he had married that year. However, the 1535 will of his stepbrother Richard Wenman bequeathed to “Elizabeth, wife of my brother William Farmer, a juell of 10 marks.”[11]
Catherine Paulet
William’s third wife was Catherine Paulet, married from after 1508 to her death in 1510.
Catherine was the daughter of Sir John Paulet of Nunney by his wife Alice Poulett of Hinton St. George, Somersetshire. We know this from two sources.
First, a visual inspection of the brass over William’s head has an untinctured coat of arms signifying his marriage to Catherine.
on a fesse between 3 lyons heads rased. 3 anchors Impaling. 3 swords points meeting in brasse. q. 1. Fretty a canton. 2. 6 martletts. 3. A fesse between 3 de lis.[12]
This brass and Thomas Trotter’s 1801 watercolor was then matched with known coat of arms, yielding a description most likely charged and tinctured as: argent on a fess sable between three lions’ heads erased gules three anchors or [FERMOR] impaling sable three swords in pile, points in base argent pommels and hilts or [POULET], quartering 1) argent fretty gules a canton sable [IREBY]; 2) argent six martlets sable three, two, one [DELAMARE]; 3) azure a fess between three fleur-de-lis argent [SKELTON].[13]
Coat of arms for William Fermor impaling Catherine Paulet.
Second, Catherine passed away on 26 May 1510 and was buried at Hornchurch, Essex. Based on her coat of arms, the epitaph cast in stone partially reads in error as:
Here lyeth Katherine the daughter of Sir William Pawlet, Knight, [sic] wyf of William Fermour, Clerke of the Crown, who died May 26 the second of Henry the Eighte.[14]
Catherine’s brother, Sir William Paulet, was 1st Marquess of Winchester. The Paulet family will have other marital connections to the Fermor’s in later generations.
Joan Grove
William’s second wife was Joan Grove, married in 1508.
25 June 1508. Westminster, Buckinghamshire. Roger Grove, citizen and alderman of London, and Joan, his wife, deforciants… [grant] William Fermour and Joan, his wife, querents… the manor of Groue Plate and 70 acres of land, 10 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture, 6 acres of wood and 17 shillings and 4 pence of rent in Chalfount Sancti Egidij and Chalfount Sc’i Petri…[16]
12 November 1508. Westminster, Buckinghamshire. William [Fermour] and Joan, his wife, have acknowledged the manor and tenements to be the right of Roger, as those which Roger and Joan, his wife, have of their gift, and have remised and quitclaimed them from themselves and the heirs of Joan to Roger and Joan, his wife, and the heirs of Roger for ever. For this, Roger and Joan, his wife, have granted to William and Joan, his wife, the manor and tenements and have rendered them to them in the court, to hold to William and Joan, his wife, and the heirs of their bodies, of the chief lords for ever. In default of such heirs, remainder to the right heirs of William.[17]
Roger died in 1508. William’s second marriage was also short lived when Joan died at about the same time and was buried at Chalfont St. Giles. Her burial brass shows a woman standing in prayer. Above her is a well-worn coat of arms with three anchors visible in fess on the sinister impaling an unrecognizable dexter that may have been “ermine a chevron engrailed gules charged with three scallops or.”[18]
Burial brass of Joan Grove, second wife of William Fermor.
Grove coat of arms.
Joan Chedworth
William’s first wife was Joan Chedworth, married from around 1499 to around 1508.
Joan was the daughter of alderman William Chedworth of Stepney, and the widow of William Marrow V of Redfern, Warwickshire. Marrow was the son of Sir William Marrow IV, Mayor of London in 1455, and Katherine Rich, daughter of Richard Rich, mercer and sheriff of London. William and Katherine’s two other children, Joan and Katherine, respectively married Sir William Clopton and Sir Robert Throckmorton who will have family ties to the Fermor’s in later generations.
Marrow V’s will written on 26 February 1499 and probated on 30 October 1499 requested burial at St. Botolph’s without Bishopgate under his father’s tomb. By Joan, he left a son, Thomas (d. 1538); two minor daughters Elizabeth and Katherine; Anne who had married ___ Duckling; and Cecily who married Hugh Weldon by whom she had four sons.[19]
Thomas Marrow’s great grandson Sir Edward Marrow will marry Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s second great granddaughter Ursula Fiennes.
[1] Metcalf, The Visitations of Northamptonshire Made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), p.19. Lyonell Norreys was Elizabeth’s brother.
[2] Coros, “Fermor, William (by 1580-1552), of Somerton, Oxon. and London,” The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (1982). The footnote also states that Metcalfe’s Visitations is in error, presumably “fourthly, he mar[ried] Elizabeth, da[ughter] to Lyonnell Norreys of co. Barks [Berkshire], Esq…”
[3] Hutchens, “Will of William Fermor of Somerton,” Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS.uk). nd. An abstract also found in Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.105.
[4] Ross, “Somerton, St James Church,” BritainExpress.com. nd; Coros, “Fermor, William (by 1480-1552), of Somerton, Oxon. and London,” The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (1982).
[5] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.106; Collins, The Peerage of England, vol.5 (1768), p.49. Alternately, “Here lyeth buried Mr. Wylliam Fermour Esquyre which was Lord of this towne and patrone of this church, and also Clark of the crowne in the Kings Bench by Kyng Henry the vii. and Kyng Henry ye VIII. days, which dyed ye XXIX daye of September in ye yere of our Lord God MCCCCCLII. and also here lyeth Mestres Elisabeth Fermoure hys last wife, whyche was the dawghter of Syre Wylliam Norryshe Knyght. Upon whose souls and all christen souls Jesu have mercy (Davenport, Lords Lieutenant and High Sheriffs of Oxfordshire, 1086-1868 (1868), p.35; Gomme, The Gentleman’s Magazine Library, pt.9 (1897), p.211.)
[6] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.106; “Art. VII. Church Notes, etc. of Somerton, in Oxfordshire,” The Topographer, vol.3 no.2 (August 1790), p.91. A closer visual inspection contradicts “a bendy of eight” and “a bendy of ten.” A bendy of nine as shown on the brass is pictured.
[7] The seal of Richard de Mountfort circa 1365 was a bendy of ten a bordure (Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (1894), p.271). Burke’s General Armory describes one Mountfort arms as “bendy or and az. a bordure gu.” but does not define which line of Mountfort, and yet another line from Warwickshire as “bendy of six or and az. a border gu.” (Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.712). The Horne arms in Sarsden House are “ar. on a chev. engr. gu. between three unicorn heads az. a crescent or.” (Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.507).
[8] Turner, The Visitations of the County of Oxford (1871), p.10.
[9] Lee, History and Antiquities of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame (1883), p.171. Footnote states: “On the tomb the herald-painter has made some obvious mistakes. Fermor is incorrectly represented in the first and fourth quarters; and the arms of Norris in the second and third are altogether wrong…”
[11] TNA PROB 11/25; Bloom, Wayman Wills and Administrations Preserved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1383-1821 (1922), pp.11-12; Moore, “Will of Richard Wenman of Witney,” Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS.uk). nd; Lee, History and Antiquities of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame (1883), p.442.
[12] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.106; “Art. VII. Church Notes, etc. of Somerton, in Oxfordshire,” The Topographer, vol.3 no.2 (August 1790), p.91.
[13] Paviour, “Catholicism in Somerton: The Fermors and Catholicism in Somerton,” SomertonOxon.co.uk. 2015; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (1884), pp.275, 340, 817. The arms of Sir George Paulet, the second son of Sir John Paulet of Basing, and brother to William Paulet, the first Marquis of Winchester, had eight quarterings for Paulet – 1) Paulet; 2) Roos; 3) Poynings; 4) St. John; 5) Delamare of Hampshire; 6) Hussey; 7) Skelton; 8) Ireby; 9) Delamare – of which 1, 7, 8, & 9 are shown on the Fermor brass; however, Ireby is described as “argent, a fret sable, and a canton of the second” (Baignet et al, A Practical Manual of Heraldry, and of Heraldic Illumination (1864), pp.34-35).
[14] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.105; Urban, “Topography of Somerton,” The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, vol.97 pt.1 (February 1827), p.115. Another publication has the date of 1511 (Simpson, A List of the Sepulchral Brasses of England (1857), p.24).
[15] Page, A Victoria History of the County of Buckingham, vol.3 (1925), pp.184-193; Green, “The National Archives PROB 11/55/374,” The Oxford Authorship Site. 2009.
[18] “probably identifying the lady as Joan (Grove) wife of William Fermour, who died about 1525…” (Page, A Victoria History of the County of Buckingham, vol.3 (1925), pp.184-193.)
[19] Davis, The Ancestry of Mary Isaac (1955), pp.339-340; Green, “The National Archives PROB 11/5/139,” The Oxford Authorship Site. 2013; Green, “The National Archives PROB 11/12/372,” The Oxford Authorship Site. 2020; Green, “The National Archives PROB 11/12/390,” The Oxford Authorship Site. 2012. The latter source cites chancery record TNA C 1/88/21 to refute claims within the Visitations of Cornwall that Joan Chedworth was the daughter of Sir Thomas Catworth as well as the 1619 Visitations of Warwickshire of another Joan Chedworth, the daughter of John Chadworth, Mayor of London in 1402 (reference Vivian, The Visitations of Cornwall, Comprising the Heralds’ Visitations of 1530, 1573, & 1620 (1887), p.638; Fetherston, The Visitations of Warwickshire in the Year 1619 (1877), p.69.)
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.
FERMOR, quartering 1. Azure a saltier between four eagles displayed or [RICARDS]; 2. Gules on bend argent three trefoils slipped vert [HERVEY]; 3. Per pale indented argent and or a chevron between three escallops gules [BROWNE].[4]
Fermor (top left) quartered with Richards (top right), Hervey (bottom left), and Browne (bottom right).
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:
WENMAN: on a fess between three anchors as many lions’ heads erased.[5]
Wenman Coat of Arms
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.”
FARMER (ancient): arg[ent] on a fess Sa[ble] between three lions’ heads erased Gu[les] three anchors Or.[6]
Fermor / Farmer Coat of Arms (ancient)
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.
Fermor / Farmer Coat of Arms (modern)
I to VI: FERMOR
VII: Argent an eagle displayed sable collared or within a border sable Bezanty [KILLIGREW] impaling FERMOR. [Jane Fermor’s marriage to Sir John Killigrew.]
VIII. FERMOR ancient [sic?], impaling FERMOR modern. [Agnes Fermor’s marriage to Sir Richard Wenman?]
IX to XI: FERMOR
XII: Argent a fess between three blackbirds sable [HOBY] impaling FERMOR. [Katherine Fermor’s marriage to William Hoby.]
XIII. FERMOR impaling 1. Argent a chevron between three crosses flory sable [ANDERSON]; 2. Argent three cocks gules [COCKAYNE]. [Sir Hatton Fermor’s marriage to Elizabeth Anderson and Anne Cokayne.]
XIV: 1. Or a chevron gules canton ermine [STAFFORD OF BLATHERWICK]; 2. Gules an inescocheon argent between eight mullets in orle or [CHAMBERLAYNE], impaling FERMOR. [Elizabeth Fermor’s marriages to Sir William Stafford and Thomas Chamberlayne of Wickham.]
XV: FERMOR
XVI: 1. Argent lion rampant azure [CRICHTON]; 2. Gules three lions passant in pale or [O’BRIEN], impaling FERMOR. [Mary Fermor’s marriages to Robert Crichton and Barnabas O’Brien.][9]
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.
Descriptions of the heraldry for other Farmer families are as follows.
Farmer of Norfolk (1552) Argent, on a saltire sable (sometimes sable), between four lions’ heads erased gules, a martlet between four bezants, on a chief azure an anchor between two pallets or.[11]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Norfolk
Farmer of Walsh, Sussex (1575) gules, a chevron vaire between three lions rampant or.[12]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Walsh, Sussex
Farmer of Sussex Ermine a chevron Sable between three roses Gules [Farmor].[13]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Sussex
Farmers of Worcestershire argent, on a fesse sable between three lion’s heads erased gules, as many acorns slipped or.[14]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Worcestershire
Farmers of Leicestershire sable, on a chevron between three lamps argent, flammant proper, a leopard’s face between two mullets gules.[15]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Leicestershire
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 (ThomasA) whose arms granted in 1612 are identical to the arms of Thomas Draper of Great Marlow (ThomasB) granted in 1571.
Draper alias Farmer, 1571 & 1612
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 ThomasB, 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…
Langley, History of Buckinghamshire (1797) Arms, Baron and femme. In chief, 3 fleurs de lys in base 3 bends [DRAPER] ; impaling quarterly, 1 and 4, a lion [BARKER] — 2 and 3, three spears [BURGHLEY].[18]
Lipscomb, History of Buckingham (1847) On a Chief three fleur-de-lis: in base three bendlets: repeated on another shield. Quarterly, 1 and 4, party per chev. Engrailed, a lion ramp… counter charged; 2 and 3, a chief… surtout three spears in pale.[19]
Burke, General Armory (1884) bendy of eight or and gu. on a chief ar. three fleurs-de-lis az.[20] [Most closely matches the untictured arms for Thomas William Farmer (1786-1837), a hop and seed merchant buried with his wife Mary Ann (1791-1838) at St. Saviour, Southwark.] [21]
Stephenson, Monumental Brasses (1903 & 1926) (1). (Gu.). three bendlets (or), on a chief per fess (arg.) and ermine three fleur de lys in the upper part (sa.) DRAPER. (2). Per chevron engrailed (or) and (sa.) a lion rampant counterchanged. BARKER. Quartering. Per chief (sa.) and (arg.) over all three tilting spears erect counterchanged. BURLEY.[22]
John Farmer of Cookham, d.1631
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.
Burke’s General Armory: or, three bars gules; in the chief argent as many fleur-de-lis sable.[23]
Harleian MSS: or, three bendlets gules, a chief per fess argent and ermine, charged in chief with three fleurs de lys sable.
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…
the fess is sable… with three anchors on the fess; anchors are the bearing of Ferme or Fairholme.[24]
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:
Or. a fesse az. betw. three lions’ heads erased gu.[25]
Ferney Coat of Arms
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.”
Jane (Isaacs?) Fermor Coat of Arms
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.
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: 5th 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.
