Heraldry · 17 houses
The arms of the houses the line passes through, and of the families that married into it. Arms belong to a person and their heirs, not to everyone with the surname, so these show where the family came from rather than arms anyone may use now.
The Howard quarterings, borne by William Howard, Viscount Stafford; his heirs the Earls of Stafford added Woodstock and Stafford.
William Howard married Mary Stafford, sister and heir of the last Baron Stafford of the old line, in 1637; in 1640 the Stafford barony was created anew for them. Their descendants took the name Howard Stafford, and it runs through the manuscript to Emily Howard Stafford, who married Captain John Forbes Paton in Calcutta in 1820.
Gules, a bend between six cross crosslets fitchy argent.
After Flodden in 1513 the 2nd Duke was granted an augmentation to be borne on the bend: the royal arms of Scotland, with the lion cut in half and pierced through the mouth by an arrow. Every later Howard in the line bears it. The first shield shows the 1st Duke's arms, Howard quartering Brotherton and Mowbray.
Or, a chevron gules. Badge: the Stafford knot.
The old Stafford line came down through the Dukes of Buckingham. The 3rd Duke was beheaded in 1521; his son Henry was created Baron Stafford in 1547, and Mary Stafford became heir of the line.
Gules, a lion rampant argent.
Margaret Mowbray brought the Mowbray inheritance, and in time the dukedom of Norfolk, to the Howards.
Sable, a lion rampant argent, crowned or.
Elizabeth de Segrave, daughter of John, Lord Segrave, and Margaret of Brotherton, married John, Lord Mowbray; their son inherited the Segrave and Brotherton lands.
England, with a label of three points argent.
A son of Edward I, made Earl of Norfolk. The label marks a king's son.
Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or.
Borne from Richard I's time. The earlier kings in the line, Henry I and Henry II, used no fixed arms.
Early: gyronny or and azure, an escutcheon gules. Later: or, a lion rampant sable.
The counts in this line lived before heraldry. The gyronny shield was attributed to them later; the black lion was adopted in the 1160s.
Attributed: per pale, the imperial eagle and the lilies of France.
Invented for Charlemagne centuries after his death. It is decoration, not a record.
Gules, a chevron between ten crosses pattée argent.
Mary Berkeley of Spetchley married Henry Howard Stafford in 1705. This is the disputed link in the line.
Gules, a lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or. Shown: the quartered arms of John Talbot, 1st Earl; Talbot is the second quarter.
Alathea Talbot married Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel; together they built one of the great art collections of 17th-century England.
Gules, three escallops argent.
Anne Dacre married St Philip Howard, who died a prisoner in the Tower in 1595.
Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent.
Frances de Vere married Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the poet.
Argent, a fess and a canton gules. Shown: the quartered arms of her brother Anthony, 2nd Earl Rivers.
Catherine Woodville, sister of Edward IV's queen, married Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.
Or, a lion rampant azure (Percy), quartered with Lucy; shown with Poynings, as borne by the 4th Earl.
Eleanor Percy married Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.
Stafford impaling her father Thomas of Woodstock's arms: the royal arms within a bordure argent.
A granddaughter of Edward III, she married Edmund, 5th Earl of Stafford.
Crest: a goshawk, wings displayed. Motto: Gang warily.
A clansman's crest badge, worn by anyone of the clan. It is not a personal coat of arms. It comes into the family through Elizabeth Drummond, Wallace Dron's mother.
No arms have been found for these three families. If anyone has a seal, a signet ring, an engraved bookplate or a crest on old silver, please photograph it. It may show arms a forebear actually used.
