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Varieties of Thom(p)son(e) arms?

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William J. Thompson:
A few years ago, (long before I discovered this website,) I was browsing some of those fake "buy your family arms" sites. I noticed that under Thompson, they usually had three varieties:
the familiar red cabossed stag's head with devices on a blue chief for Scotland;
the black-and-silver three falcons with the counter-embattled divider for England; and
the three estoils with the sun-canton for Ireland. Nice and neat. If only it was that easy!

I had done some research in a book called The Enclyclopaedia of Heraldry, or the General Armorie of England, Scotland, and Ireland. (Published 1844, available on Google Books, and quite an interesting read in its own right!)

I had found about 44 variations of Thoms listed. When I separated the varieties of matriculations out, nine were the stag's-head motif, seven were the three-falcons motif, and four were the sun-in-canton motif. True to form, the Stag's-Heads were Thomsons, and the Three-Falcons were Thompsons. Surprisingly, ten were some version of a lion passant/sajant, and a further ten were chevron-dividing-three-bits (escallops, estoils, crescents, or whatnot.) There were also some oddballs, like an eagle displayed, or a seahorse holding a flag.

Is this indicative that these are completely separate lines of Thompsons? I suspect that Lord Lyon, the Garter King of Arms, and Ulster King of Arms all do things differently. Could the Non-Stag Thompsons be borderers who fled to England and were granted English arms, and the Sun-Canton Thompsons descendants of displaced Ulsterers? Or are they completely different Sons of Thom than Thomson of That Ilk? Or were they granted arms by England a propos of no previous arms at all?

I think I understand that Lyon may grant a differenced arms to anyone of the same family name, whether or not they can prove direct lineage. Does England work on a different system; that if you can't prove lineage your arms are unique? That would certainly explain the huge variety of English Thompson arms. ...Right?

This armiger stuff is very interesting...the more I learn, the more I want to know!

--Bill.

Scott Thomson:
Yes you're right,

In Scotland the Lord Lyon will give differenced arms to all of that surname regardless of proven descent, I think this can to some extent be based on the notion of the clan in Scottish history, all of a same surname will be regarded as branches of a family or clan.

In England where there is no concept of clan the arms tend to be completely different for every individual regardless of surname, a shared surname is not seen an extended familial bond.

I prefer the Scottish way, after all the purpose of heraldry is to identify individuals, and if those of a common surname have similar chargeson their arms it is a lot easier to determine the identidy of a person.

Mary:
Good post, Bill.......and good answer, Scott!

I've seen the very different designs of arms but never had the time to quantify them. It was interesting to see Bill's data.

When we send in the application to Lyon Court, we will undoubtedly request something based on the old, original arms w/red stag.

Stirling Thompson:
Bill, If memory serves correctly... the three estoiles with sun in canton is actually English as well being primarily associated with Maurice Thompson known for his connections to the West African slave trade. He was merchant involved, along with several brothers, in the early settlement of Virginia. Oddly enough his father was said to have come from the North, from the area north of Carlisle. The arms with the lion passant are associated most closely with either the Lord Sherriff of London or with the Thompson family from the village of Thompson in Norfolk and Tynemouth Castle in Northumberland. Seems no matter how you look at it, it always comes back to the Borders.
Stu

William J. Thompson:

--- Quote from: Stirling Thompson on November 01, 2010, 01:53:47 PM ---...He was merchant involved, along with several brothers, in the early settlement of Virginia. Oddly enough his father was said to have come from the North, from the area north of Carlisle...
--- End quote ---
Well, that's interesting, Stu! There's a far-distant Thompson on my mother's side (yeah, I got 'em down both sides, apparently! ;D), Roger Thompson, who was born in Yorkshire in 1607, and came to Virginia around 1623 or so. At least, rampant ancestry-ing lead me down that path.

 Who knows what secrets the dead may tell?

--Bill

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