General Category > Heraldry

Clan Thomson & Heraldry

(1/3) > >>

Allan Thomson:
The importance of heraldry to the formation of a Clan Thom(p)son cannot be overstated.  In the pursuit of recognition of Clan Status and a Thomson Chief it would be normal for the clan to seek recognition from the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland.  

The simplest way forward is to provide evidence of a strong support amongst Thom(p)son’s for the idea of a clan ie the clan list/roll call which this forum and website will help to achieve.

The next hurdle is to unearth or create a chief.  It would be nice to unearth evidence of an existing Chief of Clan Thomson however while some have argued the theoretical existence of a Clan Thomson Chief it is unlikely that we will ever be able to find details of that individual (if they did indeed exist).  Its more likely that Clan Thom(p)son would have to seek recognition of a new Chief and approach the Lord Lyon via a process known as a Derbhfine.  This is described succinctly in the Clan Duncan Society Website (see link http://www.clan-duncan.co.uk/clan-recognition-derbhfine.html ).  

In essence the Derbhfine process requires the Clan to bring together 9 or more armigers (armiger = a person who has a Grant of a Coat of Arms (Scotland)) or Thomsons who are significant Land owners in Scotland.

Clan Thom(p)son could seek to recruit 9 clan members (who are eligible for a grant of arms from Lyon Court – ie of Scottish Descent etc etc http://www.lyon-court.org/lordlyon/228.html ) to achieve this process anew they would need 9 members and each of these would need to be willing to pay between £1,194.00 and £1,926.00 UK Pounds for a grant of arms.  In a nutshell.... this could become an expensive business..!! (potentially 15,000 – 17,500 UK Pounds) possibly more as the price of petitioning for arms tends to rise in April of each year.

Rather than seek to create 9 new armigers it would make sense to seek favourable support from at least 9 existing Scottish Armigers who could help take this process forward.  This Clan website has a list of some 50 or so Thom(p)son arms http://www.clanthompson.org/arms1.html.  Find these armigers or there descendants....it would be a good starting point and details of the older ‘grants of arms’ are now available to view via the scotlands people website (charge of £10 per entry).  

I am interested in the Heraldry of the Thom(p)sons and will add any details here that I find.  I hope that it will spark some interest amongst other forum users

Allan Thomson

Allan Thomson:
To kick things off here are some details I have uncovered about one of the armigers highlighted in the "arms" section of this website.

Robert Charteris Thomson of Amisfield.

I was able to access a copy of the Letters Patent for this armiger via the www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk  website.  He was granted arms on 10th March 1894 by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland.  

BLAZON:  Argent a fess Azure between two mullets in chief Or and a stag’s head cabossed in base proper.  (blazon is the term for the written description of the arms – for the image see this website www.clanthompson.org/arms3.html )

The letters patent show Robert was the son of William Thomson of Hamilton Canada (b???? - d1880) and his wife Jean Charteris.
The Letters Patent provides no further history on his Thomson ancestry but focuses on the ancestors of the armigers mother Jean Charteris.  The document provides a link between Jean Charteris and Sir John Charteris of Amisfield, Dumfries, Scotland who died circa 1615.  

A google search of “Robert Charteris Thomson” finds further details via the Whitehern Museum Archives www.whitehern.ca/.  This site is a repository of information on the McQuestens Family of Hamilton Ontario including many letters from the period between (1849 – 1934).  It is within the letters that some further information on Robert Charteris Thomson is available and also through footnotes created by the researcher Dr Mary Anderson.

“Robert Charteris Thomson, lumber merchant, lived at "Amisfield," 1 Duke Street, near Whitehern. The home had been purchased by Robert in 1887, but had been previously owned by his father, William Thomson  and his mother Jean (Charteris)Thomson.  There were several branches of the large Thomson family in Hamilton [Canada] and they are frequently mentioned in the letters.”


I have no further information on this armiger or his descendants but if it was indeed a large family then it is possible that there is a living descendant who may have or may yet be entitled to matriculate the original or differenced arms.  Perhaps a relation will stumble across this Clan Forum..?

Allan


[attachment deleted by admin]

Stirling Thompson:
We do have one other armiger at the moment, Scott Thomson in Aberdeen. So we only need seven more! I hope we can find them and someday attain full recognition as a clan in our own right. In the meantime we're pursuing the idea of corporate recognition for the Clan Thom(p)son Society as representing the Thom(p)son name through the Lyon Court. The more members we can get on the ground in Scotland the better so hopefully you can help us out in that area. Oh yes, before I forget, welcome to you and yours and hope you will continue as an active member!
Stu

Allan Thomson:
Thanks Stu,

I searched Scott Thomson on the forum and I have now seen his posts and his excellent arms.  I had missed this when browsing the forum earlier. 

Allan 

Allan Thomson:
Arms of MITCHELL-THOMSON

In another (hopefully interesting) delve into the world of Thomson Heraldry (ah I do love lazy public holidays in the snow !!) I looked up the Lyon Court Records for Mitchell-Thomson.  I have always quite liked the design of these arms while my wife feels they differ to much from the usual Thomson pattern design.

In 1891 Mitchell Thomson (1846 – 1918), City Councillor of Edinburgh, petitioned the Lord Lyon King of Arms for a grant of arms.  This chap had quite a distinguished career and ended as Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
 
Arms of Mitchell Thomson are shown on  http://www.clanthompson.org/arms2.html and the arms of his son on a subsequent page http://www.clanthompson.org/arms4.html.  

I have trawled the internet for references to this armiger and there descendants and I note that the current holder of the arms would be Malcolm McEacharn Mitchell-Thomson. 3rd Baron Selsdon.

(1846 – 1918) Mitchell Thomson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

(1877 – 1938) William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson, William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baron Selsdon KBE PC, known as Sir William Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baronet, from 1918 to 1932, was a British politician.

(1913 – 1963) Peter Mitchell-Thomson, was born in 1877 to the 1st Baron Selsdon and would later succeed his father as Lord Selsdon. He was an active sports racer and in 1949 he earned the distinction as the first Scotsman to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race, co-driving a Ferrari 166 with 1934 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinetti.

(1937 - ) Malcolm McEacharn  is the current Baron Selsdon.  THE 3RD BARON SELSDON , of Croydon, Surrey and a Baronet (Sir Malcolm McEacharn Mitchell-Thomson, Bt)

A Baron.... A potential Chief for the Clan..? Perhaps (if he was interested) and yet I gather the Lord Lyon has issues about Chiefs with hyphenated names (see Duke of Hamilton and Clan Douglas).  

Allan Thomson

(Apologies for the broken web links - cant seem to get the links to work..!)


[attachment deleted by admin]

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page