Queer Achievement : International Heraldry Day 2015

[Achievement – the name given in heraldry to the full pictorial representation of a coat of arms.]

To celebrate this year’s International Heraldry Day today I’m presenting another heraldic alphabet, the first of which I did last year. I enjoyed compiling it so much that I’ve done a brand new one.

As with last year’s list all the people whose coats of arms are represented here are from the lgbt community and come from several countries and from several time periods.

Most of the designs are of the coats of arms of the individual’s family rather than the individual her/himself. There may be small and subtle differences which each individual is entitle to display. Also, as before, several of the arms have been featured in previous “Queer Achievement” articles.

All of the arms shown have been officially recognised by the heraldic authorities in their respective countries – except one. The arms of George Ives is that of his father. Being illegitimate George wasn’t entitled to inherit his father’s arms under English law, but as he was accepted as a full member of the Ives family I’ve decided to include it.

There is also an example of what is called “assumed” arms. Sir Robert d’Oilly lived during a period before the modern concept of heraldry developed. In a future article I’ll explain more about these “assumed” arms and why they were created.

I’ve used several different methods of depicting female coats of arms. For unmarried women like Anne Lister and Sarah Ponsonby I’ve shown their paternal arms, the only ones they could have used in their lifetime. For married women I’ve used 3 methods - for Rosamund Grosvenor, Violet Trefusis and Virginia Woolf I’ve shown their pre-marital paternal arms, for Helen von Zuylen I’ve shown her husband’s arms, and for Vita Sackville-West I’ve shown her marital arms. All methods are technically correct.

So, here is my lgbt heraldic alphabet for International Heraldry Day 2015.

A) Anthony Asquith (1902-1968) – film director.
B) Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - statesman, scientist, writer
C) Lionel Charlton (1879-1958) – RAF Air Commodore, boy’s adventure novelist
D) Sergei Ivanovich Donaurov (1839-1897) – poet
E) Charles, the Chevalier d’Eon de Beaumont (1728-1810) – diplomat, spy
F) Sir Ewan Forbes, 11^th Bt., (1912-1996) – transgender pioneer, doctor

G) Rosamund Grosvenor (1888-1944) – socialite, partner of Vita Sackville-West
H) Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) – Secretary General of the United Nations
I) George Cecil Ives (1876-1950) – writer
J) Rt. Rev. Percy Jocelyn (1764-1843) – Bishop of Clogher, Ireland
K) Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) – writer
L) Anne Lister (1791-1840) – landowner, traveller, diarist

M) Oliver Messel (1904-1978) – stage designer
N) Roden Noel (1834-1894) – poet
O) Sir Robert d’Oilly (d.1091) – Domesday Book landowner, Norman baron
P) Sarah Ponsonby (1754-1831) – with her partner Eleanor Butler, one of the Ladies of Llangollen
R) Charles Ricketts (1866-1931) – painter
S) Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) – writer

T) Violet Trefusis (1894-1972) – writer
U) Dave Upthegrove (b.1971) – King’s County Council member, Washington State
V) Lucino Visconti (1906-1976) – film director
W) Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) – writer
Y) Liz Yeo – Gay Games doubles tennis champion 2010
Z) Helene von Zuylen (1863-1947) – socialite, author, pioneering female motor racing driver