Heraldic Alphabet 2020

It’s International Heraldry Day again, and I’m celebrating with more coats of arms in the lgbt community. There are 24 of the 26 letters represented this year, using names by which the individuals are usually known.

I’ve spent many, many hours over the years pouring over heraldic books and family trees to ensure as much as possible that each name below in entitled to use the coat of arms illustrated, whether in reality or in theory. The arms are subject to different rules depending on their country of origin. As in previous years they are a mixture of family, personal, marital and official arms. I’ll explain these first. Different nations will have variations of these descriptions.

Family – arms inherited through the father’s family and generally only used by the senior bloodline heir. Children and family members who belong to a junior line may be required to add differences to the arms.

Personal – arms granted by a recognised heraldic authority to, or inherited by, the person listed. I’ve included people entitled to use differences, as mentioned above.

Assumed – arms originally adopted by a person or family where no recognised heraldic authority existed in their lifetime or location. The arms may be in use in other nations by people of the same family name, often unrelated.

Marital – this is complicated: traditionally, wives adopt the arms of their husbands. If she has her own arms she can show them side by side with her husband’s on one shield, or (as an heiress) on a little shield on top of his. Heraldic authorities have modified the rules to included same-sex married couples.

Arms of Office – arms of a corporate, municipal, religious or educational institution, etc., of which the person  was the nominal head and entitled to use in relation to their duties during their term of office.

One thing to remember is that in some nations unmarried women put their arms on a diamond-shaped lozenge or an oval instead of a shield. For the sake of visual uniformity I have use shields throughout.

A) Zoë Akins (1886-1953), US playwright and screenwriter. Marital arms: her arms as Mrs. Hugo Rumbold, being those of her husband Hugo (1884-1932). The star indicates that Hugo was the third son of the head of the family.

B) Sybil Bedford (1911-2006), Anglo-German writer. Family arms: the arms of her paternal family, the Schoenebecks. For more information see here.

C) Mark Chatfield (1953-1998), US Olympic and Gay Games swimmer; cellist. Family arms: those granted by the College of Arms to Mark’s direct ancestor Richard Chatfield (1500-1586). I’ll write more about Mark’s arms next month.

D) Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), Polish artist. Marital arms: her arms as Baroness Kuffner de Diószegh, being those of her Czech husband Baron Raul Kuffner de Diószegh (1886-1961).

E) Rev. Peter Elers (1930-1986), Vicar of Thaxted, Essex; 1st President of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Family arms: those of his paternal family, originally from Germany, which were confirmed for use in England by the College of Arms in 1836.

F) Simon Fanshawe (b.1956), English broadcaster and writer. Family arms: those used by his direct male ancestors since 1649. The cross and checks are an “augmentation of honour” awarded by the College of Arms in 1649 in recognition of several members of the family having been Remembrancer of the Exchequer.

G) Reynell Grissell (1927-1999), English concert pianist. Personal arms: those of his father to which is added a crescent to show he was his 2nd son.

H) Mrs. Phebe Coffin Hanaford (1829-1921), the first woman in the US to be ordained as a Universalist minister. Family arms: those of her father’s direct male-line ancestor Tristram Coffin (1609-1681).

I) Ryurik Ivnev (1891-1981), Russian poet, novelist and translator. Family arms: those of his paternal ancestors, the Kovalyov family. Ivnev’s real name was Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kovalyov.

L) Lionel Johnson (1867-1902), English poet and essayist. Family arms: those of his grandfather, Sir Henry Allen Johnson (1785-1860), 2nd baronet.

K) Robert Kitson (1873-1947), English artist and architect of Casa Cuseni. Personal arms: those he was entitled to use as the son and heir of John Kitson (1843-1899). The star indicates that Robert’s father was a third son.

L) Sir Thomas Lipton, 1st Bt. (1878-1931), Scottish tea merchant. Personal arms: granted to him by the English College of Arms in 1902.

M) Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), American poet, playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner. Marital arms:  her arms as Madame Boissevan, being those of her husband the French coffee importer Eugen Jan Boissevain (1880-1949).

N) Pola Negri (1897-1987), Polish-American actor and star of the Silent Screen. Marital arms: the arms of the Polish Godziemba clan which her husband Count Eugeiusz Dubski was entitled to use.

O) Edward Onslow (1758-1829), English MP. Personal arms: those he used as the 2nd son (indicated by the crescent) of the 1st Earl of Onslow.

P) Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish-born officer in the American Revolutionary arms. Family arms: for more information see here.

R) Capt. Edward Rigby (pre 1670-after 1711), English naval captain of HMS Drago. Family arms: those depicted on his portrait.

S) Nicole Stéphane (1923-2007), French actor, film producer and director. Family arms: those of her paternal family, the French de Rothschilds (Nicole was born Baroness Nicole de Rothschild).

T) Olga Tsuberbiller (1845-1975), Russian mathematician. Family arms: those of her paternal family, the Gubonin family.

U) Rev. Nicholas Udall (1504-1556), English schoolmaster and playwright. Arms of office: those of Eton College of which Rev. Udall was Head 1534-1541.

V) Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann (b.1958), Bishop of Monmouth, the 1st openly lesbian bishop in Wales. Arms of Office: her arms as bishop, being those of the diocese of Monmouth.

W) Anne Whitney (1821-1915), American sculptor. Assumed family arms: those used by some descendants of John Whitney (1621-1692), Anne’s ancestor, who arrived in New England in 1635. This is one of several variations.

Y) Cardinal York, Prince Henry Stuart (1725-1807), Duke of York and pretender to the British throne. Personal arms: those he used as a British prince and Roman Catholic cardinal. He was referred to by his title not his family name.

Z) Lydia Zinovievna-Annibal (1866-1907), Russian writer and playwright. Family arms: those of her paternal family, the Zinovieva family.

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 13) Eastern Trade

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 33) David Mixner (b.1946) was an anti-Vietnam War campaigner when 34) Leonard Matlovich (1943-1988) was serving there before being discharged because he was gay, as was 35) Frank Kameny (1925-2011), both being among many people discharged from the US armed forces since the first, 36) Frederik Gotthold Enslin (c.1740-after 1778) who escaped the death penalty, until his fellow Dutchman 37) Joost Schouten (c1600-1644).

37) Joost Schouten was one of the leading colonial administrators of the Dutch East Indies Company, the VOC, in the early 17th century. The VOC was the biggest trading organisation in the world at that time. It was founded to obtain spices and luxury goods from East Asia for the European market. Its operations spread from the Indonesian islands to Siam (modern Thailand) and Japan.

Joost Schouten joined the VOC in 1622. He was posted to their trading post at Ayutthaya in Siam. Shortly after he arrived East Asia trade was becoming unprofitable and the Ayutthaya post was closed down. Joost was chosen by the company to remain to buy and store merchandise and to act as a diplomatic agent. Two years later the post reopened.


The flag of the Dutch East Indies Company (the VOC) from 1630.

Joost was reassigned to an exploratory trade mission to Japan in 1625 as secretary to the Dutch colonial governor Willem Janszoon. He returned to Siam after the mission. Incidentally, Janszoon had been the first European to see Australia.

The VOC closed its Ayutthaya post again in 1629 and Joost returned to Japan as their Dutch envoy. At this time the shogun, the military ruler, of Japan was Tokugawa Hidetada, though he had actually abdicated his powers to his son 38) Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651).

Diplomatic relations between Japan and Siam were becoming strained, particularly after the usurpation of the Siamese throne in 1629. Japanese nationals were being victimised in Siam and Shogun Iemitsu refused to receive a Siamese diplomatic mission. This led eventually to the foreign policy adopted in Japan in 1641 that effectively cut off Japan from the rest of the world.

Joost Schouten was on the move again, and back to Siam, and the Ayutthaya trading post was opened once again. Joost was appointed its “opperhoofd”, the chief executive officer. On several occasions Joost was appointed ambassador and trade negotiator to the king of Siam.

The emblem of the Tokugawa dynasty.

In 1641 all hope Joost had of getting back to Japan were dashed when Shogun Iemitsu banished all Europeans. Without this trade link the VOC began to seek new markets and approved an expedition led by Abel Tasman to sail around the bottom of the new continent of Australia. Tasman’s voyage was equipped by Joost Schouten. On this expedition Tasman named an island after Scouten and “discovered” New Zealand.

Joost Schouten’s downfall came in July 1644. He had been reported to the VOC for homosexual acts and he was put on trial with several of his partners. Joost pleaded guilty and admitted to having sex with men since his first arrival in Siam some 22 years earlier.

Homosexuality was a capital offense for the Dutch. Those found guilty were either burned at the stake or drowned. Joost was found guilty and sentenced to be burned at the stake. His partners were sentenced to be drowned. However, because of Joost Schouten’s distinguished service to the VOC they decided he deserved to be spared the pain of his punishment, so they strangled him to death first and then burned his corpse at the stake.

Whether Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu ever heard of Joost Schouten’s fate is uncertain. Japan had a totally different attitude to male homosexuality. It was similar to the relationships of ancient Greece in which adult men took younger lovers. The Japanese called their same-sex tradition “shudo” or “”wakashudo” and was common practice among the samurai class.

Even though Shogun Iemitsu had several wives and numerous female concubines he is also known to have had at least three male partners under the system of shudo. One story goes that as a child Iemitsu became the boy lover of an older courtier named Sakabe Gozeamon. In 1617, at the age of 13, Iemitsu was installed as heir to the shogunate. It was now expected for him in due course to take his own younger lover. Instead he and Gozeamon continued to be partners. One day in 1620, as the couple were sharing a bath, Iemitsu noticed that Gozeamon was showing a lot of attention to a younger courtier. He murdered Goeamon in a jealous rage.

Shogun Iemitsu is thought by some modern European historians to have preferred sex with men despite his many wives, concubines and children. His most famous son eventually became shogun himself in 1680. This is a man I have written about before because of his introduction of laws protecting dogs. Consequently he is known as the Dog Shogun, but his official name was 39) Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709).

I won’t repeat what I wrote in that earlier article, but I’ll mention a national festival which became popular during his rule and is still celebrated on 15th November. The festival is called Shichi Go San, which literally means “7, 5, 3”. It celebrates the various stages in a child’s development at those ages.

Tradition says that Shichi Go San was made popular by Shogun Tsunoyoshi in celebration of his own son and the idea soon spread. It is said he set the festival date to 15th November, the date of an old festival that celebrated he harvest.

This brings me to perhaps the most well-known harvest celebration which also originated in this period, the Thanksgiving in the American colonies. We’ll continue with an American colonial contemporary of Shogun Iemitsu and Joost Schouten, who shared the latter’s fate of execution for sodomy, 40) William Plaine (c.1595-1646).

Next time on “80 More Gays”:  We take a break and catch up on the first 39 “Gays” before continuing with number 40 later in the month.