August 7, 2013

Finest Hour 120, Autumn 2003

Page 27

THE PUB GETS IT RIGHT… PAUL COURTENAY CONFESSES

Readers may have visited a pub at West Lavington, near Devizes in Wiltshire called, like many pubs, “The Churchill,” with a pub sign depicting Sir Winston. The pub was listed in Finest Hour 104 with a number of other similarly-named establishments. I drive past it quite frequently, as I live nearby.

Three years ago I noticed that the name was changed to “The Churchill Arms” and that the pub-sign now bore a coat-of-arms instead of a picture. A dedicated armorist, I approved of the change and naturally assumed that the coat-of-arms must be that of Sir Winston (about which I wrote extensively in FH102). I drove past without stopping, and only caught a glimpse of the sign for a second or two. It looked authentic enough. First impressions can, however, be deceptive.

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Stopping later to take a closer look, I was horrified to see that the arms were wrong in a great many particulars. Superficially they resembled those of Sir Winston, but it didn’t take me long to work out that they were in fact those of a distant cousin.

In 1815 Lord Francis Spencer, second son of the Fourth Duke of Marlborough, had been given a barony as Lord Churchill; his eldest son succeeded him as the Second Lord Churchill in 1845 and was in turn succeeded by his only son as the Third Lord Churchill in 1886; in 1902 the Third Baron was advanced one degree in the peerage to become Viscount Churchill. The arms now displayed belonged to those holding the Churchill barony between 1815 and 1902.

I wrote to the pub, pointing out the facts and suggesting the sign be redesigned with the correct armorial bearings. The owners telephoned with an interesting tale, which shows that one should never jump to conclusions.

Three years ago the pub was bought from an independent landlord by Wadworth’s Brewery, which changed the name and sign. The lease on the building had been transferred to the original pub in 1882 by none other than the Second Lord Churchill and, in consequence, his arms are now intentionally displayed. The pub, therefore, no longer has any link with Sir Winston who, although descended from the Fourth Duke, could not count Lord Francis Spencer among his ancestors.

The differences in the arms of the Second Lord Churchill (fig. 1) and Sir Winston (fig. 2) are as follows:

Shield: The quarterings are reversed in the two shields; also, Sir Winston’s has the Duke of Marlboroughs second augmentation of honour: the fleur-delys on a shield of St. George. (It was the Fifth Duke, born a Spencer, who was authorised in 1817 to take and use the additional name of Churchill, to show the Churchill arms as taking precedence over those of Spencer and to add the bearings of the Manor of Woodstock in recognition of the victory at Blenheim; Lord Churchill was descended from the Fourth Duke, but not from the Fifth.) Sir Winston’s complete arms bore a crescent, indicating his position as heir to the second surviving son of the Seventh Duke; Lord Churchill, being himself a peer and head of his branch of the family, had no cadency mark.

Garter: WSC’s shield was circled by the Garter, since he was a Knight of the Order; Lord Churchill was not.

Supporters: Lord Churchill as a peer was entitled to supporters: a griffin and a wyvern. Sir Winston, as a Garter Knight, was similarly entitled, but never got round to applying for any.

Coronet: Sir Winston, not being a peer, had no coronet. In 1902, when the Third Lord Churchill was advanced to Viscount, his Barons coronet was replaced by that of a Viscount. The current Third Viscount has no direct heir so, at his death, this peerage will become extinct; however, there are living descendants of the First Baron, so on his death the barony will pass to his second cousin once removed, who will become the sixth Lord Churchill. The arms displayed outside “The Churchill Arms” (with Baron’s coronet) will thus be contemporary for the first time since 1902.

Helms: Lord Churchill showed the helm of a peer (in profile with closed grill); Sir Winston’s helms (he had two) were those of a knight, facing the observer with the visors open.

Crests: Sir Winston showed two crests, a lion (Churchill) and a griffin (Spencer); Lord Churchill had only the Spencer griffin.

Motto: Lord Churchill had the Spencer motto, Dieu Defend le Droit (God Defend the Right); Sir Winston had the Churchill motto, Fielpero Desdichado (Faithful but Unfortunate).