By Chas Charles-Dunne
This article was published in the December 2024 edition of Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
There are many tools that can be used when researching your family tree. Besides all the statutory resources there is heraldry, and some families might be lucky enough to be related to someone who has had a grant from Lord Lyon (covering Scotland) or the College of Arms (covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland).
If so, the original grant will state the person’s name and where they lived at the time, their qualifications, any military career, and the names and some history of both their mother and father. A nice little family tree all in one place.
It then becomes quite easy to identify any children (well, sons) of the grantee, and the order in which they were born. A mark of cadency would be added to the father’s shield. See diagram opposite.
As you can see the system allows for nine sons. Well, there was no television in those days, but there was high infant mortality and mothers and babies did die in childbirth. Men would re-marry and carry on the numbering with the new wife. Men needed sons to inherit the title (if they had one), the land and property. Even if the estate were very prosperous, a widow and daughters would be left penniless and destitute if there were no son to inherit.
There were problems with the system right from the start. Should it be a genealogical record, or should it be a system of identification, or placement in the pecking order?
If a man were the 9th son and bore an Octofoil on his shield what would happen when the 7th son died after a violent quarrel with the 6th son? Should he change to a Cross Moline, because he has moved up the pecking order? Or should he wait a couple of weeks for the 6th to die, because it was a really violent quarrel and there were no antibiotics available.? That would move him up to the Rose in 7th place.
Within the family it did not matter, because they all knew each other and outside the family nobody cared, so In general, they tended to keep the symbol that they started with. Which makes it easier for you to hunt down the gaps.
If there were only three sons it becomes far more important where you are in the pecking order. Accidents did happen even in best regulated households. It is said, after all, that Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s husband) died of unwashed hands. Suddenly a cadet line becomes the mainline with all that comes with it.
Although not strictly adhered to, the same pecking order was applied to the middle classes. First son inherited everything, second son went into the army, third son into the Church and all the rest ended up as secretary to hopefully somebody powerful!
