The Arms

The oldest pieces of Damery heraldry the family holds are photocopied sketches, passed down through the family papers: the arms of Robert Damory (and his sons), Roger Damory, and Damory of Cotherington: a shield of barry nebuly of six argent and gules, with a bend (azure or sable) and a talbot for the crest. It is both a tradition and now a grant from The College of Arms in the family's hands, to Edward Damery of Melbourne. I also took a photograph of Roger's arms at Tewkesbury Abbey.

So this is where the name's heraldic story starts, and it is the image the family history opens on.

The achievement on the front cover of the printed family book, Tu Ne Cede Malis, was assembled for it: the arms of Damery, Freke, Beamish and Townsend quartered on one shield: four of the documented families of this history brought together as a piece of book art.

Rather than borrow, I designed my own arms and had them painted, and they are now registered: entered in The International Register of Arms, No. 0804 (Vol. 5), 11 July 2026, having been assumed in Ireland on 29 June 2026. The shield carries the family's heraldic memory forward: the barry nebuly six of argent and gules, with a blue pale to carry the escallop (for Travers, Townsend and Bernard), the lion rampant (for the Wessex and English royal branches, Marshall, Beamish and Pennefather), and the mullet (for de Vere, Freke and Lane). The talbot of the old Damery crest is now erased, with a silvered ear.

This is a highly classical coat of arms that tells a powerful story of resilience:

The Shield: A fierce, honourable silver lion standing firm on a blue pillar of loyalty, flanked by a pilgrim's shell and a guiding star, all set against a backdrop of turbulent red-and-silver storms.

The Crest: A blue Talbot hound's head with silver ears, torn at the neck: representing a listening, peaceful mind backed by a fiercely protective, unyielding loyalty.

The Motto: Tu ne cede malis, the ultimate vow never to surrender to adversity.

A talbot's head, hand-drawn in antique gold, is my personal mark. You will find it quietly at the foot of every page of this site. The badge is registered with the arms: A talbot's head erased Argent, purfled Or.

The arms and the badge above are registered, and they are finished things: I would not change either. But the discoveries of July 2026, the descents traced up the female lines of my father's grandmother's people to the royal houses of Europe and Ireland, deserved a mark of their own. Heraldry has always had room for this. A badge is a free device, a bearer may carry more than one, and the greatest houses did: the de Clares, whose three chevronels are among the most famous shields in England, flew a clarion as their badge instead. In that tradition, an alternative badge for the descents. It is assumed, not registered, as badges have always been.

Read it as the descents in miniature. At the centre stands the clarion Or, the old Anglo-Norman organ-rest that the de Clares themselves carried as their badge. Through its chamber runs a fleur-de-lis Argent, the lily of France, threaded clean through. Along the base walks a lion passant guardant Or, the royal lion of the Norman and English kings, looking forward and anchoring the whole. And in its dexter forepaw it grips the low-headed Irish harp, Azure garnished and stringed Or, the harp of Brian Boru's tradition. Norman lion, Clare clarion, French lily, Irish harp: the four roads of the descents in one device.