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Dear Catherine Hallam:
I've been bussy writing a paper on the Hallam Coat of Arms but I'm sorry it is not yet available. It is a long story. I was very dissatisfied with the family coats of arms that one can pick up at the vendors in the airports, and those phoney ones you find published in Burke's General Armory, etc. So, I commissioned The College of Arms, on Victoria Street, in London to complete a review of their records of grants of coats of arms to Hallams, or variants of Hallam for my One Name Study.
They completed a review of the Herald’s Visitations of English and Welsh Counties which took place between 1530 and 1689. Each generation the Heralds were sent out to each county to summon those styling themselves gentlemen or esquires, toghether with knights and baronets, to appear before them and prove their right to arms. If they could not prove a right to arms by either long usage, or by a later grant or confirmation of arms, they were required to renounce any claim to gentility or to petition for a new grant of arms. The resulting records of pedigrees and arms for these Visitations form the core of the records of the College of Arms.
Please note that a Coat of Arms is not a picture, it is a written out in words. Secondly, it does not actually belong to the family, it belongs only to person to whom it was granted, and he has the right to pass it on.
There College of Arms in London have only one reference to a Hallam, and that was in the record of the Herald’s Visitation of Cheshire of 1566-1567. The records indicate a pedigree of six generations, beginning with the grant of the manor of Hallum in Cheshire to Ranulph de Hallum, Chamberlain to Hugh Keveliock, the fifth Earl of Chester (“...who gave him the manor of Hallum”.). Ranulph’s son, Sir Hugh de Hallum married the granddaughter of Hugh the Earl of Chesters.
The line then passes to John de Hallum, Sir John de Hallum, and then Sir Hugh Hallum and ends with his two daughters and co-heirs, Jone and Elizabeth, who married into families of Hatton of Great Aldesley and Henington, repectively {Coll. Arms, Visitations D3.179].
It should be noted that the prefix “de” was dropped in the fifith generation of this line.
The Visitation of 1566-1567 entry makes no reference to a coat of arms, but in a copy of the 1566-1567 and 1580 Visitations of Cheshire in the British Museum, published by the Harleian Society in 1882 [B.L. Harl. MSS. 1424; 1505] the Arms of Hallum are described as Sable, a Cross Engrailed Ermine under Pro Hatton. These arms are on official record in the College of Arms as a quartering of the Hatton family by virtue of their descent from the Hallums. In other words, the Hatton Coat of Arms has four quadrants, and the Hallam Coat of Arms is found in one of the quadrants like the Queen of England's shield, indicating the four families that came together through marriage. Consequently, while there are no actual references confirming ownership of or granting of arms, to any Hallam before 1672, we can conclude that the coat of arms registered under Hatton is derived from and belonged to the Hallams.
The Hattons had inherited the right to quarter the arms of Hallam by virtue of marrying a Hallam heiress. When a man is entitled to arms and has only daughters, those daughters become heraldic heiresses and may pass their father’s arms on to their children as a quartering, to be quartered with the children’s paternal arms.
Although there was no reference to any granting, or confirmation of ownership of any arms to Hallam before 1672, there are two grants to Hallam after that date; one to John Hallam, Lieutenant R.N. of the parish of St. Margaret Westminster in 1787, and one to Henry Hallam, Esq. of Bedford Place, Middlesex in 1813.
The first of these confirmed the use of a coat of arms described as Argent a Lion Rampant Azure Gutty d’Or, with a Crest, on a Wreath Argent and Azure, A Demi-Lion as in the Arms Reposing His Sinister Paw on an Anchor Erect Sable on Lieutenanat John Hallam and his ancestors, [Col. Arms Grants, 16.295]. Although Luietenant Hallam claimed the arms had been long held by the family, the use of an anchor suggests that the crest was newly designed and granted to him. A search of two armorials compiled around 1520 and having the status of official College records does in fact show an earlier use of these arms. A Sir John Halom of Oxfordshire was recorded as bearing the arms Argent a Lion Rampant Azure Gutty d’Or Armed and Langued Gules, which are the same arms as those confirmed in 1787. However, while Lieutenant John Hallam, R.N. was seeminly confirmed these arms on the basis of long usage, there is no evidence of that usage, and no pedigree is on record showing his descent from Sir John Haloms who bore those arms some 250 years earlier [Coll. Arms L2.357]. So Lieutenant John Hallam, R.N. stole Sir John Haloms Coat of Arms because basically he liked them and the name was similar. This Coat of Arms does not belong to the Hallams and is therefore incorrect.
The second granting was to Henry Hallam, his unmarried sister Elizabeth Hallam, and his descendants. These are the famous Hallams you may have heard about and you can read about them on my web pages.
Henry Hallam was granted Sable a Cross Ermine Fimbriated Or, with a Crest on a Wreath of the Colours A garb Ermine Charged With a Cross Couped Sable. From the name, the date and the name of the sister, this Henry Hallam appears to be the famous Oxford Barister and Historian and father of Arthur Henry Hallam.
There is a reference in the petition for the coat of arms, that the family had used the arms before being formally granted them without authority. The design of these arms is based on those in the 1566-1567 and 1580 Visitations, suggesting that Henry Hallam has used the older coat of arms prior to new granting being made, and his petition was made to formalize what he was unable to prove as, the family’s right to the arms by descent [Coll. Arms Grants 27.191].
On the basis of the College of Arms report, one would have to conclude that the Hallam coat of arms, if there is such a thing, is best represented by the 1566-1567 and 1580 Visitations registered in the British Museum described as Sable a Cross Engrailed Ermine and later ascribed to the Hatton family by descent, and that which was derived from it and subsequently registered to Henry Hallam in 1813 described as Sable a Cross Ermine Fimbriated Or, with a Crest on a Wreath of the Colours A garb Ermine Charged With a Cross Couped Sable.
However, it should be noted that there are other versions of the Hallam coat of arms which are totally bogus. One report suggests that Thomas Hallam, who was a resident of Yorkshire and emigrated to Maryland with his two sons, John and Thomas Jr. about 1700, had a coat of arms. A description is as follows:
Blazon of Arms:Sable Across Ermine
Translation:An ermine cross on a black background. Black represents repentance or vengeance. The cross represents one of the honourable ordinares. Ermine denotes dignaty and nobility.
Crest:On a Mount Vert, a Bull Gules.
Translation:A red bull on a green mound. The bull is an emblem of valour and magnanimity.
Burke's General Armory, which is also totally erroneous, describes the Hallam Coat of Arms as follows:
Blazon of Arms:Sable Across Erm.
Translation:Sable. An ermine cross on a black background. Black represents repentance or vengeance. The cross represents one of the honourable ordinares. Ermine denotes dignaty and nobility.
Crest:On a Mount Vert, a Bull Gules.
Translation:A red bull on a green mound. The bull is an emblem of valour and magnanimity.
And finally, the family Coat of Arms is described by one organization in the business of selling family crests as being:
Blazon of Arms:Argent a Lion Rampant Azure Guttee d'Or.
Translation:The lion, king of beasts, denotes majesty, courage and strength.
Crest:On a Mount Vert a Bull Gules.
Translation:A red bull on a green mound. The bull is an emblem of valour and magnanimity.
This latter version appears to be a mixture of two coasts of arm; that derived from Lieutenanat John Hallam (Argent a Lion Rampant Azure Gutty d’Or, with a Crest, on a Wreath Argent and Azure, A Demi-Lion as in the Arms Reposing His Sinister Paw on an Anchor Erect Sable) although was granted to him, apppears to have been modified from one granted 250 years ealier to Sir John Halom, and that described by Burke's General Armory (Sable Across Erm, with a Crest, on a Mount Vert, a Bull Gules). This is not a Hallam Coat of Arms.
What I have just given you cost me $200 per hour to have researched. It's quite a story, so let me know what you think, and what you get on your school project. If you need any help on translating some of the words used in the blazons, let me know.
Yours
Robert Hallam
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