Figure 16. Francis Nicholson's Coat of Arms, c. 1694

Figure 16. Francis Nicholson's Coat of Arms, granted to him 1694, as shown in Henry Hulsburgh's engraving "Prospect of Richmond" dedicated to Nicholson. Courtesy of the Beinecke Library, Yale University.

Coat of Arms:

Nicholson's arms and crest are described as "Azure on a Cross Argent between four Suns OR; a Cathedral Church Gules and for his Crest, on a wreath of the colours; A demy Man habited in a close coat, Azure; the button and cuffs of his sleeves turned up, Or; his face and hands proper armed with a headpiece and gorget, Argent; the beaver open, holding in the right hand a Sword erected, proper hilt and pommel, Or, and in the left a Bible, open, ye clasps Argent." The grant refers to Nicholson's "travells in the four quarters of the world," to his position as "Captain Generall and Governor in Chief of Their Majesties Province of Maryland in America," and to his appointment as "one of the Chief Governors and Visiters of the college or University now to be erected and founded in Virginia" (which became the College of William and Mary). The quoted material is from a typescript of the text of the grant (Grants Volume 4, 152) made by Thomas Woodcock, Somerset Herald, for Dr. Dorothy Noble. I am indebted to her both for her correspondence regarding the armorial bearings and for drawing my attention to Hulsbergh's engraving printed in Roger Gale, Honour of Richmond, a copy of which is owned by Jane Hatcher, Richmond, North Yorkshire. Miss Hatcher notes that Nicholson subscribed to four copies of Gale's book. This illustration is taken from a copy in the Beinecke Library, Yale University, which was obtained for me by Eric Papenfuse.

The version for printing is FIG16.tif Resolution: 450 dpi.

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