Greetings Fellow Blands,
I thought it would be prudent to give a brief history of where the Coat of Arms (commonly referred to as just “Arms”) came from that the BFHF uses.
The Arms were granted by a patent to Adam Bland (1528-1594) by William Flower Noroy in 1563 while Adam Bland was serving as Sergeant Skinner (fur supplier) to the Court of Queen Elizabeth. The arms were recorded in the Visitation of London 1633. I have attached a screen shot of page 79, which details the Arms and lineage of the family. The Arms were also documented in Nicholas Carlisle’s book, “Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Bland” in 1826. I have attached screen shots of Carlisle’s book as well for reference. The Arms are recorded in the Royal College of Arms in London.
The patent granted to Adam Bland is documented as follows:
“Upon a healm and on a torse, argent and sable, an Ounce’s head, proper, issuing out of a Coronet, gold, mantled, gules, doubled, argent, -which, with the Ancient Arms, viz., argent, on a bend, sable, three broad arrows’ heads, gold, are granted and confirmed to the said Adam Bland, and his Posterity for ever.”
That’s quite a mouthful! Here is what that all means:
Upon a healm (armor helmet) and on a torse (a rolled fabric wreath), argent (silver) and sable (black), an Ounce’s head (an extinct euro-asian big cat very similar to a modern day snow leopard), proper (meaning facing at a 90 degree profile to the left), issuing out of a Coronet (crown), gold, mantled (the flourishes around the Arms), gules (red), doubled, argent (silver), -which, with the Ancient Arms, viz. (a shield), argent (silver), on a bend (the line through the shield), sable (black), three broad arrows’ heads (also known as pheons), gold, are granted and confirmed to the said Adam Bland, and his Posterity for ever.
While I do not actually know why an Ounce’s head was included, I theorize that the since Adam Bland supplied furs to the court as Sergeant Skinner (Adam was a member of the Skinner’s Guild of London), he would have supplied many Ounce pelts. If you look at many paintings of the Crown during that time period, a common fur appears to be Snow Leopard, which the Ounce was a very close and similarly marked cousin. The gold crown denotes that Adam Bland was a member of the royal court. Side note – if you look at the illustration in the Visitation of London, it shows a Lion’s head and not an Ounce’s head. The drawing was made for a reprint of the document in 1880 and I’m sure the artist just made all the cats Lions, possibly due to a lack of reference to the extinct Ounce.
Adam Bland had multiple sons, including John Bland (1572-1632), also know as John Bland of Sythe Lane or John the Grosser. John Bland was a wealthy merchant businessman and was a member and investor in the Virginia Company of London. Several of John Bland’s sons came to Virginia and settled in Jamestown to look after the family’s business assets. One of the sons was Theodorick Bland (1629-1671), who settled on the James River in 1652 and was the head of what we now call the “James River Bland” line.
I am a direct paternal descendant of Theodorick Bland. My paternal family line is as follows:
Theodorick Bland (1629-1671), Richard Bland (1665-1720), Richard Bland (1710-1776), Peter Randolph Bland (1736-1781), Edward Bland (1767-1831), William Richard Bland (1818-1878), Edward Bland (1851-1901), William Richard Bland (1893-1988), Edward Cole Bland (1920-1967), and my father Edward Cole Bland Jr. (1945-2017).
I have contacted the Royal College of Arms in London and was informed that after a review of my genealogical data, I have an honorary right to claim Adam Bland’s patent of Arms. The honorary right is due to being an American Citizen and not a British Citizen.
In 2014, I commissioned a graphic artist to re-create Adam Bland’s patent of Arms using the original description from above. I own the copyright to the design and image. During the 2014 BFHF reunion in Williamsburg, I presented my research into the Arms and gave all rights to use the images I had created to the board to use as they see fit. The BFHF was previously using an older and not exactly accurate rendering at the time on the website.
I assume that the BFHF was using the Arms of Adam Bland due to the fact that Cousin Charles Bland had labeled the James River Blands as family line #1 and had initially thought that American Blands descended from that line. That was the pre-DNA era and we now know that there are many diverse Bland family lines that came to America.
Ok, now that I have gone through all of that, here is the answer to Christine’s question. A patent of Arms is not assigned to a broad familial name, but is assigned to a specific family. If you look through Carlisle’s book, you will see numerous different Arms that belong to specific Bland families. With that being said, it would be entirely up to you on whether or not you would choose to use it to honor your parents. I personally have no issue at all with the design being used as a broader “Bland Family” Coat of Arms, but I guess the question is how do you feel regarding the fact that the Arms weren’t technically awarded to your family line? Would that make a difference is a question only you can answer.
As I mentioned before, I gave the BFHF board the rights to use the image as they see fit for the website, publications, or whatever. It was my gift to the board and I was happy to have them use it even though I know that it is a specific award to my family line. I would be happy to send the image files to any cousin that would like to use it. We are all distant cousins at some point I’m sure!
I hope this long-winded reply helps to answer your question. Let me know if there is anything else I might be able to answer.
Thanks,
Tom Bland
