The Marital Arms of Challoner and Tottenham,
with the Secondary Arms of Coote, Baronet of Castle Cuffe, Queen's County, Ireland
The armorial bearings as engraved upon this Pair of William IV English Sterling Silver Footed Dishes or Stands by Paul Storr
hallmarked London 1836 are those of the family of Challoner quartering Bisse impaling Tottenham.
These armorial bearings denote the marshalling of a marital coat showing on the dexter
(the heraldic right on the left as you view the piece) the arms of the husband and on the sinister
(the heraldic left on the right as you view it) the arms of the wife.
They may be blazoned as follows:
Upon the rims :
Arms:
(on the dexter) : Quarterly 1st and 4th Sable on a chevron cotised between
three cherubins or
as many crosses paty fitchy of the field
(for Challoner)
2nd and 3rd Sable three escallops in pale argent
(for Bisse)1
(on the sinister) : Gules four bars dancetty argent2 (for Tottenham)
These armorial bearings undoubtedly commemorate the marriage of Thomas-Challoner Bisse Challoner3
born 11th December 1788 died 26th July 1872), of Portnall Park, Virginia Water in the County of Surrey
and his first wife,4 Anne Tottenham (died 1775 died 3rd October 1857).
Thomas-Challoner and Anne were married in Ireland in 1812.
Thomas-Challoner was the only son of The Reverend Thomas Bisse, of Portnall Park aforesaid and his wife,
Katherine Townsend, whilst Anne was the eldest daughter Nicholas Loftus Tottenham,
of Glenfarne Hall, New Ross
in the County of Wexford and his wife, Mary May.
Thomas-Challoner served in the 1st Dragoon Guards between 1809 and 1812).
He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the Counties of Berkshire and Surrey
as well as a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Surrey.
Thomas-Challoner further served as the High Sheriff of Surrey in 1838.
_by_George_Frederick_Prosser_800w.jpg)
* Portnall Park, Virginia Water, Co. Surrey. The Seat of Thomas-Challoner Bisse Challoner
(1788-1872), 1828,
by George Frederick Prosser (1805-1882)
Colonel Thomas-Chaloner Bisse-Challoner (c1860),
Photograph of portrait by Spiridone Giambardella.
Upon the center of the dishes or stands :
Arms : Argent a chevron sable between three coots proper
The arms also display in the chief an augmentation for a baronet.
Crest : A coot close proper
Motto : Vincit veritas (Truth conquers)
These armorial bearings are those of the family of Coote,
Baronets of Castle Cuffe in Queen's County, Ireland.
Given the style of the engraving of these arms I believe that they post date those of
the impaled arms of Challoner and Tottenham as engraved upon the rims of these dishes or stands.
If so, it is not presently known when they left the ownership of the Challoner family and were acquired by the Cootes.
This probably occurred after the death of Thomas-Challoner Bisse Challoner in 1872.
The Cootes, Baronets of Castle Cuffe settled in Ireland from the County of Norfolk
in the East Anglian
region of England at sometime during the late 16th Century.
The first baronet was Sir Charles Coote who was created a baronet within the
Baronetage of Ireland 2nd April 1621.
If our presumption is correct and that these dishes or stands came into the possession of the Coote
after
1872, the leading candidates for their ownership would be
either Sir Charles Henry Coote
(born September 1815 died 15th November 1895), the 10th Baronet5
or his brother,
The Reverend Sir Algernon Coote (born 29th September 1817 died 20th November 1899).
* Portnall Park, an estate at Virginia Water, Surrey, England, UK,
"... three miles distant from Egham and twenty-one from London",
which was once owned by, among others,
Colonel Thomas-Chaloner Bisse-Challoner.
In 1828, the house was described thus :
'The park, comprising nearly four hundred acres, is beautifully undulated,
and diversified with timber and flourishing plantations, through
which extensive gravel walks and green rides are formed ;
in well-chosen situations are seats and rustic retreats, commanding extensive and beautifully varied views
over the Surrey hills on the one side, and over the far-famed lake of Virginia Water on the other.
The entrance lodge is built in a peculiarly elegant style,
and the approach to the house is about three quarters of a mile through some thriving plantations.
The gardens and farm to the south-west of the house are lately erected on a very convenient and elegant plan.
1 These arms are those Thomas-Challoner used prior to the granting of duly differenced arms for
Challoner quartered with Bisse (the 1831 grant see below) in consequence of the Royal Licence of
January
1829 (see footnote 2 below). It is therefore odd that he used the 'unofficial arms'
over those
granted by the Kings of Arms at The College of Arms on the 24th January 1832.
He also obtained a
grant of arms for Bisse alone (which were eventually quartered with Challoner
in the 1829 grant as he
could not prove a descent from the family of Bisse,
of Croscombe and Spargrove, Co. Somerset whose
arms are engraved in the 2nd and 3rd as blazoned above).
These Bisse arms are blazoned as follows:
'Sable on a pale argent three escallops of the field'.
The date of this grant was the 28th December 1831.
2 The Tottenham arms are very often blazoned as having only having 'three bars dancetty'.
3 He was born Thomas-Challoner Bisse but assumed the additional surname of 'Challoner' by Royal Licence
on the 14th January 1829 (The London Gazette, 22nd January 1829).
4 His second wife was Henrietta Emma Helena De Salis (born 2nd May 1824 died 16th August 1863)
was the third surviving and youngest daughter of Count de Salis whom he married on the 6th January 1859.
5 He succeeded his father, another Sir Charles Henry Coote as the 10th Baronet on the 8th October 1864.
Heraldry Courtesy of John Tunesi of Liongam
MSc, FSA Scot, Hon FHS, QG
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