NS Vol 7 No 1-2 (December 2001)

Ye ancient coat of arms of the Staats Model School

by F G Brownell

HERALDRY has its lighter moments and has, from time to time, provided the cartoonist with a fertile source of inspiration.

In his book on the work of the famous British cartoonist Carl Giles, creator of the “Giles Family”, Peter Tory comments that the cartoonist fulfils a role similar to that of the ancient court jester, wrapping the truth in a clothing of humour to make it palatable. No one could criticise the monarch outright, but the jester could make a witticism that was both informative and acceptable.[1]

The weekly magazine Punch long provided British society with a healthy dose of satire. It is not surprising that the year 1899 should have seen the publication of Mr Punch’s Book of Arms, which was drawn and written by E T Reed and printed by Bradbury, Agnew and Co, London. This book, which was published shortly before the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, contained illustrations and pseudo-heraldic blazons of 29 irreverent coats of arms, mostly ascribed to figures well-known either in, or to, British society.

South Africa was then much in the news, and among those who featured were Barney Barnato, the mining magnate, who was styled the “Earl of Barnato”; Paul Kruger the Transvaal President, who was styled the first “Earl of Krugersdorp”, and Cecil Rhodes, who was styled the “Duke of Rhodes”.

Mr Punch’s Book of Arms, of which the Bureau of Heraldry is fortunate to have a leather-bound copy, must have provided British society with many a laugh. This is the class which was to provide most of the British officers who later fought in South Africa.

It is not surprising then, that The Gram, a social magazine, edited by the Earl of Rosslyn and founded by British prisoners of war who were incarcerated in the Staats Model School in Pretoria, should have featured an illustration and blazon of Ye Ancient Coat of Arms of the Staats-Model-School.[2] This clearly drew its inspiration from Mr Punch’s Book of Arms.

War is a serious business, but the officers who became prisoners of war clearly retained an eye for the ladies, while at the same time working on escape plans. One of those who successfully escaped from the Staats Model School after capture by the Boer forces, was of course the young British war correspondent, Winston Spencer Churchill.

At this time of the commemoration of the anniversary of the Anglo-Boer War, it seems appropriate to include in Arma this light-hearted contribution to the less serious side of South African heraldry.