The Tolkien Heraldry | Demi-Griffin as a sign of the Tolkien Family!

This is one of my greatest discoveries in 2021 (another one is the identification of the first Tolkien ever in 1356 - see here)! Find out more about the heritage of the Tolkien family that is kept in Hastings, England. Text about the Tolkien family sign, a great emblem to be used by today's descendants of John Benjamin Tolkien from Gdańsk and London. The text requires concentration and looking at the given links.

From Fairbairn's armorial

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Mrs. Linda West from Brisbane, Australia is J. R. R. Tolkien's 2nd cousin 2x removed. Her father was Richard Leslie Tolkien (1922-2015) whose great-grandfather was Henry Tolkien (1814-1885). As you remember (see here), Henry Tolkien was a great-uncle of J. R. R. Tolkien, brother of his grandfather, John Benjamin Tolkien (1807–1896). He was a music dealer and he had his shop at 28 King William Street, London (more on him at "London Street Views"). He was a freemason in the United Grand Lodge of England.

Mrs. Linda West is the benefactor of my genealogical research of the Tolkien family. When I started creating the Tolkien Family tree, I was in touch with Linda. Now, as part of Ancestry.com, we work together to build the most complete genealogy possible. Thanks to my correspondence with her and the Tolkien family from the USA I have something new which - I hope - will be of interest to you. The descendants of Henry Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien's granduncle) from Hastings are in the possession of three items, the heirloom as J. R. R. Tolkien would write, from the beginnings of the Tolkien family in England:

Published with permission of Mrs. Linda West

The photo above was taken in Hastings, East Sussex in 2007, in the family house of Linda West. We can see here: 

1. a plaque with the crest of the Tolkien family, 
2. The Bible (KJV) from c. 1761 belonging to Mary Tolkien (née Wall, 1746-1837), the wife of John Benjamin Tolkien (born in 1752 in Danzig/Gdańsk, Poland - died in 1819 in London),
3. a brush with the Tolkien crest and with the letters A&C which signify Advance With Courage. 
   

The Tolkien crest

 

Ad 1. Crest: "out of a ducal coronet a demi-griffin or". This demi-griffin confirms what we have alredy known about the Tolkien family arms. See "The Tolkiens' Heraldry tradition...". The demi-griffin is almost identical to J. R. R. Tolkien's drawing from The Book of Ishness (unpublished drawing by J. R. R. Tolkien from the Bodleian Library - for its copy by Nimwen see below). Professor Tolkien also wrote in an unknown 1951 letter that I published that "The crest is given from an impression of my father’s seal" (see here).

The arms of the Tolkien family according to J. R. R. Tolkien.
Drawing by Nimwen, modeled on J.R.R.T.'s one, today in the Bodleian Library

 

I put forward the theory that the demi-griffin tradition is the only true heraldic heritage of the Tolkien family and that it dates back to George Tolkien (see here): the common ancestor of J. R. R. Tolkien (who knew the tradition of the coat-of-arms) and the father of Linda West (Linda wrote to me: "My father Richard Leslie Tolkien had a tattoo of the shield design on his arm, with the words Advance with Courage; The words Advance with Courage could be linked to my father’s army connections – he had the tattoo done while he was in Germany 1944-1946? My grandson’s name is Griffin..."), was exactly George Tolkien! 

There are also differences between the tradition preserved in the descendants of Henry Tolkien and the descendants of his brother John Benjamin Tolkien. A common tradition is an identical half-griffin. Different traditions are the shield (the tradition of the J. R. R. Tolkien's family) and the motto: for John Benjamin Tolkien's descendants it is Fest und Treu (German for 'Steadfast and Faithful'), and for Henry Tolkien's descendants it is Advance with Courage.

 

It seems that Professor Tolkien assembled his coat of arms from three elements. He wrote about it in his letter from 1951:

"(...) and he [Professor's eldest uncle, John Benjamin Tolkien, 1845-1883] had tradition of the family arms. The latter was said to be or have been – a blue shield with two gold chevrons and 5 gold stars three above and 2 below. The crest a half-griffin. I do not describe them in technical heraldic language as they are uncertain (and German in any case). The crest is given from an impression of my father’s seal; The motto is said to have been ‘Fest und Treu.’" (see the full text of this letter)

The Tolkiens were certainly not descended from the German nobility (see here). Maybe you can help me find other examples of English pseudo-heraldry from the 18th and 19th centuries? Perhaps similar crests were used by other craftsman families in England?

 

demi-griffin (unidentified stamp, see here)

 

A similar demi-griffin (according to Fairbairn) can be found as the sign of:

• Besney [or Bestney of Hertfordshire]; 
• Connocke of Cornwall; 
• Coppin of Norfolk; 
• Griffin of London; 
• Lane of County Roscommon in Ireland; 
• Page; 
• Powell of Hinton in Herefordshire, 
• of St Alban’s, 
• of London and of Herefordshire; 
• Rowles of Surrey; 
• Royden of Devon; 
• Vidler.

The Bible of Mary Tolkien (c 1761)

Ad 2. The Bible (KJV) from c. 1761 belonging to Mary Tolkien (née Wall, 1746-1837), the wife of John Benjamin Tolkien (born in 1752 in Danzig/Gdańsk, Poland - died in 1819 in London). Mary was J. R. R. Tolkien's great-great-grandmother. The first English Tolkiens from John Benjamin Tolkien's line were the Calvinist Methodists from the Lady of Huntingdon Connexion (see here, here, and here). Calvinist Methodist like other Evangelical Christians used King James Version (KJV). You can see a similar Bible here. Maybe you can help me find the exact same edition?

In the Bible of Mary Tolkien you can see the dates of birth and of baptism of three sons
of John Benjamin and Mary: Benjamin (1782-1787), George (1784-1840),
and John Benjamin (1788-1859)

(3) A brush with the demi-griffin crest and the motto letters A. C. or Advance with Courage according to the tradition of this line of the Tolkien family. Perhaps the Tolkien family crest brush was some kind of gift for a family member?

Do you know similar lettering from other examples? This would help date the brush.

 

Update (May 27, 2021):

 

Has the Mystery of the Tolkien coat of arms been solved? The Tolkiens were not nobility, so they could not have a coat-of-arms. Meanwhile, J. R. R. Tolkien's great-grandfather, George Tolkien, married Miss Elyza Lidia Murrell. House Murrell had a coat-of-arms, and in it a crest in the form of a griffin head! 

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