The Arms of Viscount Bledisloe
Noel Cox
originally published in (Autumn 2001) 78 New Zealand Armorist 14-15
The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bathurst, GCMG KBE PC, was created Viscount Bledisloe, of Lydney, county of Gloucester, in 1935. The first Viscount Bledisloe had been a lawyer for sixteen years, until he inherited his father's Gloucestershire estate. In preparation for managing it he studied at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.
After holding various ministerial and public offices in the United Kingdom, he served as Governor-General of New Zealand 1930-35. His Lordship is notable for having donated the Waitangi estate to the nation, and contributing to funds for the restoration of the Treaty House. He also donated the Bledisloe Cup for New Zealand-Australia rugby.
Lord Bledisloe died in 1958. Both his son and grandson entered the law, and became Queen's Counsel. His grandson, the third viscount, lives in England, as do members of his family. The Bledisloe seat is Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, from which the territorial designation of the peerage was taken. The Bathurst had been one of the leading county families in Gloucestershire for many centuries.
The Bathurst family descend from Sir Benjamin Bathurst, MP, younger brother of the first Earl Bathurst. His third son, Benjamin Bathurst, of Lydney, county of Gloucester, and Mixbury, county of Oxford, was a Member of Parliament for over fifty years, from 1713 to 1767.
The arms of Viscount Bledisloe are Sable two bars Ermine, in chief three crosses pateé Or. This is very similar to the arms borne by the main line of the Bathurst family, the Earls Bathurst, as might be expected. The Earl Bathurst holds the titles of Earl Bathurst, of Bathurst, Sussex (GB 1772), Barons Bathurst, of Battlesden, Bedfordshire (GB 1712), Barons Apsley, of Apsley, Sussex (GB 1771).
The Earls Bathurst have lived at their seat at Cirencester Park, Cirencester, in the county of Gloucestershire, since 1690. Cirencester Park is notable as the site of Ruins Polo Ground, where His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has often played, and where he sustained a seriously broken arm in 1990.
The supporters used by Viscount Bledisloe are, on either side a bull guardant Gules, ringed, and a line therefrom reflexed over the back Or.
The crest is a dexter arm in mail embowed, holding in the hand all Proper, a club with spike Or. The arm is habited in mail, or chain. Had no material been specified in the blazon the arm would be emblazoned in the more usual riveted plate armour.
The motto is Tien ta foy.