The Arms of Lord Lyveden
Noel Cox
first published (Spring 2003) 88 New Zealand Armorist 3-4
The Right Honourable Jack Leslie Vernon, seventh baron Lyveden, of Lyveden, in the county of Northampton, in the peerage of the United Kingdom (created 1859) is one of the peers resident in New Zealand. Born 1938, he succeeded to the title in 1999. The Vernon family have lived in New Zealand since the nineteenth century, the present baron in Te Aroha. The title has been held by members of the New Zealand branch of the family since 1969.
This family traces its descent from Robert Smith, Judge Advocate-General in India. He was born in 1770, and in 1798 married Caroline, second daughter and co-heiress of Richard Vernon. The Vernons were descended from the Vernons of Hilton, Staffordshire. The eldest son of Robert Smith and Caroline, neé Vernon was Robert, first Baron Lyveden. He assumed the arms and name of Vernon by royal licence in 1846.
The armorial bearings of Lord Lyveden is a quartering of the arms of the Vernon and Smith families. The arms of the Vernons, Argent, a fret Sable, are notable for their mediæval simplicity. They are recorded in armorial roll of the time of King Edward III. These are borne in the first and third quarters without any differencing.
The second and third quarters are the arms of the family of Smith, which were contemporary with the assumption of the arms of the Vernons. The Smith arms are Gules, three bars, gemelles, Argent, a chevron, Ermine, on a chief of the second, three blackamore's heads Proper, a canton of the field charged with a battleaxe, Or, all within a bordure, counter-compony, of the second, and Azure. The references are clear. The blackamore's heads and battle-axe suggest a more militant role in India than would actually have been that of Robert Smith, though doubtless his son was anxious to show that what they might have lacked in antiquity compared to the Vernons, they made up for in other ways.
The dexter supporter borne by Lord Lyveden is a boar Sable, ducally gorged and suspended therefrom by a chain, an escutcheon Or, charged with a rose Gules, slipped Proper. The sinister supporter is a wyvern Vert, plain collared and suspended therefrom by a chain, an escutcheon Or, charged with a rose Gules, slipped Proper.
Lord Lyveden has two crests, reflecting his joint heritage. The sinister crest is for the Smith's, and is a cubic arm erect in armour Proper, charged with a battleaxe Sable, the hand grasping two wreaths of laurel pendant on either side, also Proper. Again, this is a somewhat war-like symbolism. The dexter crest is that of the Vernons, and is a boars' head erased Sable, ducally gorged, Or.
The motto again reminds the reader that the ancient family of Vernon are still with us: Vernonse semper viret.