The Arms of Lord Newall
Noel Cox
first published (Winter 2002) 83 New Zealand Armorist 12-13
Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Right Honourable Sir Cyril Louis Norton Newall, GCB OM GCMG CBE AM, was in 1946 created Baron Newall, of Clifton-upon-Dunsmoor, in the county of Warwick, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He had been Governor-General of New Zealand from 1941 to 1946. Lord Newall died in 1963, and the second baron lives in England, as does his family.
Lord Newall, an army officer, joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914, and rose to be Chief of Air Staff of the Royal Air Force, an office he held 1937-40. Promoted Marshal of the Royal Air Force, he was then appointed Governor-General of New Zealand. He served in that capacity throughout the remainder of the Second World War.
The arms of Lord Newall are per pale Azure and Gules two lions passant guardant in pale Or on a chief Ermine a rose of the second barbed and seeded between a lotus flower and a sprig of New Zealand fern all Proper. The rose Gules is reminder of his English birth and career. The lotus flower reminds the viewer of Lord Newall's connection with India. His father was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army, and Newall himself served in India. The sprig of New Zealand fern all Proper is for his appointment as Governor-General of New Zealand.
The principal references to Lord Newall's long and distinguished service in the Royal Flying Corps and in the Royal Air Force are found in the crest and supporters, rather than on the shield itself.
The supporters are on either side a pegasus Argent gorged with an astral crown Or. The astral crown and eagle are from the armorial bearings of the Royal Air Force. Pegasus, a winged horse, generally represented as flying (volant) and aimeé (with an eye of a different tincture to the body itself), is the steed of Apollo. It is usually connected with the intellectual arts, as, according to Greek mythology, a blow of Pegasus' hoof caused the fountain of poetic inspiration, Hippocrene, to spring from Mount Helicon. Pegasus himself sprang from the blood of Medusa. However, a pegasus is often associated with aviation rather than poetic inspiration, due to his aerial nature. The pegasus is frequently used as a supporter.
The crest is issuant from an astral crown Or an eagle, wings elevated Sable breathing flames Proper. The eagle is also from the arms of the Royal Air Force.
The motto is Deo juvante.