The British military occupations of the Cape Colony (1795-1803 and 1806-14) and eventual British ownership of the colony from 1814, brought many armigerous English, Scottish, and Irish settlers to South Africa, especially in 1820. A selection of arms introduced during that period:

English-born Ralph Arderne, who settled in the Cape Colony in 1830, bore arms which dated back to at least 1308: Gules, crusily fitchy and a chief Or.

1820 Settler party leader John Atherstone reputedly used Or, three piles Gules and a canton Ermine. His son, William Atherstone, pioneered anaesthesia in South Africa, and as a result these arms have been incorporated into those of the SA Society of Anaesthesiologists.

Perhaps the best-known figure of the First British Occupation was the Scots-born Lady Anne Barnard, wife of the government secretary and de facto first lady 1797-1802. Her paternal arms (Lindsay, Earl of Crawford & Balcarres) were Quarterly, I & IV Gules a fess chequy Argent and Azure [Lindsay]; II & III Or a lion rampant Gules surmounted of a cost Sable [Abernethy]; all within a bordure Azure charged with fourteen stars Or.

Also Scots was Charles Bell, compiler of the first collection of South African arms (the Bell-Krynauw Collection) and designer of arms, medals, postage stamps, and corporate logos, who came to the Cape in 1830. His arms were Azure, on a fess engrailed between three church bells Or, a mullet of the field.

1820 Settler party leader Miles Bowker bore arms dating back to at least 1348, when the surname was spelled Bourchier : Argent, a cross engrailed Gules between four water bougets Sable. "Bouget" may be a pun on "Bourchier". A descendant, Miles Bowker, registered a differenced version of the arms (BoH 1970).

Dutch official Jacob Uitenhage de Mist, who was at the Cape 1803-05, introduced municipal heraldry and founded the town and district of Uitenhage, where his personal arms, Sable, a cross moline Argent, have been incorporated into some municipal, corporate and military arms.

English agriculturist William Duckitt, who arrived in 1800, was one of the first permanent British settlers. His arms were Sable, a saltire Argent.

Sir George Grey was governor of the Cape 1854-61 and his arms - Barry of six Argent and Azure, in chief three torteaux - or variants thereof, are borne by a town and four schools named after him. The arms date from the 14th century, if not earlier, and are said to represent the rungs of a ladder ("gré" in French).

Around 1881, Transvaal military leader General Piet Joubert, of French Huguenot ancestry, reportedly assumed the arms Azure, three chevronels couped 2 and 1 Argent, which now appear in reference works as the Joubert arms. They are apparently those of a similarly named French family.

Dutch-born Jan Carel Juta settled at the Cape in 1853 and founded a prominent publishing house. His arms were Quarterly, I & IV Azure, a lion rampant Or; II & III Or a tree on an island proper.

1820 Settler Charles Kestell's arms were canting: Or, three castles Gules, with an ermine demi-bull as crest. A descendant, Rev John Kestell, played a leading role in translating the Bible into Afrikaans.

Rev Nathaniel Merriman, who came to the Cape in 1847 and was one of the earliest Anglican bishops, bore Argent, on a chevron cotised Sable between three Cornish choughs proper as many crescents of the field. His son, John X. Merriman, was the colony's last prime minister 1908-10.

The Cape's first prime minister, Sir John Molteno, who settled in the colony in 1831, was English of Italian ancestry and his arms included a capo d'impero indicating an ancestor's support for the Holy Roman Emperor during a medieval power struggle: Per fess Argent and Or, in chief a castle Gules between two trees proper and in base two bendlets Sable; a capo d'impero (Or an eagle displayed Sable).

The arms of English-born Herbert Penny, who arrived at the Cape in 1890, were evidently historical: Gules, six fleurs de lis Or, on a chief wavy Or three roses Gules barbed and seeded proper. His son Magnus Penny registered the arms (BoH 1985), and they have since been matriculated for his son, grandsons, and great-grandsons and -daughters.

English-born Cecil Rhodes arrived at the Cape in 1872, made a fortune in mining, was prime minister of the colony 1890-96, and had a country named after him. The paternal arms which he bore, Argent, between two bendlets Gules a lion passant of the second between two thistles slipped and leaved proper, were posthumously re-granted to him and his brothers in 1913.

Sir Andries Stockenstrom's canting arms (CoA 1840) were based on existing Swedish arms: Per fess Argent and Or, a fess wavy Azure between in chief an olive branch and a sword in saltire passing through the ring of an astronomical character of Mars Sable, and in base the stump of a tree one branch sprouting from the dexter side thereof, issuing from water proper.

The arms of 2nd-generation Cape colonist David Tennant, who was of Scottish ancestry, were granted by Lord Lyon: Per fess engrailed Azure and Argent, in chief a boar's head couped Argent and in base two crescents in fess Sable (LL 1872).

Retired Cape chief justice Sir Jan Truter was the first South African to be knighted (in 1821), and the first to be granted arms by the College of Arms (CoA 1837): Azure, a fleur de lis Or between three antelopes' heads couped Argent. The antelopes' heads were a "local allusion" to the Cape Colony.

Although the Van der Byl (or Van der Bijl) family stamvader settled at the Cape in 1668, the earliest surviving example of the arms - Vert, a bull's head caboshed Argent - reportedly dates from the 1850s, in the form of servants' livery buttons. The arms are said to date from 1205.

In 1853, Baron Richard von Stutterheim headed the German Legion veterans who settled in the eastern Cape, where a town was named after him. His arms were Azure, an increscent and a decrescent in fess Argent.

References/Sources/Links

South African Heraldry Website © Arthur Radburn