Family Association Arms

Many families have formed family associations, to preserve their heritage, and some associations have assumed arms.

The earliest association arms that I've come across are those of the Pretorius Family League, registered in 1956. In 1966, the Bureau of Heraldry introduced a standard pattern for family association arms: a shield of the arms (historical or a new design) with a blank chief across the top. There's no crest, but a motto scroll is optional. The first arms of this pattern to be registered were those of the Viljoen Feeskomitee (Viljoen Festival Committee): Gules, a saltire Or; a chief Argent (BoH 1974).

Every member of an association is entitled to display the arms, just like the arms of any other organisation of which he/she is a member. However, if he/she wants to bear the arms personally, they must be differenced. The purpose of the blank chief is to identify the arms as those of a family association, and to provide a space for individual members to add charges to personalise the arms for themselves. They can also add a crest (and change the motto if they wish) and register the arms in their own names.

Only about three dozen family association arms have been registered, nearly half of them in the 1990s. Very few people have actually registered personalised versions of any of them.

Interesting examples are to be found in the Linde family. The association's arms (BoH 1978) are Vert, three linden leaves slipped and conjoined pallwise, and a chief Argent. Two members registered individual arms by differencing the chief: Johannes Linde made the chief embattled and added three black acorns (BoH 1978), while Marthinus Linde changed the chief to gold and made it fir-tree-topped (BoH 1982). Johannes Linde's arms were later further differenced and matriculated for his sons and grandsons.

References/Sources/Links

South African Heraldry Website © Arthur Radburn