Fisher Family Coat of Arms

Date: Dec 2022
Location: Kent Co, england
Surname/tag: Heraldry

WORKING ON THIS.......

I have taken up an interest in Heraldry through reading the Visitations of Kent. Only the last Visitation in 1663-68 uses drawings of the arms which families were granted. Like most of what is published via Herald College and others, only the BLAZON is given in the earlier Visitation publications. I became interested in trying to render these "descriptions or roadmaps" of the arms into visible art. I'm still learning how to do this, both the heraldry rules and regulations, as well as using digital art programs. I haven't yet learned how to do a good .svg drawing and will stick to the .png file type for now.....one day I'll get good at vector art....I hope.  ;-D

FISHER FAMILY of Maidstone, Kent, England

There are many different Coats of Arms associated with the various families named Fisher in England. You will not find a single one of the "buy now" online, heraldic stores selling the correct arms for this particular family of Kent County Fishers, but the Visitations and Burke's Peerage have published the blazons. The listings in these books do not indicate where this family might have been prior to their Kent residence and the simplicity of the Burke's blazon is likely the original arms granted to this family.

Burke's Peerage lists two very early versions of the Fisher arms which are basically the same design. One is probably older than the other as it divides the shield in half (fess) and the other simply moves the red background and dolphin up slightly into a chief. This simple, early Fisher arms then appears quarterly in the later blazons found in the Visitations of 1574, 1592 and 1619. To distinguish this particular Fisher family from other English Fishers, the genealogy of John Fisher of Northampton Co, Virginia is followed backwards by looking at his family's listings in the Visitations of Kent of 1619, 1592 and 1574. In these three instances his lineage is presented and the proper blazons (a text only arms description) of his family's Coats of Arms are given at the top of the visitation listings.

But first, let's look at the oldest Fisher arms I can find and work forward a bit. (You can view the larger images to right) The following two blazons can be found in Burke's Peerage:

Burke's Peerage Fisher blazons:

FISHER

Maidstone, Kent: Argent, on a chief gules a dolphin embowed of the first. A cadet line is also suggested in parenthesis as the same blazon but with a dolphin or. (gold instead of silver)

Early Fisher Coat of Arms - Burke's Peerage p. 351

Right below that listing is a 2nd, almost identical, Fisher blazon listed as:

FISHER

'Kent: Per fesse gules and argent in chief a dolphin of the second.

2nd Early Fisher Coat of Arms - Burke's Peerage p. 351

Although no dates are given, this "may" be the older of the two. In Medieval times a chief could take up almost half of the shield - more like the top half of a per fesse division. This blazon, after dividing the shield in half, indicates "in chief" and may simply be how one would indicate placing something in the upper half vs the lower half of the division. In more modern heraldry it would say "in a chief" which is specifically a bar consisting of about 1/3 of the top - how the Fisher blazon reads in the first entry. They are so similar as to be the same arms. Further research through Herald College and other peerage books is needed to pinpoint which Fisher ancestors were granted these early arms.

The Fisher Coat of Arms listed in the 1574, 1592 and 1619 Visitations

The Fisher blazon in 1619 is found here on page 159. It's also found listed in the 1574 Visitation on p. 74. The blazon is the same for both even though there is a 45 yr difference.

In 1619 John Fisher (later of Northampton Co, VA) is listed at age 16 (bottom right corner) as one of the 4 children of John Fisher and Bennett Deering. You can follow his paternal line up through John Fisher, Alexander Fisher, John Fisher and William Fisher of Maidstone, Kent, England.

Above William in both listings, is the blazon of this particular line of Fishers at the time:

Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent, on a chief gules a dolphin embowed of the field;

2, Or, two bars couped gules between as many flanches of the last;

3, Argent, billetee and a fesse dancettee sable; [overall a crescent]

Fisher Coat of Arms in 1619

The "overall crescent" for cadency on the shield indicates this is a cadet line of a 2nd son and applies to the entire arms and not a particular quarter. Read about cadency here The placement of the crescent can be styled either at the top or- at the fesse point, center. You will find old arms done both ways.

Quarter 2 has not been definitively traced as of this writing (Dec 2022) but looking at the earliest marriage listed, William Fisher to Elizabeth Fryer, it would have to her or an unknown earlier Fisher marriage. By 1574, the Q2 design has been established as part of the arms. There is a Friar from Thornes, Staffordshire listed in Burke's on p. 380:

Or, two flaunches gules, as many bars humettee of the second charged with three leaves of the first.

This Friar blazon is almost identical to Q2 in the Fisher blazon, with the only difference being the placement of leaves on the red bars. Humettee is another way of saying couped - the bars don't reach the edge or are cut off. Elizabeth is listed as her father, John Friar's, heir. If his version of the Friar arms over time no longer had the leaves as part of the design, that is what she would have inherited. Research on the Staffordshire Friar lines needs work.

Quarter 3 is being being researched at the moment.

Visitation of Kent 1592

In this Visitation, which was done between the 1574 and 1619 visits, the arms is slightly different. Three quarters (1,2 and 4) are the same. Interestingly, at this Visitation, which occurs not quite 20 years after the 1574 and slightly over 25 years before the next Visitation of 1619, quarter three has been replaced by an entirely different arms. At this time (Dec 2022) as I'm researching all of this, the third quarter (Argent, billetee and a fesse dancettee sable) has been replaced by Argent, a cross engrailed sable between four bears' heads erased of the last. This is a slightly altered version of the Bettenham arms and may have been been added because John Fisher b. 1516 married Thomasin Bettenham. She became her father William's co-heir.

As I learn about how Coats of Arms move/change within families, there are several areas that need research in order to explain some of them. One obvious question is why the 1574 arms moved to a slightly different version in 1592, and then moved back to the 1574 version in 1619. It must have to do with which Fisher sons along the line inherited which right to arms. I will spend some time sorting this out.

[insert 1574, 1592, 1619 for comparison)

Visitation of Kent 1663-1668

In the next Visitation of Kent 1663-1668, some 45 years or so later, the Fisher family is absent. John fisher has removed to Northampton Co, Colony of Virginia by the Jamestowne 1623/4 muster. The whereabouts of John's brothers George and Henry, and sister Elizabeth (all listed in 1619) are unknown at this writing.

The Deerings are on p. 48 and no longer display arms. They do have several entries in the Index through marriages of daughters to other families. A Bettenham daughter is mentioned in a marriage on p. 91 and the Maplesdens are on pp. 105-07.

Continuing to work on this narrative...........