A new tradition for Sheriffs' shields in the Old Bailey

It has been said that the City throws away nothing it finds to be useful, and this is true of many of its ancient customs and traditions handed down through the centuries. While the City is a place of tradition and heritage it also at the vanguard of modernity; a centre of excellence for innovation in business; finance; technology; law; and a champion of diversity and inclusion in the commercial; civic, and livery realms. 

Nowhere is this more apparent the way the Livery Companies and the City's civic institutions have evolved to encourage greater diversity among their membership. Many companies have signed up to the Diversity Charter, others have codified their own principles of inclusion.

At a practical level all Livery Companies now admit women; the Lady Past Masters Association has grown to nearly 200 members since the first female Master, Sylvia Tutt (1983-84) and the first female Lord Mayor, Mary Donaldson (1983-84). Somewhere between a third and a half of the Livery Company Clerks and Ward Club Secretaries are women, and companies are making great strides in other aspects of diversity.

NB. Retired judge, and Past Master, Erica Stary has written a paper which explores the progress of women in Livery Companies and High Civic Office.

This adaptation and progress is nothing new to the City. Striking a balance between maintenance of tradition and adaptation to the needs of the times has always been a strength of the City that has allowed it to thrive. For the City's customs and traditions to continue, they must evolve to remain relevant, and the latest set of shields on display in the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) are a signal to that need for balance between tradition and modernity.

An evolving tradition

Those among us who have been invited to dine with the judges, as a guest of the Sheriffs, in the Old Bailey will have seen the immense array of heraldic shields on display in the judges' dining room. The display records the coats of arms of Sheriffs of the City of London since 1905, although the tradition of Sheriffs being armigerous long predates the rebuild of the Old Bailey, and heraldry has been part of the City's landscape since the 12th century.

In March of 2024 two new shields went on display in the judges dining room, joining an array of heraldry spanning more than a century. Alderwoman and Sheriff Dame Susan Langley DBE, and Alderman Bronek Masojada were the first to bring an evolutionary step forward to this ancient institution. It is likely they will not be the last.

Sheriffs (centre) with their newly painted shields on display in the Judges' dining room in the Old Bailey. L-R: The Recorder of London, HH Judge Mark Lucraft KC; Alderwoman and Sheriff Dame Susan Langley; Alderman Bronek Masojada; Clunie Fretton.
Photograph © Clunie Fretton 2024.

Dame Susan Langley and Bronek Masojada are the first Sheriffs to have made a conscious decision not to petition for armorial bearings (a coat of arms) through the College of Arms. Their reasons for doing so may be found in the inequality that exists in heraldic convention in England (sometimes called heraldic 'law') which does not grant the same rights to women as it does to men. 

The first female Sheriff

When the first woman became a Sheriff in the City is was a break with tradition, indeed the first woman to be elected to the Court of Aldermen was rejected by the Court on two occasions in the early 1970s. It wasn't until the 1975s that Mary Donaldson (later Lord Mayor, Dame Mary Donaldson) was successfully elected and later progressed to become the first female Sheriff in 1981. 

At the time heraldic convention had no way to differentiate between the arms of a married woman and the arms of her husband who she bore by courtesy, as a result the College of Arms painted the chain of a Sheriff and the arms of the City of London onto her husband's shield even though it is not an element of her arms. The effect is to create a sort of heraldic footnote, to the trained eye, says 'It's the wife we refer to here, not her husband', but it is also a heraldic fudge since it forms no part of the legal grant of arms to either Dame Mary, or her husband Baron Donaldson of Lymington (Master of the Rolls from 1982 - 1992).

Dame Mary Donaldson's arms include two elements which are not part of the legal grant, the Sheriff's chain and the arms of the City of London on a shield.
Photograph © Paul D Jagger 2023.

Since Dame Mary's term of office several women have gone on to become Sheriff, and in each case the arms granted to them in their own right have been displayed in the Old Bailey, some indicating their status as single women in a way that heraldry is blind to where men are concerned.

Embracing digital design

As a result of the Sheriffs' decision not to petition for armorial bearings, no blazon (that is the written description of a coat of arms) and no heraldic painting on vellum was produced by the College of Arms. Consequently it was necessary for the Sheriffs to commission digital artwork for the shields from an independent heraldic artist with knowledge of heraldry and the City's rich history of coats of arms.

The Sheriffs chose to engage the services of the heraldic artist Quentin Peacock of digitalheraldry.com. Quentin's reputation as a digital artist is second to none in the heraldic community. He is presently Artist in Residence to the Cambridge University Heraldic & Genealogical Society and has recently been commissioned to produce a design for the Royal Mint. Past commissions have included work for Team GB and several Livery Companies among many private clients.

The decision to engage Quentin underscores the City's ability to blend ancient tradition with ultra-modern practice, retaining what is useful from the past while adapting it to the needs of the 21st century. 

Quentin creates digital images in vector graphic form which enables them to be scaled to any size, printed, embroidered, etched on glass, manufactured in 3D form, and reproduced with ease. Quentin's digital artwork for Dame Susan Langley incorporates the City's dragon, an emblem deeply routed in civic, livery and personal heraldry in the Square Mile. The artwork is based on a design created by the celebrated London Silversmith Grant MacDonald who has a long history of designing badges for the City’s Sheriffs.

Digital design for Alderwoman and Sheriff Dame Susan Langley. 
Image © Quentin Peacock 2023 of DigitalHeraldry.com

From screen to shield, a digital transformation

Once the digital designs were approved it was necessary for the Central Criminal Court to commission the production of shields for display in the judges' dining room. In the past this work has been performed by the College of Arms.

Once again the City showed the way forward by continuing a time honoured tradition and adapting it to the modern world by engaging the services of a female heraldic artist to produce the shields, Clunie Fretton of Fretton Handley. Clunie trained at the City & Guilds of London Art School (founded in 1854) in Kennington before becoming a carving fellow and lately setting up in business with her partner, Felix Handley, a noted stone carver in his own right.

NB. The City & Guilds of London Art School was originally part of the City & Guilds Institution and became a separate trust in 1971. It is still connected with the Livery and two students were awarded Master Craft Certificates by the Lord Mayor in April of 2024.

Clunie Fretton is well known in City circles as a classically trained carver and sculptor who has won commissions from the Houses of Parliament; several Livery Companies; the V&A Museum; four of England's great cathedrals and many private clients. Clunie graduated with a Distinction in Ornamental Woodcarving & Gilding from City & Guilds, and holds the Livery Company Skills Council's Master Carver Certificate. She is a liveryman of the Joiners & Ceilers' Company who supported her throughout her training, and is also a member of the Master Carvers' Association.

The Joiners' & Ceilers' company was among Clunie's first commissions, being a peripatetic livery company they wanted a pop-up carving of their arms to take with them to events throughout the City. I was lucky enough to see the end result of that commission at the Livery Company Heritage Skills festival at Lincoln Cathedral in the summer of 2017, explored further in this blog article.

A commission for the Joiners' & Ceilers' Company produced by Clunie Fretton.
Photograph © Paul D Jagger 2017. 

The artist, Clunie Fretton, Liveryman of the Joiners & Ceilers' Company in her studio in London. Photograph © Paul D Jagger 2024.

The process of transforming the digital design to a physical form differs from one medium to the next. In the case of the shields produced by Clunie Fretton, the blanks were provided by the team at the Central Criminal Court (the 'Old Bailey'). The shields come in conjoined pairs as the City always elects two Sheriffs, of which at least one is also an Alderman/woman.

Black shields with the 'field' (background) painted and read for the application of Quentin Peacock's designs for the City's two Sheriffs.
Photograph © Clunie Fretton 2024.

NB. In the same week that I interviewed Clunie, an example of the omnipresence and relevance of digital heraldry was in discussion on the Heraldry Society's X account as the gov.uk app had just updated its app jewel (the icon in the app store) to reflect the change to the Tudor Crown favoured by His Majesty.

Shields for Alderwoman and Sheriff Dame Susan Langley and Alderman Bronek Masojada.
Photograph © Paul D Jagger 2024.

When first contacted by a client for a heraldic commission, Clunie first enquires as to whether the client has the blazon, the size, position and medium in which the commission is to be produced, along with discussion about the budget.

No matter the form of the finish artwork Clunie produces drawings to show the client how the work might look, albeit recognising there are aspects of design that work well in three dimensions but not so well on a two dimensional drawing. 

For most commissions Clunie will produce a clay miniature to show the client what the finished work will look like. Working in clay to produce a model is more flexible than wood as mistakes can be corrected and changes made that are not possible when carving a block of wood.

In the case of the Sheriffs' arms, Quentin Peacock's digital artwork enabled transformation not only to the shields, but also to flags, to print, which were all derived from the designs for the Sheriffs' badges of office.

Alderwoman Dame Susan Langley's banner being paraded in the Lord Mayor's Show.
Photograph © Paul D Jagger 2024.

Alderwoman and Sheriff Dame Susan Langley's badge was designed by Grant MacDonald and includes shields of various Livery Companies with which Dame Susan is connected.
Photograph © Paul D Jagger.

In adapting the past to the present the Sheriffs have continued a time honoured tradition while modernising it for the 21st century, choosing designs that are equally at home in the digital and physical realms, while at the same time upholding the values and principles of the City's diversity charter.

Is this the way forward for heraldry in the City? Well on that topic I will let you be the judge.

Want to learn more about the Livery Companies and the City of London?

The City of London Freeman's Guide is the definitive concise guide to the City of London and its ancient and modern Livery Companies, their customs, traditions, officers, events and landmarks. Available in full colour hardback and eBook formats and now in its fifth or Platinum Jubilee edition. The guide is available online from Apple (as an eBook), Amazon (in hardback or eBook) Payhip (in ePub format) or Etsy (in hardback or hardback with the author's seal attached). Also available from all major City of London tourist outlets and bookstores. Bulk purchase enquiries are welcome from Livery Companies, Guilds, Ward Clubs and other City institutions and businesses.

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