File:St James ^ St Edmund, Blunham - Hatchments ^ Royal Arms - geograph.org.uk - 3263789.jpg

Funeral hatchments:

Left

Argent, a chevron sable between three hawthorn trees proper (Thornton of Moggerhanger, Blunham) quartering: Per fess sable and gules, a fess argent in chief a ... or (Godin of Cullands Grove, Southgate, Middlesex,  ?) impaling: Argent, a lion passant gules on a chief sable three .... (Pole, of Altham Place, Berks. ?). "Thornton family whose seat was Park House, Moggerhanger". Further reading: 'Parishes: Blunham with Moggerhanger and Chalton', in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 228-233. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp228-233

Centre

Not strictly a funeral hatchment, just the quartered arms of a Grey lord of the manor, placed there to mark a special event. In style 17th/18th century, with coronet of an earl. The Grey (of Ruthin) arms in the 1st quarter have dropped the difference of three torteax, so are post 1740, the death of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, after which his descendants dropped the difference. The quarterings are not the usual simple ones used habitually by Grey of Ruthin (Grey quartering Hastings and Valence) but hark back to and emphasise the earliest history, origins and continuity of the family, seemingly therefore celebrating the creation in 1816 of the Earldom of "De Grey" for Amabell Hume-Campbell, Dowager Lady Polwarth and suo jure 5th Baroness Lucas, the elder daughter and co-heir of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, and Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey (see Marquess Grey), eldest daughter of John Campbell, 3rd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, and Lady Amabel Grey, eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent. The Dukedom and Earldom of Kent had become extinct on the death in 1740 of the 1st Duke, last in the male line, Amabell's great-grandfather. Thus the revival of the Earldom in its 1816 form was an historic event to be marked and celebrated. Arms of Grey, Baron Grey of Ruthin, with coronet of an Earl, with eight strawberry leaves (four visible) and eight "pearls" raised on stalks, of which five are visible. The descent of the manor of Blunham followed that of Wrest (per VCH), thus to 1st Duke of Kent. The difference of Three torteax in chief used by the Grey family of Ruthin, has been dropped by this time, as these are the undifferenced arms. Charles Grey, 7th Earl of Kent, 10th Baron Grey of Ruthin (1545-1623) died at his seat of Blunham. His heiress was his daughter Lady Susan Grey (d.1620), the wife of Sir Michael Longueville. She inherited the title 11th Baroness Grey of Ruthin, but not the Earldom of Kent, which passed to a male line, namely to the great-grandfather of the 1st Duke of Kent, together with the manor of Blunham. Lady Susan Grey's alabaster effigy survives in Blunham Church, with those of her two sons. Her eldest son was Charles Longueville, 12th Baron Grey of Ruthin. Quarterly of 6:

• • 1: Grey (undifferenced)
  • 2: Hastings, Earl of Pembroke
  • 3: Valence, Earl of Pembroke
  • 4: Per pale or and vert, a lion rampant gules (Marshal, Earl of Pembroke)
  • 5: Argent, on a chief azure three crosses pattée fitchée of the field (Strongbow/de Clare, Earl of Pembroke) (Papworth, John Woody, Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.I, London, 1874, p.571; Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.198 "Clare, County Pembroke"; Arms of de Clare, feudal barons of Clare in Suffolk, Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester, usually given as: Or, three chevrons gules). Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland (1130 – 20 April 1176), also known as Richard FitzGilbert. Like his father (Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare (c. 1100 – 6 January 1148)), Richard FitzGilbert has since become commonly known by his nickname Strongbow. His son and heir Gilbert de Striguil died unmarried before 1189, and the earldom passed via his daughter Isabel to her husband William Marshal
  • 6: Arms adopted by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (died 1232): Azure, three garbs or

Right

Hatchment for funeral of Frances Anne Smith, wife of Claude George Thornton (sinister/femme half black). Argent, a chevron sable between three hawthorn trees proper (Thornton) quartering: Per fess sable and gules, a fess argent in chief a ... or (Godin of w:Cullands Grove, Southgate, Middlesex ?) impaling: Or, a chevron cotised sable between three demi-griffins couped of the last the two in chief respecting each other (Smith of of w:Woodhall Park in Hertfordshire). Claude George Thornton (1776-1866), High Sheriff of .... in 1838, who in 1806 married Frances Anne Smith, 2nd daughter of Samuel Smith (1754–1834), of w:Woodhall Park in Hertfordshire. Claude George Thornton lived at Marden Hill, Herts., and served as High Sheriff of .... in 1838. Claude George Thornton was the 3rd son of Col. Godfrey Thornton (1737-1805), of Moggerhanger, 1st Regiment Granadier Guards and a director of the Bank of England, who married Jane Godin (d.1811), a daughter and co-heiress of w:Stephen Godin of w:Cullands Grove, Southgate, Middlesex. Col. Godfrey Thornton lived at Moggerhanger from 1790 until his death in 1805. (Source: http://bernardoconnor.org.uk/Everton/Thornton%20and%20Astell%20geneailogy.htm ). Samuel Smith (1754–1834), MP, purchased the estate of w:Woodhall Park in Hertfordshire in 1801. He was the fourth son of Abel Smith, a wealthy Nottingham banker and Member of Parliament. Four of his brothers (including Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington) were also Members of Parliament.

The son and heir of Claude George Thornton and Frances Anne Smith was George Thornton (1808-1867), JP. For Herts., who survived his father by only one year. Possibly the hatchment at left, in same style as that at right, is for him. George Thornton married Agnes Pole, a daughter of Rev. Henry Pole, of Altham Place, Berks. They lived at Marden Hill, Herts. Agnes Pole married secondly John Henry Blagrave, of Calcot Park, Berks. She died childless on 27th January 1895 and John Henry Blagrave died 23rd June 1895)