Heraldry

Introduction

The following was written by “J.P.Brooke-Little¹“, of the Royal College of Arms:

“Once arms have been granted they may be borne and used by the grantee, as his especial, personal mark of honour and likewise by his legitimate descendants in the male line. They may be used by none other than one who is entitled to them by grant or descent.

This does not mean that they may not be displayed by another. To display arms is simply to exhibit them in a way which clearly indicates that they are the arms of someone else. For example many people display the arms of towns … they exhibit the arms of schools, colleges and institutions with which they have some connection; and frequently the arms of famous people are used as decoration. All this is permissible and indeed to be encouraged.

On the other hand … to place on stationery arms to which no title has been proved … is not only pretentious and vulgar but is legally indefensible.”

… unless of course, as is said, you clearly indicate that they are the arms of someone else.

Halsted & Halstead

The Achievement of Arms  shown at the top left of each page on this web site was granted in 1826 to Admiral Sir Laurence William HALSTED, KCB.². Other coats of arms used by men with the surname of Halstead, and its main variant of Halsted, are depicted as follows (the numbers in superscript indicate the Source References):

Other Variants

HAUSTED and HAWSTED have the same sound phonetically, as do the alternative endings …STED and …STEAD.
The HANSTED variant may stem from HAUSTED where the handwritten letter “u” has been read as an “n”.
HAUSTED was much used in the 13th century and HASTED in the 17th century.

The coats of arms used by men with those surname variants are depicted as follows
(none have been found for the variants HOLSTED, HOLSTEAD or ALSTEAD):

Halstead, the town in Essex

Circa 1886

“In Sir Bernard Burke’s General Armory, 1875 and 1878 editions, there is the following entry: ‘Halsted, Town of (co. Essex). Az. a coronet composed of one fleur-de-lis and two leaves or’. The Halstead Urban District Council, upon its formation some thirty years ago, [circa 1886] adopted these arms and placed them in the council seal.

The Rev. Henry L. Elliot, vicar of Gosfield, Halstead, subsequently made some enquiries upon the subject, and he received a letter dated, from the College of Arms, 15 May 1903, from the then editor of Burke’s Armory, as follows: ‘The result of a search here [College of Arms] shows that you are correct in stating that the town of Halstead has no right to arms… I cannot understand how the entry crept into Burke’s Armory.’ “

Granted to the then Halstead Urban District Council, subsequently adopted by the Halstead Town Council.

“The weaver’s shuttles represent the town’s long association with Courtauld’s Limited, and weaving in general, an industry that has existed in the town since the arrival of Flemish weavers in the fourteenth century. The town’s association with the Courtaulds began in 1782 when George Courtauld, a descendant of the Huguenot refugee families, set up in business as a silk throwster. The thunderbolt alludes to Evans Electroselenium (now Ciba Corning Diagnostics), whose managing director gave generously towards the cost of the grant.”

20th November
1964

Source References

Papworth, Corder and Foster each made reference to one or more of the following primary sources to substantiate their entries: