The Present College of Arms
We are bedeviled by doubts about the reasons for our two years of delays at the London College of Arms, and their heralds/genealogists ongoing ill health and injuries. As a result I felt bound to seek independent appraisals on our own expectations and the College of Arms performance since we retained them in October 2006. The consensus of these appraisals were, “It is very difficult to arrive at an objective opinion but considering the length of time that the Heralds have been given to satisfy your query, I marvel that they have not produced something! Even a totally negative response or perhaps some constructive suggestions”.
The first job of checking my genealogists proven family tree, which in my opinion should have only taken up to six weeks, had taken two years.
23 October 2008 : Garter writes concluding our stay and my reply follows:
The last sentence should read 'late 17th Century'. Garter's 'disputed' Edward was baptised 8th May 1670 and his undisputed son Edward was baptised 1692.
Garter Principal King of Arms
Mr Peter Gwynn-Jones
London College of Arms
Dear Garter,
I am sorry for my delay in writing but I have been awaiting assessments and advice from England regarding your decision and our options after you advised that “Edward (son of John Purse), baptized 8th May 1670, is not in my view proven”. While I was disappointed by your decision and the two years it took to arrive at it, we are comforted that my genealogist/s factual research in Dorset and Somerset has not been found to be incorrect. While we sincerely believe her proven family tree has been well recorded and substantiated I find it troubling that you have quoted the repetition of Christian names in an unconnected town in support of our Edwards b.1670 rejection, yet the College of Arms have not applied the same genealogical tenet to one of England’s leading (now retired) genealogists “tree” which is so much better supported by :
- Same Taunton town
- Same Taunton Parish registers. St. Mary Magdalene (T.S.M.)
- Same repeated Christian names for over 9 generations.
(T.S.M.) your “disputed” Edward b 1670. Thomas b.1692. Joseph b.1682. others.
(T.S.M.) Edward b.1692 (base born no proven siblings)
(T.S.M.) Edward b.1720. Thomas b.1725. Joseph b.1732. Rebecca
(Sherborne) - Thomas b. Joseph b.1759 Rebecca
Surely the above binds the 3 Edwards genealogically together?
Garter, while we may not always have agreed during the two years we have been at the College of Arms, we have always been respectful to each other and that is to our credit.
As we now push forward to our first and hopefully only application for the exhumation and yDNA analyses process I will ensure that you are kept informed of our progress. It is my sincere hope that when that time arrives that you and/or the College of Arms will consent to bear witness to the process that will resolve this historic conundrum absolutely, as well as our over 200 year old Taunton and Sherborne provenances and our families long search for identify.
Yours sincerely,
Shirley Kevin Percy
The following can also be opened as a pdf file. www.percyfamily.co.nz/vdb/document/58
