This week as part of our series celebrating 60 years of the Borough of Camden, one of our Camden Guide’s tells the story behind the borough’s distinctive Coat of Arms.
(Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_the_London_Borough_of_Camden.svg)
On 11 June 1788, via a Royal Commission in the House of Lords, King George III granted Royal Assent to several Acts of Parliament agreed upon by both Houses (Commons and Lords). Among them was “An Act for enabling Charles [Pratt] Earl Camden to grant in the Manner therein mentioned, Building Leases of the Prebendal Lands at Kentish Town in the County of Middlesex.” In 1791 development started in earnest as Camden laid out land in plots and leased it for constructing 1,400 houses – the beginnings of Camden Town.
The elephant, which dominates the 1st Earl’s coat of arms, is the crest on the Camden coat of arms. However, the borough bearing his name only came into being in April 1965, under the Local Government Act 1963. This year – 2025 – celebrates the diamond jubilee of the Borough of Camden, created by merging three existing metropolitan boroughs: Hampstead, St Pancras, and Holborn. And all three are symbolised s in Camden’s coat of arms, likewise granted in 1965.
It’s fun getting into the language and visuals of heraldry. Rooted in Norman French, it entered England with the ruling class after the Battle of Hastings – which, incidentally, transformed the English language from a Teutonic one (German-based: Old English or Anglo-Saxon – think Beowulf) to a Romance one (French/Norman based: Middle English, think Chaucer). In other words, the power language in England “went French” for the next three hundred years. The markings on a coat of arms are recorded in a well-established format, in Norman French, called the blazon (cf. “emblazoned”).
Often people say “coat of arms” referring only to a shield. There are “coats of arms” of Arthurian knights at the Round Table at Winchester, or around the cornice of the Royal Robing Room at the Palace of Westminster. But they’re only shields!
The complete coat of arms, e.g., the Royal Arms behind the throne at the House of Lords, and the North window of Westminster Hall, is known as the “full achievement.” It comprises many elements. From the top down: the crest, sometimes a wreath (usually, though not always, a bi-coloured circlet). Issuing from the helm, the exuberant bi-coloured mantling resembles material flapping around. Then the shield – the escutcheon (Fr. écusson), full of symbolic design. The supporters flank it – human or animal, real or legendary. They stand on a compartment, below which is the motto (Fr. mot = word). The full achievement of a coat of arms resembles a stylised human head (crest, helm), with a cloaked (mantling) torso (escutcheon) and two arms (the supporters).
One anomaly regarding the supporters’ positions. What we see as the Left Side is Dexter (Lat. “right”) and the Right Side, Sinister (Lat. “left”). Why are the directions reversed? Because blazons reflect the perspective of the coat of arms, as if it were “looking out at us.” The Dexter side has seniority. In the Royal Arms, the Dexter and Sinister supporters are the lion (England) and unicorn (Scotland) – and these priorities are reversed in Scotland.
And now to Camden –
Crest – the Pratt/Camden elephant, wearing a holly sprig round its neck, borrowed from the old arms of Hampstead, and originating in the vestry of Hampstead. The three stars on its collar represent the three constituent former boroughs.
Wreath – the elephant – a demi-elephant – is on a mural (“walled”) crown – the not only a common heraldic symbol for local municipal authorities, and but referencing the fact that Camden is adjacent to the City of London.
Helm, flanked by Mantling – red and silver (in heraldry called gules and argent)
Escutcheon – the shield includes “in chief” (on the black band at the top of the shield) three scallop shells from the Russell coat of arms. The Russells, Dukes of Bedford, have owned the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury, with significant holdings in Holborn and St Pancras, since 1669.
Below the scallop shells is the cross of St George. At its centre, a yellow Bishop’s mitre stands for Westminster Abbey, lords of the manor of Hampstead. The name Hempstede is Old English for “homestead.” By the time of the Domesday Book (1086), the manor of Hampstead was part of the territory of the Convent of St Peter at Westminster. It remained so for at least five centuries.
St George was patron of two parishes in Holborn, namely Bloomsbury and St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr Queen Square. Within the latter parish lay two Inns of Chancery (Furnival’s and Staple) and two Inns of Court – (Gray’s and Lincoln’s).
Supporters – The two supporters represent the two Inns of Court. Dexter: the Lion, from the arms of the De Lacy family, whose townhouse was Lincoln’s Inn. Sinister: the Eagle, partly resembling the griffin, which symbolized Gray’s Inn. The supporters’ collars have three mullets (no, not fish! Five- or six-pointed stars with straight rays). These representing each of the three boroughs whose merger formed Camden: Hampstead, Holborn, St Pancras. The total number of mullets – six – represents the six old parishes in the three boroughs. Although the blazon gives the Lion’s collar as silver and the Eagle’s as red, they are often both rendered as red in images. The supporters’ collars have pendants with fountains, symbolizing the canals and waterways of Camden.
Below the grassy compartment is the Motto, formerly of Holborn: “Non sibi sed toti.”
It means Not For Self, But For All. A fitting byword for the Borough of Camden with its noble and royal connections, but which from first to last has cherished its community values.
Incidentally, the College of Arms, which granted the arms in 1965 to the new Borough of Camden, was founded by Royal Charter in 1484 by none other than Richard III (!). And I should mention that Charles Pratt’s lands approved for development in 1788 (where we started) were inherited by him in right of his wife, the fabulously wealthy heiress Elizabeth Jeffreys.
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