Henry Paston-Bedingfeld

Sir Henry Edgar Paston-Bedingfeld, 10th Baronet (born 7 December 1943) is a British baronet and retired officer of arms.

Family and career

Paston-Bedingfeld is the only son of Sir Edmund Paston-Bedingfeld, 9th Baronet of Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, by his wife Joan Lynette Rees. He succeeded to the family title upon his father's death on 24 May 2011.[1] He was educated at Ampleforth College, then an all-boys Catholic private school in Ampleforth, Yorkshire.

Paston-Bedingfeld served as Rouge Croix Pursuivant from 1983,[2] and then in 1993 became York Herald.[3] In 2010 he was promoted to Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, the junior of the two provincial Kings-at-Arms, with jurisdiction over the north of England and Northern Ireland.[4] In July 2014, he retired and was succeeded by Timothy Duke.[5]

He is an Honorary Vice-president of the Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society and of the Norfolk Record Society;[6] Sir Henry is also a liveryman of the Bowyers' Company and served as Master of the Scriveners' Company for 2012–13.

In 1968, Paston-Bedingfield married Mary Kathleen, a daughter of Brigadier Robert Ambrose CIE OBE MC, and they have two sons and two daughters; their elder son, Richard (born 1975) is heir apparent to the baronetcy.[1]

Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfield is the current Coordinator of the Commission and Association for the Armigerous Families of Great Britain.

Selected heraldic designs by Paston-Bedingfeld

Honours

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry Paston-Bedingfeld
Crest
1. An Eagle displayed Or (Bedingfeld),
2. A Griffin sejant wings elevated Or gorged with a Collar Gules therefrom a Line held in the beak and terminating in a Ring of the Last (Paston)
Helm
That of a Knight
Escutcheon
Quarterly, 1st & 4th Ermine an Eagle displayed Gules (Bedingfeld), 2nd & 3rd Argent six Fleurs-de-lys three two and one Azure a Chief indented Or (Paston)
Motto
1. Despicio terrena, Solem contemplor ("I despise earthly things, I gaze upon the Sun"),
2. De mieulx je pense en mieulx ("I think of better and better things")
Orders
A baronet's badge suspended beneath the arms
Symbolism
A Baronet's badge:
Previous versions
Sir Henry impaled his company's arms with those of his family during his year of office as Master Scrivener[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Burke's Peerage, volume 3, 2003, page 3067
  2. ^ "No. 49291". The London Gazette. 17 March 1983. p. 3737.
  3. ^ "No. 53435". The London Gazette. 23 September 1993. p. 15437.
  4. ^ "College of Arms, What's New – Norroy and Ulster King of Arms". Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  5. ^ "New Norroy and Ulster King of Arms", College of Arms, 3 July 2014, accessed 24 September 2023.
  6. ^ "www.norfolkrecordsociety.org.uk". Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  7. ^ Heraldry Gazette NS 67 (March 1998), 6.
  8. ^ The Heraldry Gazette NS 64 (June 1997), 6.
  9. ^ Heraldry Gazette NS 67 (March 1998), 7.
  10. ^ Scriveners' Company arms Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine