Croft Lyons Committee
Reference code
SAL/17
Title
Croft Lyons Committee
Date
1930s-1990s
Level of description
Sub-fonds
Scope and content
The project to produce a new edition of JW Papworth’s Ordinary, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland (1874), stemmed from a bequest to the Society of Antiquaries by Lt Col George Babington Croft Lyons in 1926. Originally intended to consist of both an Ordinary and an Armory, the eventual publication was limited to an Ordinary, mainly of English arms.
Information was collected over many years from a variety of sources, by a large team of volunteers, headed and directed principally by (Sir) Anthony Wagner (d.1995), but involving a number of other heralds and scholars of heraldry, including Hugh Stanford London, T D Tremlett, S M Collins and later, Thomas Woodcock and John Archibald Goodall. After the Second World War, the growing body of material was brought together for sorting and filing at the Society’s apartments at Burlington House, to be edited for eventual publication.
A parallel project, for the Society to publish editions of English medieval rolls of arms, under the general title of Aspilogia, began in 1950 with Anthony Wagner’s A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms, followed in 1967 by Rolls of Arms, Henry III, edited by TD Tremlett, HS London and AR Wagner.
The first volume of the new Dictionary of British Arms (DBA) was published in 1992. Volume II of DBA was published in 1996, followed in 1997 by Aspilogia III, Rolls of Arms Edward I (1272-1307), edited by Gerard J Brault. John Goodall had by then started to work on what was to be Aspilogia IV, Rolls of Arms of the Reign of Edward II. He was still working on this when he died in November 2005.
Volume III of DBA was published in 2009, and volume IV in 2015. Following this, the Croft Lyons Committee held its final meeting in September 2015, and was formally dissolved by the Council of the Society on 17 March 2016.
Information was collected over many years from a variety of sources, by a large team of volunteers, headed and directed principally by (Sir) Anthony Wagner (d.1995), but involving a number of other heralds and scholars of heraldry, including Hugh Stanford London, T D Tremlett, S M Collins and later, Thomas Woodcock and John Archibald Goodall. After the Second World War, the growing body of material was brought together for sorting and filing at the Society’s apartments at Burlington House, to be edited for eventual publication.
A parallel project, for the Society to publish editions of English medieval rolls of arms, under the general title of Aspilogia, began in 1950 with Anthony Wagner’s A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms, followed in 1967 by Rolls of Arms, Henry III, edited by TD Tremlett, HS London and AR Wagner.
The first volume of the new Dictionary of British Arms (DBA) was published in 1992. Volume II of DBA was published in 1996, followed in 1997 by Aspilogia III, Rolls of Arms Edward I (1272-1307), edited by Gerard J Brault. John Goodall had by then started to work on what was to be Aspilogia IV, Rolls of Arms of the Reign of Edward II. He was still working on this when he died in November 2005.
Volume III of DBA was published in 2009, and volume IV in 2015. Following this, the Croft Lyons Committee held its final meeting in September 2015, and was formally dissolved by the Council of the Society on 17 March 2016.
Creator
Wagner, Anthony Richard (1908-1995), Knight, herald and antiquary
Goodall, John A (d.2005), heraldic scholar and antiquary
Goodall, John A (d.2005), heraldic scholar and antiquary
Archival history
This material was inherited, collected or created by those working under the auspices of the Croft Lyons Committee (CLC) of the Society of Antiquaries of London. The Croft Lyons Committee was established as a Special Committee in 1927. It became a Standing Committee in 1946.
The material was gathered in connection with the new 'Papworth', which was published as the new Dictionary of British Arms (DBA), and the Aspilogia series of editions of medieval English rolls of arms. The material recording instances of coats of arms was gathered primarily in the form of index cards, created and filed in parallel series alphabetically by device (for the Ordinary) and by family (for the Armory). Collection of information seems to have ceased at some point in or after the 1960s, at which time a substantial backlog of sorting and filing remained to be done. This was never completed. The cards for the medieval Ordinary formed the basis of the four volumes of Dictionary of British Arms.
The cards have been digitised and are now accessible through Ancestry.com, as ‘UK Heraldic Card Index, 1150-1850’.
Beside the cards, information relating to or gathered for the project was recorded in paper files, some of which survive in this collection (SAL/17/03; SAL/17/04). A set of transcripts of Rolls of Arms was also collected, mainly from work undertaken or overseen by H S London (SAL/17/01; SAL/17/02). In addition, a variety of photographs, photostatic and other copies of parts of manuscripts, was collected in the course of the research and remained with the material (SAL/17/05).
In July 1992, John A Goodall, FSA, who was then secretary to the Croft Lyons Committee, produced an outline list of much of this accumulated material, which he noted as being created since 1940. He appears to have done this with a view its use in likely future publications, but without specifying whether this was primarily for DBA or for future volumes of Aspilogia. He also added various notes to the accumulation, mainly printouts of short papers written by himself.
The Society's archives also include files relating to the Croft Lyons bequest and work done under the auspices of the committee, 1922-1964.
There is some overlap between the papers in this accumulation and the papers of Hugh Stanford London held by the Society of Antiquaries (LON), especially London's files relating to rolls of arms (LON/01-LON/03).
The material was gathered in connection with the new 'Papworth', which was published as the new Dictionary of British Arms (DBA), and the Aspilogia series of editions of medieval English rolls of arms. The material recording instances of coats of arms was gathered primarily in the form of index cards, created and filed in parallel series alphabetically by device (for the Ordinary) and by family (for the Armory). Collection of information seems to have ceased at some point in or after the 1960s, at which time a substantial backlog of sorting and filing remained to be done. This was never completed. The cards for the medieval Ordinary formed the basis of the four volumes of Dictionary of British Arms.
The cards have been digitised and are now accessible through Ancestry.com, as ‘UK Heraldic Card Index, 1150-1850’.
Beside the cards, information relating to or gathered for the project was recorded in paper files, some of which survive in this collection (SAL/17/03; SAL/17/04). A set of transcripts of Rolls of Arms was also collected, mainly from work undertaken or overseen by H S London (SAL/17/01; SAL/17/02). In addition, a variety of photographs, photostatic and other copies of parts of manuscripts, was collected in the course of the research and remained with the material (SAL/17/05).
In July 1992, John A Goodall, FSA, who was then secretary to the Croft Lyons Committee, produced an outline list of much of this accumulated material, which he noted as being created since 1940. He appears to have done this with a view its use in likely future publications, but without specifying whether this was primarily for DBA or for future volumes of Aspilogia. He also added various notes to the accumulation, mainly printouts of short papers written by himself.
The Society's archives also include files relating to the Croft Lyons bequest and work done under the auspices of the committee, 1922-1964.
There is some overlap between the papers in this accumulation and the papers of Hugh Stanford London held by the Society of Antiquaries (LON), especially London's files relating to rolls of arms (LON/01-LON/03).
System of arrangement
The current arrangement is that imposed by John A Goodall in 1992.
Contents
- SAL/17/01 - Medieval and post-medieval Rolls of Arms, and doubtful identifications: transcripts and associated papers
- SAL/17/02 - Continental Rolls of Arms: transcripts and associated papers
- SAL/17/03 - Material for the new Dictionary of British Arms: articles in various stages of draft or completion
- SAL/17/04 - Material relating to work on the 'New Papworth’, later new Dictionary of British Arms
- SAL/17/05 - Photographic and other copies of rolls of arms