Heralding an error

… and a coat of arms

Ancestry’s recent addition of UK Heraldic Card Index 1150-1850 records {1} almost passed me by, but why not see if there is an entry for second cousin nine times removed John Howse/Howes, who attained high rank in Norfolk (early 1700s)?

A very quick search did indeed find an entry, described as part of “Modern Armory Cards from Various Sources” – so time to download both sides of the card for later use.

This far back in the family tree I can never remember key dates, so over to the Cutlock reference tree to check. Oh dear, he clearly died in 1737, not 1757 as shown on the card, which refers to the memorial tablet in St. John the Baptist church at Morningthorpe. A photo has helpfully been added to the relevant Find a Grave entry by Nigel Battley:

Somewhere along the line, transcribing or copying details, the 3 in 1737 has turned into a 5.

Ancestry’s information about the source of the records includes this:

The card index was a response to the dying wish of Lieutenant-Colonel G. B. Croft Lyons, who bequeathed £15000 to the Society of Antiquarians in 1926 for the study and compilation of heraldry. Thousands of card indexes were compiled over the next several decades, listing coats of arms, genealogies, and original sources.

This card also includes the information that our family name also changed to ‘Howes’ due to a transcription error, this time when John ‘Howse’, then in his fifties, became Sheriff of Norfolk in 1718 (an honorary appointment for just a year?). {2}

Reliable records?

Both of these ‘errors’, or quirks, go to show that the aim of creating accurate genealogy records doesn’t just have to account for the vagaries of digitising processes for websites like Ancestry or Findmypast, or sloppy work by modern tree compilers. A record may come from an old and/or reputable source, but that doesn’t make it automatically reliable.

Fading family arms

Given that this a Heraldry card, there’s also a description of the Howes ‘armory’ (coat of arms). A further snip from Nigel’s photo shows the bottom of the tablet with a rather worn illustration of this:

From what is still visible and comparing the card index with the Burke’s Commoners entry {note 2}, the ‘shield’ is made up of the Howes and Roope armories combined {3}.

Unlike some trees on Ancestry, we’re not about to add this with gay abandon to everyone with a Howes birth name, but if you want to check the details out for yourself and perhaps come up with a better reading, here’s a direct link to the Ancestry card entry (you’ll need a subscription to the site). Perhaps someone could resurrect an image of the shield using the photo as a guide?! {4}

Notes

1. UK Heraldic Card Index 1150-1850 database was released on Ancestry early December 2024.
2. This detail, and the correct year of death, also appears at pages 412/3 of Volume 1 of Burke’s ‘Commoners’, published 1835, available from Google Books. The entry is for Reverend Thomas Howes, John’s great grandson (?), and traces back to Robert Howse (died 1618) as the purported ancestor, who “removed from Berkshire” and was in turn descended from John de Huse (settling there in 1066).
3. His mother was a Roope. Burke’s description of the Howes coat of arms:
   • Arms: Arg. a chevron between three griffins’ heads sa.
   • Crest: A demi unicorn, issuing from a crown ppr. (Heraldic Card says ‘A demi-unicorn gu, attired or, issuing from a ducal coronet ppr.’)
   • Motto: Stat fortuna domus. (‘Good Fortune to this House’)
4. The original Find A Grave photo also has a fuzzy image of the crest, above the tablet.