Post by King John on Feb 16, 2006 10:16:56 GMT -6
An obituary from the London Telegraph for the greatest herald of our times:
John Brooke-Little, the former Clarenceux King of Arms who died on Monday aged 78, did much to popularise heraldic studies as founder of the Heraldry Society in 1947; he was also editor of its informative and amusing publication Coat of Arms.
Intelligent, knowledgeable, gifted with both charm and a sense of humour, he was the author of more than a dozen works on the Monarchy, Royal Arms and ceremonial, beginning with Royal London (1953) and including a charming illustrated book, Beasts in Heraldry (1974).
There were also a pictorial history of Oxford and a book on knights. But his principal scholarly work was his editing and updating of those two indispensable Victorian works of armorial reference, Fox Davies' Complete Guide to Heraldry and Boutell's Heraldry, the latter of which went into half a dozen new editions under Brooke-Little's skilful direction.
In addition, Brooke-Little had the gift of communicating his enthusiasm to a wide audience, both at meetings of geneaological societies and other interested bodies as well as in letters to The Daily Telegraph, as when he protested about the "couple of cartoon beasts" which were allowed to climb up the new Queen Elizabeth Gate, at Hyde Park Corner.
In his later years he was pleased to note that his subjects were taken more seriously by the public than when the "Age of the Common Man" was ushered in after the Second World War.
John Philip Brooke Brooke-Little was born on April 6 1927, and educated at Clayesmore School. At New College, Oxford, he became keenly interested in heraldry and made such friends as Colin Cole, who later became Garter King of Arms.
Gravitating to the College of Arms, he was taken on to the Earl Marshal's staff and appointed a Gold Staff Officer for the Queen's Coronation in 1953.
His first permanent appointment came three years later when he was made Bluemantle Pursuivant, though he was taken aback to discover that a character passing himself off as "Hargreaves, Bluemantle Designate" was offering coats of arms to unsuspecting Americans.
He delighted in devising witty coats of arms for clients, such as a shield semy of gouttes (water drops) for a Regent Street purveyor of raincoats. When he was married in 1960, he even devised miniature tabards with the Brooke-Little arms for the pages.
Moving slowly up the hierarchy of the College, he became Richmond Herald in 1967, succeeded Sir Walter Verco as Norroy and Ulster King of Arms in 1980, and then Sir Anthony Wagner as Clarenceux King of Arms in 1995.
But although certainly the brightest and ablest herald of his generation, Brooke-Little never became Garter Principal of Arms when Cole retired in 1992; the position went to Conrad Swan. Brooke-Little accepted this gracefully, though he regretted not having been knighted while his less talented contemporary Cole had been appointed both KCVO and KCB.
This was partially because Brooke-Little preferred a convivial life to the exacting routine of running an office. His chaotic working practices were combined with a certain panache.
Clients, received by him in his panelled 17th-century rooms at the College, would be treated to the grandiose "summoning of the file"; after a long pause, an assistant reverently returned with the precious dossier, which would turn out to be completely empty.
As well as the Heraldry Society, Brooke-Little was associated with a wide range of analogous bodies outside the college, including Macauley Mann Heraldry, of which he was a director. He was also adviser on heraldry to the National Trust from 1983 until his death, and chairman of the governors of his old school.
He was chairman of the council of the Harleian Society, where he played a significant role in its choice of antiquarian subjects for publication. At the College of Arms he was director of the Heralds' Museum in succession to Sir Anthony Wagner; but despite his efforts to find suitable alternative premises the museum fell into abeyance, following its eviction from the Tower of London after the reorganisation of the Royal Palaces in the 1980s.
Brooke-Little was also librarian to the College, in which capacity he was responsible for setting up the in-house conservation department to repair and bind its own books and manuscripts, as well as to take in a certain amount of outside work to cover running costs.
This established a high standard, and soon proved a worthwhile and useful additional facility at the College. The present excellent condition of the College records owes much to this initiative.
He was a Freeman of the Scriveners' Company (Master in 1985) and a Knight Grand Cross of Grace and Devotion of the sovereign Military order of Malta. He was appointed MVO in 1969 and CVO in 1984.
A kindly, whimsical man who listed his recreations in Who's Who as "designing, humming", and who would occasionally sketch his coat of arms on a napkin over lunch, he enjoyed pointing out that although it was believed that the Order of St Patrick has been extinct since the death of the last knight in 1974, the office of Ulster King of Arms (which he had held) remained in case it should be called out of dormancy.
John Brooke-Little was married to Mary, daughter of John Maymond Pierce, who survives him with their three sons and a daughter.
