Knights

Sir John de Burley, Sir Simon, and Sir Richard

were all Knights of the Garter and were members of the same family which took there name from the place presently called Birley ( formerly called Burley & Boerley). The Burley family held this area under their superior lords, the Mortimers, during the thirteenth C. and part of the next two centuries. Their family also included Walter de Burley, the doctor and tutor of the Black Prince.

See Source: Mansions & Manors of Herefordshire by Rev.Charles J.Robinson , pg 22-23., - 1872.


Sir Ronald Alfred Brierley

(1937-) Businessman born in Wellington, New Zealand. Educated in Wellington, in 1961 founded Brierley Investments, becoming its' Chairman (1961-1969) and President (1989-). This was an entrepreneurial enterprise designed to aquire control of already substantial companies and to improve their commercial performance. Following a program of audacious but generally well planned takeovers and mergers, and rejecting the perjorative label of "corporate raider" he built his firm into a multibillion dollar operation. By the time he resigned as Chairman, BIL had extensive interests in Australia, Britain, USA, and New Zealand. He became chairman of Tozer Kemsley and Millbourn (Holdings) in 1986 and was Knighted in 1988.

See Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia, Cambridge University Press, pg 144., - 1994


Sir Oswald Walters Brierly

(1817 - 1894) Marine artist, Brierly accompanied Owen Stanley on the survey expedition in 1848 around the Barrier Reef and New Guinea, and later joined H. Keppel in HMS "Meander" cruising in the Pacific. He again visited Australia in 1867-8 while travelling on the HMS "Galatea".

Born Chester, England, 19 May 1817. Died London, 14 December 1894. Knighted 1885. Educated Henry Sass's art school, Bloombsbury Street, London, studied naval architecture and possibly navigation at Plymouth. Arrived Sydney on the "Wanderer", under Benjamin Boyd, 1842; manager, Boyd's pastoral and whaling business 1842-48; surveyed the Barrier Reef, the Louisiade Archipelago and part of the New Guinea coast with Own Stanley in the "Rattlesnake" 1848-50; returned to England on "Meander" 1850-51, sketching in many of the ports of call; "Brief Geographical Sketch of the Friendly Islands, with an account of the visit of H.M.S. Meander, to the Island of Tongatabu, June, 1850" printed in the "Journal of the Royal Geographic Society" 1852; commissioned as a war artist by "Illustrated London News" during the Crimean war 1854-55; several commissions for the royal family; several cruises with the duke of Edinburgh 1863-69, including around the world trip in the "Galatea" which called in at various ports in Australia; marine painter to Queen Victoria and to the Royal Yacht Squadron from 1874; curator of the Painted Hall at Greenwich from 1881. A small island in the Louisiade Archipelago is named after him.




The Following two grants were researched by Richmond Herald P.L. Dickinson and have been presented here in the form of correspondence:

Sir James Brearly

The earlier of the two recordings is to a grant or confirmation of arms
made on 19 March 1615 [= 1615/16, and therefore 1616 by modern dating].
There are four references to it in the College's official records, and the
recipient's name is variously spelt. One entry describes him as James
Bearly of London; two others call him James Brearely of London, son of
Richard Brearley of "Marla." in Lancashire, himself son of James. The
remaining record gives him as James Brearly of London, and gives his
father's name as James Brearly of Marland, Lancashire. The recording of
grants of arms at this time was not very systematic, and discrepancies are
often found in the details of different recordings. (In a reference to
the same document in the Harleian Manuscripts at the British Library, the
name is spelt Brierley.)

The coat of arms recorded for him was as follows:

ARMS Argent a cross potent Gules in dexter chief a fleur-de-lys also Gules

CREST On a wreath [tinctures unspecified, but presumably Argent and Gules] A cross potent fitchy Gules between two wings Argent

No motto was shown, but at that date it would have been unusual for one to be recorded in a grant of arms. Not until the latter part of the 18th
century were mottoes generally included in official heraldic recordings.

I say "grant or confirmation" because we do not have any record of the text of the 1615/16 document; at this period documents issued by the Kings of Arms were sometimes completely new grants of arms and sometimes confirmations of existing usage. Often, it is a combination of the two - confirming an anciently borne shield and granting a crest. In this
particular case, it is not possible to be certain.

However, it is evident from printed sources that at least two coats of arms
were in use in medieval times by families named Brearley or Brierley (in a
variety of spellings): Argent a cross potent Gules and Argent a cross
crosslet Gules. It is therefore reasonable to regard the arms recorded in
1615/16 as a differenced version of the first of these, the fleur-de-lys
being added in order to make the arms distinctive.


Sir John Swallow Brierly

The more recent recording was a grant of arms made on 23 March 1900 to John Swallow Brierly of Delrow in the parish of Aldenham, Hertfordshire. The following shield and crest were granted, to be borne and used by the
descendants of his father, Joseph Brierly of New House, Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, deceased:

ARMS Argent a cross nebuly Gules in the first and fourth quarters an oak
tree eradicated proper a chief arched Vert

CREST On a wreath of the colours In front of an oak tree proper an
escutcheon Argent gutte de sang charged with a cross nebuly Gules between two roses of the last [that is, Gules] both stalked and leaved of the first [that is, proper]

MOTTO: "AD UTRUMQUE PARATUS"

These are the only coats of arms entered for families of your name in the
College's records. These records date for the most part from the late 15th
century. Broadly speaking, during the medieval period, coats of arms were
informally assumed rather than formally granted. There is no comprehensive index to medieval coats of arms. However, as mentioned above, printed sources indicate that certain families of your name were using coats of arms in the Middle Ages.


See Source: Mr.P.L.Dickinson - Richmond Herald The College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street, London, England EC4V 4BT Telephone: 011-44- 171-236-9612.