Coat of Arms of London County Council - Background and Initial Designs

Background and Initial Designs

By 1894 the LCC had adopted a device consisting of "an armed female figure between the armorial bearings of the Cities of London and Westminster". The question of an official coat of arms for the county council was first raised at a meeting of the council in 1897. Despite the opposition of two members on the grounds that it was "an insidious attempt to undermine the democratic character of the Council" and, jokingly, that they should not "degenerate to the level of the City Corporation", the General Purposes Committee were instructed to take steps to obtain a coat of arms. Nothing seems to have come of this, and the unofficial device continued in use. In May 1906 the general purposes committee was asked to consider and report on whether the council should make an "application to the College of Arms or otherwise take steps to obtain a coat of arms, with a view to commemorating worthily its work in connection with public improvements, such as the construction of new streets and bridges, the restoration of ancient buildings and the like." No further action appears to have been taken until February 1911, when the committee recommended that a coat of arms be obtained at a cost not exceeding £100. The recommendation was rejected by the council, with one member stating that the letters "L.C.C." would be good enough for the council. Another councillor sarcastically suggested the arms of the council should include, among other things, a wrecked ship, the shut gates of the work department and a tombstone to the memory of municipal enterprise with the motto "ad quod damnum".

In 1914 the council chairman, Cyril Cobb offered to defray the cost of obtaining a grant of arms. Following discussions with the College of Arms, a design was submitted by the general purposes committee to the council on 24 February. The shield or arms featured a cross bearing an imperial crown between in the first and fourth quarters a depiction of the Tower of London, and in the second and third an ancient galley. A lion of England was to be shown the chief, or upper third of the shield. The suggested crest was a lion issuing from a mural crown and holding a banner of Saint George. The supporters were to be a Roman officer-of-arms and a Saxon warrior. The Latin motto loci dulcedo nos attinet or the pleasantness of the place holds us was suggested. This was adapted from the Annals of Tacitus, and was stated to be the earliest mention of London in history.

The towers were to represent strength and the galleys the shipping interests of the Metropolis. The cross, imperial crown and the lion in the crest were to show that London was the capital of the British Empire. The mural crown symbolised municipal government. The supporters illustrated the origins and early history of the city.