Back to Sandford, Sanford, Sandiford etc Notes for a One Name Study
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The Arms recorded for Rev William Sandford, Chancellor of Lismore, my great great grandfather and which his descendants are entitled to bear have been described in a 2003 letter from Thomas Woodcock. An edited scan appears here :
THE ARMS OF SANDFORD ________________________
The Arms of Sandford of Sandford, Askham, Howgill, Helton, etc.
The arms used by the family of Sandford from very early times and recorded at all the Visitations are "Per chevron sable and ermine in chief two boars' heads couped close or, armed and langued gulles".
No crest is recorded in the Visitations, but the crest used by the Askham, Howgill, and Helton families was "A boar's head couped close erect or transfixed through the mouth and throat by a sword pale proper". This is also given in a 17th century MS. of crests of the chief families of England now in the British Museum. The same crest appears over the shield of arms erected over the entrance to the courtyard at Askham Hall in 1574, and over the shields of arms on the mural tablets in Askham church to the memory of William Sandford of Askham (died 1730) and his son William Sandford (died 1717).
The branches of Thorpe Salvayn, co. Yorks and its cadets of Tickill co. Yorks, and High Ashes and Nuthurst, co. Lancs., used the same arms, but no crest is assigned to the two latter at Dugdale's Visitation of Lancashire in 1664/5, though the arms are given, the same arms (without crest) being recorded for Sandford of Bakewell (a cadet of Tickill) in the Visitation of Derbyshire in 1611. The crest used by the Thorpe Salvayn branch was "Out of a ducal coronet a boar's head and neck or".
The arms recorded to the family of Sandford of Colchester at the Visitation of Essex in 1612 were "Per chevron sable and ermine on a chevron or an escallop gules in chief two boars' heads erased of the third", with the crest "A boar's head erased sable, in the mouth a broken spear or, headed argent, goutee gules". These arms are obviously founded on the Askham arms.
The arms recorded to Robert Sandford of Stow, co. Gloucester, at the Visitation of Gloucester in 1582/3 are the same as those of Sandford of Askham, differenced by an amulet, and with the boar's head of the crest being shown couped close and erect. It is thrust through the mouth by a dagger in the same way as the Askham crest.
It is a curious fact that the family of Sandford of the Isle of Up Rossall, co. Salop, bears the same arms as the Askham family, with the crest "A boar's head couped close or, armed and langued gules". This family descends from Nicholas Sandford of Calvershall, co. Salop, who in 1426 obtained a grant of The Lee near Whitechurch to himself and his son Thomas. He was a younger son of Nicholas Sandford of Sandford, co. Salop, High Sheriff of Salop in 9 Richard II. (a) The arms of the Shropshire family of Sandford of Sandford (which has no connection whatever with the Westmoreland family) are "Quarterly per fees indented ermine and azure", and occur at a very early date. Why its cadet branch of the Isle of Up Rossall should have adopted the arms of the Westmoreland family is a mystery which I have never been able to fathom.
About 40 years ago I photocopied two pages of Sandford Arms from an old copy of Burke's General Armory .
There are clearly a great variety of different arms and therefore several old families which could be distinguished though threir arms in the C19 when Burke's publications started.
Prompted by recent correspondence with Sanfords here is what I find for that that name- only two families are distiguished here - the Nynhead Sanfords and the Milverton Sanfords:
Sanford (Nynehead Court, Wellington, Somerset.)
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, az three bars wavy ar., for sandford; 2nd, ar. a chev, betw, two martlets au; 3rd ar, three ashen keys ppr. betw. two cherronels az.? for Aysford. Crest A. Martlet ppr. Motto - Ferme en foy.
Sanford (Milverton, Somerset ; Batholomew. eldest son of John Samdford, Esq of Milverton, who was great grandson of hugh Sandford Esq., of milverton. Visit. London 1508).
Az. a chev. betw. three doves as. beaked and legged gu.
Sanford (London; Edward Sanford, citizen and merchant tailor of London, fifth son of John Sandford Esq., of milverton. Visit. london 1568).
Same arms, an annulet or, for diff.