Royal Warrant of King Edward VII assigning Arms of Dominion and

Royal Warrant of King Edward VII assigning Arms of Dominion and Sovereignty for
the
State of New South Wales – 11 October 1906
by
Richard d’Apice AM AAIH
This paper records the Royal Warrant of 1906 by which King Edward VII assigned arms of sovereignty
and dominion for the particular purposes of the State of New South Wales. Apart from passing references,
the prerogative power of the sovereign under which the assignment was made, the origins and design of
the arms and their later use and their entrenchment in the law of New South Wales by the State Arms,
Symbols and Emblems Act 2004 are beyond the scope of this paper, but warrant further exposition.
By Warrant dated 11 October 1906, Edward VII by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith and, in that
capacity, sovereign of Australia and its States, expressed his desire to assign Armorial Ensigns and
Supporters “for the greater honour and distinction of Our State of New South Wales”, and then proceeded
to record his grant and assignment of what are now known as the State Arms of New South Wales. 1 The
original Royal Warrant illustrates this paper.2
The King’s decision was evidenced by three personal actions. He directed the affixing of his royal seal to
the Warrant; he signed it at the top of the front page; and, he wrote the abbreviation “Appd” for
“Approved” on the emblazonment of the achievement, signing it with the monogram “ERI” for “Edward
Rex et Imperator” or “Edward King and Emperor”. The seal bears the King’s British styles and titles
surrounding the Royal arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 3 surmounted by the
Imperial Crown.
The King of the United Kingdom was then the sovereign of a single kingdom, which included the polity
named the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as those known as the States of Australia, and much more
worldwide.4 By this warrant, he established his arms of dominion and sovereignty for the particular
purpose of the polity known as the State of New South Wales,5 which was part of his unitary realm.
1
Known by its definition in the State Arms, Symbols and Emblems Act 2004
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/act+1+2004+cd+0+N accessed 26.01.2015. The act
provided, in section 4(4) that “The State arms may be used with such external ornaments as are consistent with their
status as arms and symbols of dominion and sovereignty.” The design of the arms which were assigned and granted
were largely developed in Sydney by the NSW Government Printer, William Applegate Gullick (1858 -1922). The
design has its origins of the arms in the Badge of the Colony of NSW (1876), now the State Badge, and the prefederation “Advance Australia Arms” so named after the motto used with many of them.
2
Courtesy of the College of Arms (William Hunt, CstJ, TD, FCA, Windsor Herald) - Register of Arms of
Dominions and Colonies folios 315-317.
3
The three gold lions of England on a red field in the first and fourth quarters, the red lion and double tressure florycounter-flory on a gold field of Scotland in the second and the gold harp of Ireland on a blue field in the third.
4
This remained the case, in respect of the States, until the patriation of the Australian State Crowns by the Australia
Acts of 1986. The Commonwealth or Australian Crown was patriated by 1930 at the latest: Anne Twomey, The
Australia Acts 1986, Federation Press 2010, p. 459.
5
An excellent general discussion of arms of dominion and sovereignty, arms of general purpose, and arms of
particular purpose appears in Conrad Swan, Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty (University of Toronto Press, 1977)
pp.1-13
This Royal Warrant was addressed to the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England, Henry
Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk (1858-1917), “to whom cognizance of matters of this nature doth
properly belong”, and required him to have it “recorded in Our College of Arms in order that our Officers
of Arms and all other Public Functionaries whom it may concern may take full notice thereof in their
several and respective departments.” 6
The Earl Marshal of England delivered the Royal Warrant to the College of Arms with his own Warrant
for its registration in the records of the College. The Registrar was Henry Farnham Burke (1859-1930), a
long-serving Anglo-Irish officer of arms at the College of Arms then Somerset Herald and later Garter
King of Arms (1919-1930) and son of Sir (John) Bernard Burke, CB (1814–1892), Ulster King of Arms
1853-1892. Burke registered the Warrant in the Register of Arms of Dominions and Colonies and signed
the original Warrant at the end recording that he had done so.
The original Royal Warrant remains in the possession of the Earl Marshal of England. It is held in Garter
House, the rooms of Garter King of Arms at the College of Arms. That original Warrant illustrates this
paper (see pages 27-29).
Two further copies of the Royal Warrant were made from the Register and certified by Garter to be
“faithfully extracted from the Records of the College of Arms, London”. One of these was “filed for
record in this Department” – as the Secretary of State for the Colonies , the Earl of Elgin7, noted in his
Despatch of 23 November 1906 to the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Harry Rawson, by which he
transmitted the other certified copy to New South Wales.8
The Governor directed the publication of the Despatch and the Royal Warrant in the NSW Government
Gazette9. In the Gazette, the full colour emblazonment of the arms approved by the King is rendered as an
engraved monochrome representation with petra sancta hatching, and the text and emblazonment in the
original Warrant are, to a limited extent, reordered. A copy of the Gazette notice, which provides a useful
transcription, also illustrates this paper (see pages 30-31).
This Warrant was an exercise of the prerogative power of the King of the United Kingdom as sovereign of
the State of New South Wales. The federal and state Crowns of Australia have since that time divided
from, and are now entirely separated from, the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. The present sovereign of New South Wales is something like Elizabeth II, Queen of
Australia in right of the State of New South Wales. In that capacity, the Premier is her only adviser and
6
The Earl Marshal of England had, in 1906, an authority in the undivided kingdom of King Edward VII, but he has
no place in the exercise of the various Australian prerogatives of honour in 2015. Despite this, his warrant,
permitting the Kings of Arms to make the grant, is recited by them in their grants of arms to Australians. The need
for such a warrant derives from the supervisory role of the Earl Marshal of England over the exercise of the
jurisdiction of the Kings of Arms of England rather than any power the Earl Marshal or the English Kings of Arms
may have under the prerogatives of the divided Crowns of Commonwealth nation states external to the United
Kingdom. The Kings of Arms assert that they have an heraldic authority in respect of Australia delegated to them
(and, by implication, to the Earl Marshal of England) by Australia and its States. Requests for access to the opinion
of (presumably English) counsel upon which the claim is asserted to be based has been refused in an unfortunate
display of lack of transparency, but the power asserted to be confirmed by the opinion continues to be pressed. This
novel claim may be discounted until the complete opinion is made publicly available for review in light of
Australian law and practice to which it purports to relate.
7
Victor Bruce (1849-1917), 9th Earl of Elgin (from 1862) and Secretary of State for the Colonies (1905-1908).
8
That copy of the Royal Warrant cannot be located by the Governor or the Government of NSW, its departments,
agencies, libraries or repositories. It is hoped that this exposure of the original may prompt its discovery.
9
Supplement to the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales No. 24 of 22 February 1907, pages 13451346.
she must act on his advice. Almost all of her powers are, by the Australia Acts, vested in the State
Governors and they must act on the Premier’s advice.
The NSW Parliament having legislated on the subject of the arms of New South Wales in the State Arms,
Symbols and Emblems Act 2004, the State Arms have become, for the purposes of Australian law, NSW
arms (rather than UK arms) subject only to NSW legislation. Upon the Royal assent being given to that
Act, the State Arms ceased to be a subject upon which the sovereign of NSW could exercise her Royal
Prerogative. Power in relation to the State Arms of New South Wales, previously one of the prerogative
powers of the Crown in the right of New South Wales, has been withdrawn from prerogative exercise by
the Queen acting on advice of the Premier (as was the case in 1906). It is now exercisable only by the
Queen in the Parliament of New South Wales in the form of legislation.
This important document is one of the furnishings of a sovereign State in the British system of government
from which our now divided and separate system of government derives. It has remained unseen and
previously, as far as I am aware, it has not been published in colour or otherwise apart from the
transcription and redrawing in the 1907 Government Gazette.10
Sources and References:
College of Arms, London, Register of Arms of Dominions and Colonies folios 315-317.
State Records NSW
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/ archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief110
and http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Heritage/research/heraldryexhibition.htm
Acknowledgements:
Jenni Stapleton, Deputy Director, State Records NSW.
William Hunt, Windsor Herald, College of Arms, London.
John K. McLaughlin AM
10
These were the arms of sovereignty and dominion of King Edward VII for New South Wales or the Royal Arms
of New South Wales. They are the arms of dominion and sovereignty of Elizabeth II Queen of Australia in right of
New South Wales or Elizabeth II Queen of New South Wales (whichever be the sovereign of NSW. The sovereign’s
gold helmet is an external ornament and is to be represented as appropriate from time to time. The absence of the
sovereign’s helmet is typical of the period of the assignment and grant and its absence from the Royal Warrant does
not limit its use in representations of the full achievement of the State Arms of New South Wales. An earlier attempt
to obtain a copy of the Warrant from the College of Arms was rebuffed on purely commercial grounds.