Belfast

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Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom

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Total images in the British section : 9,636

BELFAST (City and County Borough)

Additions : 1974 Antrim RDC (partly), Larne RDC, Newtownabbey UDC (partly)

Official blazon

Arms : Party per esse argent and azure, in chief a pile vair and on a canton gules a bell argent, in base a ship with sails set argent on waves of the sea proper.
Crest : On a wreath of the colours, a sea-horse gorged with a mural crown proper.
Supporters : Dexter, a wolf proper, ducally gorged and chained or; sinister, a sea-horse gorged with a mural crown proper.
Motto: Pro tanto quid retribuamus

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on June 30, 1890.

The vair—along with the supporting wolf—is taken from the arms of Sir Arthur Chichester, the founder of Belfast as it exists today, who obtained the city's charter from James I in 1613. The ship tells of Belfast's pre-eminence as a seaport, as do the seahorses, and the bell is canting. The motto means "What return shall we make for so much?", and is a paraphrase of a verse from Psalm 116. The arms were first used on the city's seal, made circa 1640, but were not granted until 1890.

The arms on collector's items:

The arms as used on a JaJa postcard +/- 1905
The arms on a Wills's cigarette card, 1906
The arms in the Coffee Hag albums +/- 1925
The arms on a Mitchell's cigarette card, 1911
The arms as used on a Faulkner postcard +/- 1905
The arms in the Abadie albums

The arms in the city:

The arms as seen in the city.
The arms on a litter box (image by Francois R. Velde)
The arms as seen in the city (image by Francois R. Velde)
The arms as seen in the city (image by Francois R. Velde)
The arms as seen in the city (image by Francois R. Velde)

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Literature : Scott-Giles, C.W. : Civic heraldry of England and Wales, London, 1932 Briggs, G. : Civic and corporate heraldry. Heraldry Today, Ramsbury, 1971 Vinycomb, J. : The seals and armorial insignia of corporate and other towns of Ulster, The Ulster Journal of Archaeology vol. 1, 1894, provided by Z. W. Eisler.