THE COATSOFARMS OFBRANCHES OF CLAN HUNTER

The Roll of Arms on the facing page shows twelve coats of arms of branches of Clan Hunter, including one for the Sept of Hunt They are only sketches to illustrate the charges on the shields, and make no pretence to being works of art. They are all official arms, recorded in the Lyon Register, the heraldic record of the Lord Lyon King of Arms. We start off with the arms of the Chief and the Chieftains, and then proceed to the heraldry of the cadets, the junior lines.

1. HUNTER OF HUNTERSTON: This is the official shield of the 28th Chief of Clan Hunter, Neil Aylmer Hunter of Hunterston. The shield is golden and there are three green hunting horns on it, each with red mountings and straps. They were officially declared to be the Chief's arms in 1865.

2. HUNTER OF HUNTERSTON: Before the present Chiefly arms were authorised by the Lord Lyon, there was for a shorttime a different shield in use. This has been explained in another article in this magazine. The shield is green, and there are three white "dogs of chace" running on it. The top portion of the shield, the "chief', is of silver, with three green horns in a row. These arms are no longer in use, through they were recorded in 1 8l O.

3. HUNTER OF CRICHTON DENE: This family, now represented by Gurney Hunter, are the heirs male of the Chief (whose title comes through female heiresses). The Hunters of Crichton Dene and East Gordon are the Chief's closest male cousins of the surname Hunter, and their arms were first recorded for Sir John Hunter of St Lucar, in the West Indies, in 1775. The shield is green, and there are two white hounds running on it, with a silver :chief" above them, whose lower edge is "engrailed" (scalloped), and which has on it a black boar's head between two green hoins ..

4. HUNTER OF POLMOOD: The Hunters of Polmood in Peebles shire once disputed the chiefship. We have . still to trace the present representative of the family, who would be accepted as a Chieftain of Clan Hunter. The shield is white, with three green horns having red straps, around a blue chevron.

5. HUNTER OF LONG CALDERWOOD: These arms werefirst recorded in 1791 for Dr. William Hunter of Long Calderwood, one of two eminent medical brothers, the other being his heir, Mr John Hunter of Long Calderwood. They founded two Hunterian Museums, one in Glasgow and one in London, and they appear in The . Dictionary of National Biography. Articles have been written recently on both these brothers in this magazine. The shield is green, the hounds white, and there is a white "chief' bearing a single green horn on it .

6. HUNTER OF THURSTON: This was a branch of the Hunters of Abbotshill, and their arms were recorded in 1773. The shield is green, with three white horns, and the silver "chief' at the top has two blue boar's heads on it.

7. HUNTER OF BARJARG: This was a branch of the 'Hunters of Abbotshill, in Ayrshire, who are described next. Around the arms of the Hunters of Abbotshill is placed a "bordure" for a junior cadet, with four red roses on it. It was recorded in 1824 ..

8. HUNTER OF ABBOTSHILL: This family claimed descent from the line of the Chiefs, and the arms were recorded for John Hunter, merchant in A yr, in the 17th century. The shield is green, with three golden collars· on it, and the silver "chief' above is "indented" on its lower edge, and has three green hunting horns.

9. HUNTER OF GLEN CARSE: Little is known of this cadet, who recorded arms in 1792, apparently as a descendent of David Hunter, merchant of Calcutta. The shield is green, with three white dogs, running one above. the other ("in pale"), and the silver "chief' atthe top is charged with a blue fleur-de-lis between two green horns .

10. HUNTER OF RESTENNET: This branch registered arms in the 1670s. The shield is green, with three white hounds, and the silver "chief' at the top has its lower edge "engrailed", and it is charged with three greenhorns.

11. HUNTER OF BURNSIDE: This cadet had lands in Forfar. The arms are recorded in 1875, with a white' shield, and three green horns around a red heart.

12. HUNT OF PITTENCREIFFE: The Hunts ofPittencreiffe and Logie, a Fife family, are the only armigerous and landed family of Hunt, which is now accepted as a Sept of Clan Hunter. The arms were granted in 1904 to Colonel James Maitland Hunt of Pittencreiffe, and the present head of the family is John Maitland Hunt; headmaster of the famous girls public school Roedean. As a Sept the Hunts will have a Chieftain, to be determined by the Chief of Clan Hunter .. '.

There are other Hunter arms recorded, but these are the principal ones, of the Chiefs, the Chieftains and the landed cadets.

Colin D.I.G. Forrester