9 Hope Family Heraldry
As I indicated in the last paragraph of Section 1 - Introduction, I believe that the Scottish Hope Family is made up of two distinct groups that I have referred to as the Edinburgh Hopes and the Border Hopes. All Hope family heraldry in Scotland is associated with these Edinburgh Hopes.
The first evidence of Hope heraldry in Scotland was that of John Hope (c1472-1554) who built himself a fine house, with a private chapel, in the High Street of Edinburgh. It is recorded later that on the lintel of the house was the name of Johnne Hope with a defaced coat of arms; on the lowest crowstep there was another armorial shield with his initials. This building was demolished in the 1800s, Unfortunately it would appear that the coat of arms was not recorded. When John Hope's grandson Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall (1573-1646) matriculated his arms he chose three bezants and a chevron. The bezants (gold circles) were a bold statement that the family were from a banking heritage. Was this an original design or had Sir Thomas seen these armorials on his grandfather's house? Sir Thomas's house Craighall in Fife had incorporated the remnants of an old Craighall Castle which had been the seat if Kininmonth of that Ilk whose armorial included a chevron - did Sir Thomas borrow the Kininmonth chevron and also the blue field? See comparison of the two armorials below. ( For more on Craighall see next page Craighall Castle.) In any event the bezants and chevron also went to Amsterdam where they can be seen on the pediment (gable to the Dutch) of the former offices of Hope and Co at Keizersgracht 444-446. As well as the bezants/chevron the Hope motto of At Spes Non Fracta accompanied them to Holland. More about the Dutch Hope family can be found in Section 5 - Amsterdam Hopes.
Keizersgracht 444-446 is the large white building, the brown building to the left No 448 was the private residence of the Hope family.
Sir Thomas for supporters (the figures on either side of the shield) on his armorial chose Ladies attired in long flowing green dresses with garlands in their hair and supporting an anchor - the Hope Ladies. These figures represent Hope as in esperance.
Hope Family Tartan.
Below are three variations of the armorials for the Hopes of Hopetoun - The Marquis of Linlithgow. The first I refer to as the "Bad Hair Day" armorial. Here the Hope Ladies have black hair and are described heraldrically as "hair dishevelled"! The following armorials have the more traditional blondes.
The Hopetoun arms are differenced from those of Craighall by the addition of a bay leaf on the chevron. The bay leaf is from the Foulis arms - James Hope of Hopetoun (1614 - 1661) having married Anne Foulis the heiress of Leadhills. The Hopetoun armorial, of course, includes the Coronet of a Marquis. The armorials also include the Hope Ladies as supporters. The descendants of the Hopetouns the Hope-Vere and Hope-Johnstone (Earls of Annandale) branches have anchors as charges on their armorials.
The splendid Hope of Hopetoun Armorial at Hopetoun House.
Flag flying at Hopetoun House April 2008.
The above flag is that of Adrian, Earl of Hopetoun. His flag is differenced from that of his father the Marquis by the addition of the heraldic first son cadency mark known as a Label. The label is basically a stripe across the top with three downwards proturbances (known as Points) - in this case the label is coloured red.
The Hopetoun tartan is very similar to the chiefly tartan and is the uniform worn by the the guides at Hopetoun House. ( Sadly no longer the case as I was told during a visit in April 2008 that they had run out of Hopetoun Hope tartan material!)
The heraldry of the Dutch Van der Hoop family also include ladies attired in long flowing green dresses with garlands in their hair and supporting an anchor - The Hope Ladies again. The heraldry of the Hoop families in Hollond are full of these ladies, and anchors, not only as supporters, but also on the shield itself. One of the Hoop armorials has the lady with a tawny orange scarf flowing from her shoulder and one hand supporting a palm - is this heraldry alluding to the Dutch East Indies or even Dutch West Indies? The Hoops obviously had no doubt that their name was derived from esperance
An example of the Hopetoun armorial can be seen on the stained glass windows in Parliament House (The Parliament House, now part of the Law Courts near St. Giles High Kirk).
Charles Hope (1681 - 1742) the First Earl of Hopetoun married the sister of the 2nd Marquess a Annandale. It was at this time, master minded by the widowed mother of Charles the Lady Margaret Hamilton, that the construction of Hopetoun House began. The Annandale connection can be seen with the armorial on the pediment above the ballroom entrance and also in the private Hopetoun "loft" in the nearby Abercorn Kirk - below.
Armorial in Abercorn Kirk
Another stained glass window that includes the arms of Hopetoun can be found in the Parish Church of Stobo in Peeblesshire. This window celebrates the marriage of Anne Hope-Johnstone and Grahame Mongomery of Stobo in 1845.
At Abbotsford, in the Borders, the home of Sir Walter Scott, can be found the Hopetoun family motto - At Spes Non Fracta - incised on the mantelpiece of the fireplace in the chapel.
The origin of the latin quotation At Spec Infracta adopted by the Craighalls as their motto and the slightly different Hopetoun motto At Spes Non Fracta is unclear. The motto can be found in association with an anchor on memorial headstones and memorial tablets that have no connection with the Hope Family for instance the Leckie memorial tablets in the Leckie Memorial Church in Peebles - shown below. The motto below the shield is faint but the crest of an anchor can be seen. The shield at first sight looks like the Hope armorial but the Leckie has three red roses instead of the gold circles.
The motto in association with an emblem of a sailing ship in distress has also an association with the Leckie family and also can found in the arms of Dick of Prestonfield Edinburgh - see two examples below.
The sailing ship in distress with the motto are also those of Greig of Fraserburgh. The Greig arms have gravitated to Norway where Greig has become Grieg and were those of the famous composer. Other families have the motto for instance the family of Hood and also of Kennard who were big in coal mining in Wales and the motto has continued with the Civic Arms of Blaenavon Town Council there. Spec non fracta has appeared very recently in the latin translation of Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham as a translation of There is still Hope!
Some Hope families that do not have any connection with the aristocratic lines have used the motto in conjunction with the rainbow/world crest as a "logo" on Monumental Inscriptions on headstones, on book covers and on china etc.
The heraldry of the Derbyshire Hopes in England is a silver shield with a black engrailed chevron and three birds (Cornish Choughs). The crest is a winged Cornish Chough. The only commonality with the Scottish Hopes is the chevron although they do have a similar motto. The different heraldry between the Scottish and English families indicates two distinct families.
However the Derbyshire Hope heraldry is remarkably similar to that of the Civic Arms of the County of Flintshire in North Wales which are a silver field with a black engrailed cross and four Cornish Choughs. The Cornish Chough is a heraldic device but the birds are a type of raven and are in fact recognised as a Celtic emblem. The emblem has strong Cornish associations and also connection with the legends of King Arthur. The Flinshire arms are based on old arms attributed to King Edwin of Tegeingle who was King of Tegeingle in Saxon Times. His Kingdom covered that part of the present county lying north of Mold to Hawarden. His palace was at Llys Edwin near the town of Northope (North Hope). The area of Hope and Hope Mountain (Montealto) from where John Hope of the Ragman's Roll possibly came - see section 3 Border Hopes. The commonality of the Derbyshire and Flintshire arms and the fact there is a town of Hope and Hope Valley in Derbyshire and a towns of Hope, Northop and Hope Mountain in Flintshire is significant.
Civic Arms of Flintshire
It is a great pity that the seal with which John Hope added his name to the Ragman's Roll in 1286 at Berwick has been lost. One can only contemplate on what might have been on the seal - a Welsh raven perhaps or even three or four ravens? When John's probable descendant Robert de Swynhope went south one wonders what was on his shield - if not the ravens perhaps a boar's head? Although the Hopes in Scotland are recognised as a single family with a chief and the arms of Craighall it is probable the Hopes with their origins in the Borders may have had the ravens with a silver field as their armorial or possiblya boar's head!
The Mouat family is mentioned in Section 4 North Wales. This family originated in Europe, settled in North Wales and moved onto Scotland. The family heraldry comprises of a black lion rampant on a silver field. The colours of black/silver are also those of Flintshire - more than just a coincidence?
In Ireland in Co. Westmeath a Thomas Hope a son of Walter Hope of Mulingar died in 1611. He had an armorial that has no commonality what so ever with the Scottish or English heraldry. This Irish heraldry predating that of Craighall.
The border on the armorial probably indicates a descendance from a second son The crest of the Hopes of Mullingar is a palm tree - possibly alluding to a connection with plantations either is the East Indies or West Indies - similar to the Van der Hoops. More information on the Hope Families of Ireland in Section 7 - Irish Hopes.
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