Preble Coat of Arms

The Preble Arms
Coat of Arms courtesy of Designs of Wonder


  • In reality, any discussion of a Preble Coat of Arms is misleading because a coat of arms cannot attach to a surname. According to the College of Arms:
"There is no such thing as a 'coat of arms for a surname'. Many people of the same surname will often be entitled to completely different coats of arms, and many of that surname will be entitled to no coat of arms. Coats of arms belong to individuals. For any person to have a right to a coat of arms they must either have had it granted to them or be descended in the legitimate male line from a person to whom arms were granted or confirmed in the past."

  • Moreover, as the selection below from Banks' History of York, Maine indicates, even the coat of arms generally associated with the Preble name may be apocryphal.




George Henry Preble, Genealogical Sketch of the First Three Generations of Prebles in America
          (Boston 1868), page 11 (image on right from page 5).
The Preble Arms.

     Copies of the Preble Arms, of good authenticity, have been preserved in the families descended from the eldest son of Abraham Preble.  One of these, now in the possession of Mr. Geo. B. Preble, of Preble Island, in Portsmouth Harbor, bears the following heraldic description:

     "He beareth gules, on a pale or, between four lions' heads erassed, argent, three diamonds sable, by the name of Preble, and was confirmed by William Flower, Norroy, on the 20th of October, 1585, and the 27th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to George Preble, of the City of York, Esquire, one of the Queen's Justices of the Peace, within the East Riding of the County of York.  'A man well born, and descendant of worthy progenitors.'"


Coat of Arms from GHP Book


Charles Edward Banks, History of York, Maine Vol. 1 (Boston 1931, 1935) (3rd Printing, 1990) , page 145.
"The family is not and never was armigerous, never had a coat of arms granted to it, and the one given in the genealogy prepared by the late Rear Admiral Preble, as granted to one George Preble of York, England in 1587, is apocryphal.  There was no such person and the arms therein given belong to another family."


Peter M. Preble posted an email March 7, 2002, found at Preble-L Archives, stating:
"There is no evidence that this is our coat of arms.  I wrote to the Lord Herald in London, and there is no record of anyone in the family ever being granted arms."





The fifth ship named in honor of Commodore Edward Preble, the USS PREBLE was commissioned on May 9, 1960 as DLG-15 and was re-designated USS PREBLE (DDG-46) on July 1, 1975.  Its crest is the supposed Preble coat of arms, as can be seen below.


DLG 15 Patch
DDG 46 Crest
DDG 46 Patch
USS Preble DDG 15
USS Preble Crest
USS Preble DDG 46











The following definitions are taken from Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry

 

He beareth gules, on a pale or, between four lions' heads erassed, argent, three diamonds sable


Gules:
(guelz) Red. This color on engraved escutcheons is represented by vertical lines.
Pale:
One of the nine honorable ordinaries. It is a vertical line, set upright in the middle of the shield and occupying one-third of the field. It seldom contains more than three charges.
Or:
Gold. In engraving it is denoted by small dots or points spread all over the bearing or field.
Erased:
(e-ras'd) A term applied to the head of an animal or other bearing having the appearance of being forcibly torn off, leaving jagged or uneven ends.  Erased is the opposite of couped, the latter meaning cut off even, straight.
Argent:
(Ar'-jent) White. The silvery color on coats of arms. In the arms of princes it is sometimes called lune, and in those of peers pearl. In engravings it is generally represented by the natural color of the paper. It represents purity, innocence, beauty or gentleness.
Sable:
The tincture black. In engraving it is represented by perpendicular and horizontal lines crossed.



Blazonry:


The art of blazoning: to describe a coat of arms in the technical language of heraldry. The rules of blazon are remarkable for their precision, simplicity, brevity and completeness. The proper order of describing arms is: First, give the field, its color (or arrangement of colors, if more than one), and the character of partition lines when parted; second, the charges, and first those of most importance, their name, number and position (when an animal, its attitude); third, marks of difference, cadency, baronet's badge, etc.
Charge:
Anything occupying the field in an escutcheon. There are two kinds of charges - proper and common.

PROPER CHARGES - So called because they peculiarly belong to the art of heraldry. [See ordinary.]

COMMON CHARGES - Those charges which have been imported into heraldry from all quarters, representing an array of objects, natural and artificial, from reptiles and insects to human being and celestial figures.

"The charge is that which is borne upon the color, except it be a coat divided only by partition." - Peacham.

Field:
The surface of a shield upon which the charges or bearings are blazoned; or, of each separate coat when the shield is quartered or impaled.
Helmet:
The helmet is borne above the shield and beneath the crest. Like the coronet, it denotes the rank of the wearer. Those used by English heralds are: (1) For sovereigns and princes of the blood, borne full-face, with six bars, all of gold; (2) for the nobility, of steel, with five bars of gold, shown somewhat in profile; (3) for baronets and knights, of steel, full-faced and open; (4) for an esquire or gentleman, of steel, with the visor closed, and represented in profile.

There is a further distinction made by some heraldic writers, being a silver helmet, in profile, with gold ornament, and four silver bars, for the lesser nobility, or those renking below a marquis.  The various distinctions of the helmet are supposed to have been introduced after the Restoration.

Crest:
Originally the crest was the ornament of the helmet, or headpiece, and also afforded protection against a blow. In the early rolls it was scarcely noticed, but in later armorial grants it came into general use. Crests, like arms, were sometimes allusive. Thus, Grey of Wilton used a gray, or badger, and Lord Wells a bucket and chain. In the early days of the crest it was confined to persons of rank, but in later times it has been included in every grant of arms. A coronet or helmet below the crest is not a mark of rank.


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