SIR WALTER SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD AND THE ENIGMA OF HIS ‘MOOR PROPER’ HERALDIC SUPPORTER
Authors’ Note: This article uses words from official sources, texts, grants of arms and historical correspondence which some readers might find offensive. We have sought to deal with original material sensitively.
INTRODUCTION
In 1820, Walter Scott was one of the pre-eminent figures in the United Kingdom, not only for his highly popular narrative verse and historical novels, but also for his many other exploits – perhaps most notably his role in the ‘discovery’ of the missing Scottish regalia in Edinburgh Castle in 1818. As a result of this discovery, the prince regent (soon to be George IV) granted Scott a baronetcy on 22 April 1820, elevating him as Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford Baronet. Scott had initially been granted a coat of arms on 7 March 1820 and, two years later, he rematriculated his coat of arms to include a new grant of supporters from the Lord Lyon, king of arms on 12 January 1822 (these can be found in the Lyon Register, Vol 2, folio 194). The supporters granted are, on the dexter a mermaid and on the sinister a ‘Moor proper banded and cinctured argent holding in his left hand, a flaming torch lowered proper’. In heraldic terms, ‘proper’ means something which is shown in its natural form and colour, while ‘cinctured’ means girt or encircled. The dexter is the right-hand side when viewed from behind the coat of arms, so it appears as the left-hand side when looking at the arms – thus the dexter supporter is the one shown on the left. Conversely the sinister, left-hand side, appears on the right. The figure described as the moor in Scott’s achievement is depicted as a naked male African with a headband and a cloth around his waist.
Why does Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford have an African figure as one of his supporters and, critically, is there a slavery connection? It is certainly the case that the flaming torch was a common image or trope of rebellions by enslaved peoples which were taking place in the Caribbean around the date that Scott was granted supporters.
