COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY MACES AND THEIR SYMBOLIC USE
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY MACES AND THEIR SYMBOLIC USE ON COATS OF ARMS Throughout the Commonwealth the legislative mace is possibly the most recognisable symbol of member countries’ shared parliamentary heritage and traditions. Such is its familiarity that the mace has been the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s emblem since its foundation. However, it is perhaps not widely known that maces have also been used on personal coats of arms adopted by Parliamentarians, particularly Speakers of Parliament, for over two hundred years. This article will highlight a selection of these armorial bearings from various countries, roughly chronologically, and explore the symbolism of the arms and the stories of the maces. Some historical background might first be useful. Heraldry developed in twelfth-century Europe and served to enable identification in battle, with unique designs used on shields and the cloth surcoats worn over combatants’ armour. Subsequently coats of arms were adopted by civilians and corporate bodies, and acquired more meaning and ornamentation as their purpose became primarily decorative. They can be inherited, or bestowed upon persons of good standing, but as personal property cannot be adopted by anyone sharing a particular surname (contrary to popular belief). In parts of the Commonwealth heraldry is regulated through England’s College of Arms, Scotland’s Court of the Lord Lyon, the South African Bureau of Heraldry or the Canadian Heraldic Authority.1 Like heraldry, maces were initially used in warfare. In 1415, MPs in England successfully requested that the King assign one of his mace-bearing bodyguards, called Serjeants-at-Arms, to attend upon the House of Commons. Eventually his mace became larger and more ornate as its defensive function evolved into a ceremonial one, although even ceremonial maces have sometimes been mistreated. Oliver Cromwell had the Commons’ mace destroyed and its present one dates from after the monarchy’s restoration in 1660. While technically an emblem of royal authority it became commonly regarded as symbolising the institution of the House itself, or the office of Speaker.2 This was demonstrated throughout the nineteenth century by the inclusion of small maces on the coats of arms of a few former British Speakers. In the later twentieth century the mace featured more conspicuously on multiple Speakers’ arms, beginning with William Shepherd Morrison. At Westminster, new Speakers lacking arms typically apply for them but Queen Elizabeth’s accession soon after Morrison’s election in late
1951 added urgency, as the state coach he would ride to the coronation required decorating with them. Granted in 1953, these arms (Fig. 1) show the mace flanked by two gannets, evoking Scotland’s Western Isles where his parents were born and he first stood for Parliament. The crest is a Viking ship referencing the Morrison clan’s purported Norse royal origins. Puns are common in heraldry and his motto means ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ in Scots Gaelic, his first language. Along with other former Speakers’ arms, these are displayed in Speaker’s House at Westminster. After retiring in 1959 he was created Viscount Dunrossil and became Governor-General of Australia. However after only one year he died in office and was buried in Canberra, where the road to Government House was renamed Dunrossil Drive.3 Many Commonwealth maces resemble that of the British House of Commons, with the addition of national arms or symbols, or motifs representing local industries. Others are more distinctive, particularly the mace of the Fijian Parliament. Its ceremonial role dates from 1871 when Fiji’s only King Ratu Seru Cakobau established a Westminsterstyle Parliament (assisted by its Speaker, a former MLA from Victoria) and donated his principal war club for use as the mace. Formerly wielded in bloody battles, the mace was decorated by a Sydney silversmith with the Fijian crown, ferns, doves and olive branches to signify its peaceful new use.4 Upon Fiji’s cession to Britain in 1874 Cakobau offered it to Queen Victoria but subsequently George V agreed to suggestions that it should be returned. In 1932 it was first carried into the Legislative Council by an elderly chief who was related to Cakobau and had lived during his reign.5 This unique mace appears crossed with a torch on the arms assigned in 1967 to Sir Maurice Scott, Speaker of Fiji’s Legislative Council between 1958 and 1966 (Fig. 2). Scott’s arms additionally have scales of justice for his legal career, into which he followed his father and grandfather. The gold eagle symbolises the Royal Air Force, where he was a decorated pilot (his Distinguished Flying Cross medal hangs below the arms, on the right). In its beak the eagle holds an orange signifying his wife's Dutch nationality (Scott was also Dutch honorary consul in Fiji) while the rose and thistle reflect his own ancestry. His motto ‘Tabu Soro’, or ‘Never surrender’, was a common salutation from his well-wishers which became a soubriquet.6 While Fiji’s original Parliament was short-lived, Bermuda’s House of Assembly is the Commonwealth’s second-oldest Legislature
Dr Duncan Sutherland is a London-based historian originally from
Saskatchewan, Canada. Specialising in women at Westminster, his study of women in the House of Lords was recently published in ‘Reform and Its Complexities in Modern Britain’. His first heraldry project examined heraldry in Jamaica, while this article arose from a broader exploration of heraldry and Parliament. He can be contacted via email duncancsutherland@gmail.com.
166 | The Parliamentarian | 2022: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing