Thomas Lant (1554–1601) was a

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...

and long-serving

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or Sovereign state, state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate coat of arms, armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremo ...

at the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Lant was born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and was one of seven children of Thomas and Mary Lant. When Lant was twelve years old, he became a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young mal ...

Richard Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...

, the

Bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire. The see's centre of governan ...

. When Cheney died in 1579, Lant again became a page, this time for Henry Cheney. It was through Lord Cheney that Lant became connected with

Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

. The two accompanied each other to the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

in 1585. Lant was the draftsman of roll recording Sidney's funeral procession at St Paul's on 16 February 1587. College of Arms-Lant's Roll

Following Sidney's death, Lant went to work for

Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...

, the secretary of state. It was through Walsingham that Lant secured an appointment as Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary at the College of Arms on 20 May 1588. It was as Portcullis that Lant wrote ''Observations and Collections Concerning the Office and Officers of Arms'' describing the College as "a company full of discord and envy." In 1595, Lant presented the queen a catalog of officers of arms known as Lant's Roll of which several copies survive. In 1596 Lant was involved in an argument with

Ralph Brooke Ralph Brooke (1553–1625) was an English Officer of Arms in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. He is known for his critiques of the work of other members of the College of Arms, most particularly in ''A Discoverie of Certaine Errours Pu ...

, York Herald of Arms in Ordinary. This led to Lant assaulting Brooke at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

. Lant was created

Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. It has been suggested that the office was instituted specifically for the Order of the Garter in 1348, or that it predates the Order and was in use as ea ...

on 23 October 1597. Lant's date of death is uncertain. He was alive on 26 December 1600 but is thought to have died early in 1601. He and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Houghton, had two children, a daughter and a son. The son, Thomas, was born after his father's death and died on 18 May 1688 as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Hornsey, Middlesex. Lant's wife remarried on 28 September 1609 at the

Savoy Chapel, Westminster Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

. The union was with the

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

Francis Anthony, and the marriage licence describes her as being 36 years old and the widow of "Thomas Lant, gent., deceased eight years since."

Arms

References

*Walter H. Godfrey and

Sir Anthony Wagner Sir Anthony Richard Wagner (6 September 1908 – 5 May 1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms. He was one of ...

, ''The College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street: being the sixteenth and final monograph of the London Survey Committee''. (London, 1963), 171–172. *Sir Anthony Wagner. ''Heralds of England: a History of the Office and College of Arms''. (London, 1967), 87–88, 217–219. *

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

. ''A History of the College of Arms''. (London, 1805), 171–172.

External links

The College of Arms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lant, Thomas 1554 births 1601 deaths English antiquarians English genealogists English officers of arms 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers People from Gloucester

Arms

See also

References

External links