John Birtwhisle of Dundeugh Coat of Arms?

As part of serialising Thirty–one Generations of the Birtwhistle Family: A Family History (2006) compiled by L. Alan Birtwhistle, we tried to identify who had been granted the ‘John Birtwhisle of Dundeugh’ Coat of Arms mentioned (see Coat of Arms chapter).

Bob Birtwhistle – who is behind the Birtwhistle.info site – is pretty certain that it’s John Birtwhistle 1799-1869. He was the son of Alexander Birtwhistle (1750-1810) and Mary Purdie and, and also Deputy Lieutenant of Kirkudbright.

A Kirby family crest mystery?

One possible route for tracing our family’s ancestry was our alleged coat of arms and crest (see below). Apparently, when my mother first met my father’s parents, there wasn’t a piece of china or silver that didn’t have the crest on it. She also remembers her future father-in-law making a big deal about her family coming from trade and even saying how lucky she was to be marrying my father.