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A strange-looking creature …

Wallace coat of arms - photo

The armorial bearings of Sir Richard Wallace (LMILC.1990.220, purchased 1990)

 

The coat of arms of Lisburn’s landlord from 1870-90, Sir Richard Wallace, features a strange-looking creature!

Despite its appearance, it is an ostrich. It has a horseshoe in its beak, possibly because it is a symbol of good luck or legend says that ostriches’ digestion is so strong that they can eat iron (which, as you might have guessed, is incorrect).

The coat of arms was granted to Wallace in 1871 when he was created a baronet by Queen Victoria, but why choose an ostrich? It was because of his mother, who was descended from the Wallace family of Craigie, Kilmarnock, Scotland. Their coat of arms also featured the ostrich and horseshoe.

The year after he became a baronet, Wallace added a silver-gilt statuette of an ostrich and horseshoe from c. 1600 to his extensive art collection. You can read more about it here, courtesy of The Wallace Collection.

Due to their connections to Sir Richard Wallace, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council and Wallace High School also have the ostrich on their coat of arms.

 

 

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