The Kingshott "Coat of Arms"

This is NOT the Kingshott Coat of Arms! These belong to the Queen!

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that there is no such thing as a "Kingshott Coat of Arms". We were never important, or rich, enough to have one. The arms above belong to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and I am probably committing any number of offences in displaying it without the correct authority!  

If you were to read the myriad "family crest" type websites out there you would be informed that the Kingshott family derived from the armigerous Kingscote/Kingscott family of Gloucestershire.

I will say, here and now, that there is absolutely no evidence that this is the case. The same websites that mention this "fact" also claim that the first evidence of any Kingshott in any official record is in 1790 yet I have many instances of the surname much earlier than that.

These sites will claim that there is a Kingshott "coat of arms" and often offer to sell you all sorts of junk with "your Kingshott coat of arms" on it. This, I'm sad to report, is also a load of old rubbish.

The College of Arms, the ancient body that has granted arms in England and Wales since early medieval times, has the following to say on this type of thing.

"There is no such thing as a 'coat of arms for a surname'. Many people of the same surname will often be entitled to completely different coats of arms, and many of that surname will be entitled to no coat of arms. Coats of arms belong to individuals. For any person to have a right to a coat of arms they must either have had it granted to them or be descended in the legitimate male line from a person to whom arms were granted or confirmed in the past."

I have checked with the magnificently titled Richmond Herald at the College of Arms who states that, up to the time I asked him (August 2009) there had been no grant of arms to anyone with the name of Kingshott, or any of the usual derivatives.

If you want to be the first Kingshott to officially hold arms you can apply to the College of Arms to do so, but it is a long and expensive process. I would love to do this but, sadly, do not have that sort of money lying around. The going rate for a personal grant of arms, if you are accepted at all, is around £3950!

I'm currently trying to get my dad to apply for one when he retires. Go on dad, you know it makes sense!