Armorial of British universities

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The armorial of British universities is the collection of coats of arms of universities in the United Kingdom. Modern arms of universities began appearing in England around the middle of the 15th century, with Oxford's being possibly the oldest university arms in the world, being adopted around the end of the 14th century.^[1] The earliest granting of university arms was to King's College Cambridge by Henry VI in 1449.^[2][3][4] Arms are granted by the College of Arms^[5] and Lyon Court. It has been suggested that new universities register arms in an attempt to appear more traditional or legitimate.^[6] As corporations, older university arms have historically been granted without a crest, however newer institutions use crests with mantling, including new colleges at older universities.^[7][8][9] The first crest granted to a university was to Leeds in 1905 while the first British university to be granted supporters was Sussex in 1962, although both Oxford and Cambridge have used angels as supporters and Cambridge has used the 'alma mater' emblem as a crest without these components being officially granted.^[10]

University and college arms often incorporate, or are simply copies of, arms of their founders or local authorities.^[2][3][11] At collegiate universities, constituent colleges may bear their own arms, such as at Cambridge and Oxford.^[2][3] Many older coats of arms were recorded by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies in The Book of Public Arms in 1915, which also recorded some coats of arms of constituent colleges,^[12] and by John Woodward in A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Heraldry in 1894.^[13] Most university mottos are not granted with the coats of arms, instead being added by custom by the institution, an exception to this being the arms of Imperial College London.^[14] Those universities in Ireland that existed prior to independence from the United Kingdom were granted arms along the lines of other British universities;^[15] these are listed separately below.

An open book (referencing historically the Christian bible) as symbol of 'wisdom', 'knowledge', 'learning' is common to many arms. The sun, a flaming torch or a lamp representing enlightenment features often, as does a wheatsheaf symbolising growth and an owl representing wisdom. A martlet representing strenuous effort is sometimes found. Keys in the form of crossed keys, pairs of keys or a single key held by a beast are also common to several university arms. The keys represent access to heaven and symbolically the access to greater things brought about through education.

Only two student societies have a coat of arms:

The Diagnostic Society of Edinburgh (founded 1787) and Cambridge Union (founded 1815).

Not all British universities have a coat of arms. Some former schools of art or design (now arts universities) are not armigerous:

Arts University Bournemouth, Arts University Plymouth, Leeds Arts University, Norwich University of the Arts, Ravensbourne University London.

Additionally, the following are also non-armigerous:

Arden University, Bath Spa University, BPP University, Oxford Brookes University, Regent's University London, University of Bedfordshire, University of Brighton, University College London, University of Roehampton (though two of its colleges are armigerous), University of West London.

The images below may be either be the coat of arms in the form of a shield (escutcheon) or the 'full heraldic achievement', as granted by the College of Arms or the Lyon Court. Some arms may be assumed arms, often taken from a founder or benefactor, particularly in the case of colleges and halls within universities.^[16]