Friherre Lars Hummerhielm
Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Or a griffin segreant Sable, on a chief Gules three spur revels Argent; 2nd and 3rd Azure three bendlets wavy Argent; overall an inescutcheon parted per fess Or and Azure, in base a lobster displayed Or.
SOURCE/NOTES & CREDITS: Source for the blazon “Den svenska adelns vapenbok”, by Dahlby and Raneke, Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm, 1967, page 105, translated by D.Q. Wedvick and re-worked by J.H. Gaylor. The basic illustration was found on page 348, “Sveriges Adels Kalender”, 2001.
Friherre (Baron) Lars Alexander Hummerhielm was born on 23 July 1939 in Stockholm, Sweden and as a young man attended Princeton University in the United States. We met at one of those debutante balls in New York in 1959 when he was up from Princeton and became friends. Later in the Spring of 1961, I visited with Lars & his family in Stockholm when on vacation from where I was going to school in Norway. The occasion was to witness the raising of the Wasa, a Swedish warship, which sank in 1625 in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage. There must have been a million people on hand to watch as the cheers were thunderous when the ship broke the surface of the water. After, when we returned to the Old Town for lunch we were nearly run down by one of the Swedish Princesses in her new black Volvo P-1800 sports car. Surviving without hurt, Lars introduced me after she made her apologies and then we revived our spirits with lunch and Aquavit. Later Lars went to the London School of Economics, married, had two daughters then moved to the United States. He was of a military family from East Gotland which for generations provided cavalry officers to the Kingdom of Sweden, ennobled in 1678 by King Charles XI they were raised to baronial rank in 1705 by Charles XII, one of Sweden’s great warrior kings, but only introduced in the House of Nobles in 1719 after the king’s death. The name Hummerhielm translates in English to Lobster-helm, but it should be said in fairness, that “hielm” ( hjälm = helm or helmet) is one the name suffixes used in Sweden to indicate nobility. Latterly president of the Bi-National Chamber of Commerce in Miami, Lars Hummerhielm died on 3 March 2000, at age 60. He was a friend of many years standing.
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The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor.
Wedvick Armorial, 075d, Hummerhielm, 20081005
