Boswell of Toberchurn
Colonel William Paret Boswell of Toberchurn, CStJ, USAF (Ret.)
Arms: Argent on a fess Sable cottised Gules a wolf’s head erased Or langued Gules between two cinquefoils of the Field.
Crest: A falcon close Proper hooded Gules, jessed and belled Or.
Motto: “Vraye Foy” (True Faith).
Matriculated: The Court of the Lord Lyon, 9th November 2001, Register volume 74, page 61.
Re-Granted with the Territorial Designation “of Toberchurn,” 20th October 2008, Register volume 89, page 22.
Following the 2001 Matriculation of my Irish Arms at Lyon Court by Lord Lyon Blair they were re-granted as Scots Arms with the Territorial Designation “of Toberchurn.” They are differenced from the Boswell Arms recorded in volume one of the Register which have been in use in Scotland since at least the 14th century. My paternal ancestor, John Boswell, a younger son of the Boswells of Balmuto in Fife, left the country about 1650 (some say post-haste) following the English Civil War. First traveling to the Netherlands, where his cousin was King Charles’ (I then II) ambassador, he met and married his wife, Marie, and they took ship for the Colonies. The family settled in Charles County, Maryland. True or apocryphal, family tradition has it that in 1660, upon the Restoration of Charles II, John announced to Marie that they were returning to Fife, to which she is said to have replied, “Sir, if you think I am putting myself and our children on a ship for weeks at a time so that you may return to being a younger son, you may think again, Sir!” Wisely, he thought again.
My mother’s parents came to the United States from County Tipperary in 1900 and settled in New Haven, Connecticut. Her maiden name was Hyland, which in Gaelic means ‘wolf’, so the design of the shield reflects the matronymic by the substitution of the wolf’s head for the middle cinquefoil which otherwise would appear. A further difference is the cottising Gules of the fess, which is reflective of my American heritage. The “double belting” of the cottise is indicative both of my military office as a colonel in the Air Force, and of my public office as Mayor of Glen Osborne, Pennsylvania.
The crest and motto used by most armigerous Boswells have been retained, a peregrine falcon being appropriate as the mascot of the United States Air Force Academy, which I attended, and evocative of flight generally.
This rendition of my arms was painted by Romilly Squire.
