Arms; Argent on a bend Sable three buckles Or and in Sinister chief a star of six points Azure.
Crest: A dagger paleways Argent, hilt Or, point downwards, two wings erect and addorsed issuant from below the hilt Argent and in an escrol over the same this motto: “Who Dares Wins”
Matriculation: Volume 49, page 82, Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland on 7 December 1966.
SOURCE, NOTES and CREDITS: Blazon and illustration for background, pages 10 & 11, “Double Tressure” 1996, No.18 from the article by the late Peter Drummond-Murray of Mastrick, then Slains Pursuivant of Arms. Biographical information is adapted from
this same article and from the Wikipedia internet articles.
Lt. Col. Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, OBE born 15 Nov 1915 the third son of Brigadier Archibald Stirling of Keir and his wife, the Hon. Margaret Mary Fraser,
the sister of Simon Fraser, 16th Lord Lovat, thus their children were first cousins… So, Sir David Stirling and Simon Fraser, 17th Lord Lovat were indeed first cousins. According to Peter Drummond-Murray The Stirlings of Keir are an “ancient family whose pedigree can be traced back in their native county of Stirling to 1147 !”
Peter Drummond-Murray goes on to say, “David Stirling joined the Scots Guards at the outbreak of WW2 then transferred to No. 8 Commando and found himself in the Western Desert of Africa. There he founded the Special Air Service (SAS) and linked up with the Long Range Desert Group who took them with their own lightly armoured jeeps behind the enemy lines and into the desert. In January 1943 Sir David was captured but escaped and was recaptured five times ending the war in Colditz. Sir David always retained a close association with the SAS”.
“Of particular interest is Sir David’s crest ( see above) which is, of course the badge of the SAS of which he was the founder”.
Sir David was a knight of Honour and Devotion of The Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He was given the DSC in 1942 and the OBE in 1946 for acts of gallantry in the field and was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year’s Honours of 1990 for his services to the military, Sir David died not too long thereafter on 4 November 1990, at
age 74.
The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor.
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