Rouge Croix Pursuivant

Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior officer of arms of the College of Arms. He is said to be the oldest of the four pursuivants in ordinary. The office is named after St George's Cross which has been a symbol of England since the time of the Crusades.

Rouge Croix Pursuivant

The heraldic badge of Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary
Heraldic tradition	Gallo-British
Jurisdiction	England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Governing body	College of Arms

The current Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is Thomas Johnston. He took part in the Royal Procession at the 2023 Coronation.^[1]

Holders of the office

Arms	Name	Date of appointment	Ref
	Nicholas Serby	(Henry IV)
	Richard Boys	(Henry IV)
	Giles Waster	(Henry V)
	Roger Legh or Lygh	(Henry V)
	John Writhe	(Henry V)
	John Mowbray	(1422)
	Robert Ashwell	(Henry VI)
	James Billett	(Henry VI)
	John Mallett	(Henry VI)
	Robert Dunham	(Henry VI)
	Richard Ashwell	(Henry VI)
	John Ballard	(Henry VI)
	Thomas Holme	(Henry VI)
	John More	(Henry VI)
	William Carlill	(Edward IV)
	Roger Stamford	(Edward IV)
	Richard Slacke	(Edward IV)
	John Water or Walter	(Edward IV)
	Thomas Benolt	(Edward IV)
	Thomas Waters	(Edward IV)
	Robert Browne	(Edward IV)
	William Jenyns	(Edward IV)
	Thomas Tonge	(Edward IV)
	George Berry	(1484)
	Richard Greenwood	(1485)
	(name unknown)	(1492)
	William Wriothesley	1505–1509
	Thomas Hawley	1509–1515
	Laurence de la Gatta	1515–1520
	Thomas Wall	1521–1521
	Charles Wriothesley	1524–1535
	Bartholomew Butler	1535–1538
	Thomas Stevenson	1538–1540
	Gilbert Dethick	1540–1541
	Justinian Barker	1541–1543
	William Flower	1543–1546
	Lawrence Dalton	1546–1547
	Simon Newbald	(Edward VI)
	Nicholas Tubman	1551–1553
	Henry Cotgrove	1553–1566
	William Dethick	1566–1569
	Thomas Dawes	1569–1580
	Ralph Brooke	1580–1592
	Thomas Knight	1592–1604
	William Wyrley	1604–1619
	John Guillim	1619–1621
	Augustine Vincent	1621–1624
	John Bradshaw	1624–1626
	George Owen	1626–1637
	Edward Walker	1637–1638
	Henry Lilly	1638–1639
	William Dugdale	1639–?
	Robert Browne	(intruded)
	Everard Exton	(intruded)
	Henry Dethick, Esq.	1660–1677
	Henry Ball	1677–1686
	Charles Mawson	1686–1688
	Samuel Stebbing	1688–?
	Peter Le Neve	(Anne)
	John Bound	(Anne)
	Richard Graham	1722–1725
	John Pomfret	1725–1751
	Alexander Cozens	1751–1752
	Henry Hastings	1752?–1773
	John Charles Brooke, Esq., FSA	1773–1777
	Francis Townsend	1777–1784	[2]
	John Atkinson	1784–1794
	Joseph Hawker	1794–1803	[3]
	William Radclyffe	1803–1823	[4]
	Robert Laurie	1823–1839	[5]
	William Courthope	1839–1854	[6]
	James Robinson Planché	1854–1866	[7]
	John von Sonnentag de Havilland	1866–1872	[8]
	Stephen Isaacson Tucker	1872–1880	[9]
	Sir Henry Farnham Burke, KCVO, CB, FSA	1880–1887	[10]
	George William Marshall, Esq., LLD, FSA	1887–1904	[11]
	Sir Arthur William Stuart Cochrane, KCVO	1904–1915	[12]
	Archibald George Blomefield Russell, Esq., CVO, FSA	1915–1922	[13]
	Henry Robert Charles Martin, Esq., FSA	1922–1928	[14]
	Philip Walter Kerr, Esq., MVO, FSA	1928–1941
	John Riddell Bromhead Walker, Esq., CVO, MC	1947–1954
	Sir Walter John George Verco, KCVO	1954–1960
	Rodney Dennys, Esq., CVO, OBE, FSA	1961–1967	[15]
	(David) Hubert Boothby Chesshyre, Esq., FSA	1970–1978	[16]
	Sir Thomas Woodcock, KCVO, FSA	1978–1982	[17]
	Sir Henry Edgar Paston-Bedingfeld, Bt.	1983–1993	[18]
	David Vines White, Esq.	1995–2004	[19]
	John Michael Allen-Petrie, Esq., OBE	2013–2019	[20][21]
	Thomas Andrew Johnston, Esq.	2023–present	[22]

See also

• Heraldry
• Officer of Arms

References

1. "Coronation order of service in full". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
2. "No. 11849". The London Gazette. 14 February 1778. p. 1.
3. "No. 13642". The London Gazette. 15 April 1794. p. 344.
4. "No. 15586". The London Gazette. 21 May 1803. p. 605.
5. "No. 17948". The London Gazette. 12 August 1823. p. 1325.
6. "No. 19702". The London Gazette. 1 February 1839. p. 190.
7. "No. 21521". The London Gazette. 14 February 1854. p. 427.
8. "No. 23152". The London Gazette. 17 August 1866. p. 4593.
9. "No. 23895". The London Gazette. 10 September 1872. p. 3969.
10. "No. 24877". The London Gazette. 27 August 1880. p. 4677.
11. "No. 25736". The London Gazette. 6 September 1887. p. 4825.
12. "No. 27712". The London Gazette. 9 September 1904. p. 5839.
13. "No. 29364". The London Gazette. 12 November 1915. p. 11186.
14. "No. 32717". The London Gazette. 6 June 1922. p. 4328.
15. "No. 42432". The London Gazette. 8 August 1961. p. 5852.
16. "No. 47659". The London Gazette. 9 October 1978. p. 11997.
17. "No. 47661". The London Gazette. 12 October 1978. p. 12091.
18. "No. 49291". The London Gazette. 17 March 1983. p. 3737.
19. "No. 54252". The London Gazette. 28 December 1995. p. 17450.
20. "No. 60665". The London Gazette. 23 October 2013. p. 20913.
21. "New Rouge Croix Pursuivant appointed". College of Arms. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
22. "No. 63979". The London Gazette. 24 February 2023. p. 3638.

Further reading

• The College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street : being the sixteenth and final monograph of the London Survey Committee, Walter H. Godfrey, assisted by Sir Anthony Wagner, with a complete list of the officers of arms, prepared by H. Stanford London, (London, 1963)
• A History of the College of Arms &c, Mark Noble, (London, 1804)

External links

• The College of Arms
• CUHGS Officer of Arms Index