SSA Gallery

The Society of Scottish Armigers
Home > Wedvick Armorial
Click to view full size image
Pinches
Arms: shields accollé;
Dexter: Argent, a lobster Gules, grasping in each claw a bezant (Pinches),
Sinister: Chequy Argent and Azure, on a chief Sable a thunderflash Or between two
horseshoes Argent ( Bidder)

Note: Grants: The College of Arms, London: Pinches: 10 Dec 1981 and The College
of Arms, London: Bidder: 22 Sep 1914

SOURCES/NOTES & CREDITS: Illustration for background purposes and blazons from “The Double Tressure”, 2004, No. 27, pp 32-25, article “Heraldry Today” by Rosemary Pinches. Text & biographic notes adapted from the same source, personal recollections of an avid bibliophile and internet sources..

Thinking the other day about where some of our heraldry books came from, we remembered Rosemary Pinches. If you bought heraldry books over the decades as we did, we are sure you either knew her or of her. She was the proprietrix of Heraldry Today from 1954 to I think 2012 something like 58 years, She was born on 19 Jan 1929 at Ravensbury Manor, Morden, Surrey. She married John Harvey Pinches, MC.

We dealt with her at Heraldry Today for some 20 plus years and got to know her. She
was sharp, knew her stuff, and her books were nay cheap. We were pleased to buy many, many books from her over the years. Every book purchased came wrapped in special heavy printed wrapping paper and all very carefully protected in the mailing box. It was like Christmas when her boxes came and every book a delight to open. In her last year or two, her daughter came into the business to help out and ultimately to close the business after Rosemary had to go to a nursing home….

As noted above, she wrote a kind of autobiography of fifty years in the “Double Tressure” of 2004, No. 27, pp 32-35., You might even have this issue… Heraldry Today was started in 1954 in Beauchamp Place in London. Her husband, John, soon joined in. She bought collections from estates and auction houses of hundreds and thousands of used books. She and her husband also reprinted a number of reference books and with him started publishing a number of original books and new books of other authors of an heraldic nature. In 1975 they moved to a property in Ramsbury, Surrey with a separate coach house which housed the Heraldry Today business. They got into computers in 1986 and created a website in 1995. They published heraldic book catalogues four times per year for which we waited eagerly and after arrival spent hours looking and pouring over the contents, thinking, I need this and oh, that one too, etc..

Unfortunately all good things come to an end, Rosemary died on 3 May 2014, at age 85. Pray for her soul !

2019 0306

dqw266@gmail.com
Power2.jpg Powell.jpg Pinches2.jpg Pellew_8-11.jpg ONeil_Johnson2.jpg
Rate this file (No vote yet)
Rubbish
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
Great