One of the heraldic shields in the stained-glass window of the Great Hall in the Aston Webb building of the University of Birmingham.
The south window was designed by Thomas Ralph Spence (1855-1913) and was installed 1908. There are 53 lights in all, focusing on the arms of the University itself, with the shields of the Midland counties above it, so that, as elsewhere, the decorative motifs "expressed the conviction that there was a symbiosis between the University and the region". Benefactors' arms are shown as well as with this heraldic Shield which is that of Baron Calthorpe. (
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Arms of the Barony Calthorpe
Blazon: Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Checky Or and Azure a Fess Ermine (Calthorpe); 2nd and 3rd, Gules on a Fess Argent between three Boars' Heads couped Or a Lion passant Azure (Gough), over all an inescutcheon Argent, charged with a sinister hand erect aupaumee and couped at the wrist Gules.
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The central shield contains what is known as the 'red hand of Ulster' (Irish: Lámh Dhearg Uladh). This is usually shown as a right hand, but barons such as Calthorpe are permitted to use the left (sinister) hand.
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The arms in the window are not the same as the arms on Old Library Shields on the campus to the south of the new 'Green Heart' (
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The window is 'flanked by massive organ pipes and fine woodwork of the original organ cases...A late insertion, this was donated by Sir John Holder in May 1907...T.R. Spence designed the window and it has fifty-three light. The focus, as with the north front, is the University shield. Above it, in the spandrels, we find shields of the six Midland counties on either side of a full achievement of the arms of the City of Birmingham. The window, in other words, takes up the theme of civic commitment to the Midlands University announced by the entrance front, and this was emphasised by a display of county banners down the hall on either side. The other central lights speak of private support: at the top the Calthorpe arms and Sir John Holder's own shield at the bottom, below a woman holding
the Chamberlain crest.' 'The First Civic University: Birmingham 1880-1980, An Introductory History' by Eric Ives, Diane Drummond, Leonard Schwarz (ISBN: 1-902459-07-5)
'The Calthorpe Family
The Calthorpe’s were one of the founding benefactors to the University, generously donating the land on which the first buildings of the Edgbaston campus were constructed between 1900 and 1908. They also gifted further land in later years including the area now occupied by the Green Heart. Their coat of arms is depicted here within the heraldry of the Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe baronet.' (
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'Baron Calthorpe, of Calthorpe in the County of Norfolk, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for Sir Henry Gough, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Bramber in Parliament. Born Henry Gough, he had assumed the additional surname of Calthorpe upon inheriting the Elvetham and Norfolk estates of his maternal uncle, Sir Henry Calthorpe, in 1788. The Baronetcy, of Edgbaston in the County of Warwick, had been created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 6 April 1728 for Lord Calthorpe's father Henry Gough, who represented Totnes and Bramber in the House of Commons.[1] He was the husband of Barbara, daughter of Reynolds Calthorpe. Three of Lord Calthorpe's sons, the second, third and fourth Barons, both succeeded in the titles. The latter sat as a Member of Parliament for Hindon and Bramber. In 1845 he assumed by Royal licence for himself the surname of Gough only. His eldest son, the fifth Baron, represented East Worcestershire in Parliament as a Liberal. The fifth Baron's younger brother, the seventh Baron (who succeeded his elder brother, the sixth Baron), was a Lieutenant-General in the Army. The latter's son, the eighth Baron, was succeeded by his grandson, the ninth Baron. The titles became extinct on the death of the ninth Baron's younger brother, the tenth Baron, in 1997.
The famous British architect Sir John Soane was the ancestor of the 8th, 9th and 10th barons. (
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