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. (
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The Birmingham Arms:
‘Official blazon
Quarterly first and fourth Azure a Bend of five Lozenges Or second and third per pale indented of the last and Gules over all a fesse Ermine thereon a mural crown of the second.
Crest : On a Wreath of the colours, A mural crown, issuant therefrom a dexter arm embowed, the hand holding a hammer, all proper.
Supporters : On the dexter side a man habited as a smith (representing Industry) holding in the dexter hand a hammer resting on an anvil proper; and on the sinister side a female figure (representing Art) proper, vested argent, wreathed around the temples with laurel vert, tied by a riband gules, holding in the dexter hand resting on the shield a book proper also gules and in the sinister a painter's palette Or with two brushes proper.
Motto: 'FORWARD'
Origin/meaning
The arms were officially granted on April 3, 1889, the supporters one day later on April 4. The arms were again granted on August 31, 1936.
The arms in the quarters of the shield are two distinct coats used by the de Bermingham family, who held the manor in the 13th century (and perhaps from the time of the Conquest) until 1527, when Edward de Birmingham was deprived of his property by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, by means of a false charge of riot. The bendwise lozenges appear on the shield of an effigy in the church of St. Martins-in-the-Bull Ring, believed to be William de Bermingham. Later members of the family seemed to have quartered the two coats in one shield, but with the quarters reversed. This order of the coats was used by the City for difference.
The mural crown, arm and hammer refer to civic government and industry.
'The figures represent art and industry. The cupel refers to the jewellery quarter and the anvil refers to the tradition of heavy industry.’ (
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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)