THE BATTLEFIELDS OF ENGLAND.
LTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SM—In the concluding sentences of your review on " The Battlefields of England" in the Spectator of March 20th you state that "the augmentation to the armorial bearings of the Waller family is not connected with Agincourt, but with Poitiers, where King John of France was unhorsed by the lance of David Waller, of Groombridge in Kent." This statement I think incorrect, for the following reasons :- (1) In Hasted's "Kent," Vol. I., pp. 428-31, we find that the augmentation of the arms of the Waller family is attributed to the conduct of Richard Waller at Agincourt, and is described as follows : "Richard Waller was a valiant soldier, and for his remarkable courage and good behaviour at the Battle of Agincourt in France, fought on October 25th, in the fourth year of King Henry V., had the Duke of Orleans, then taken prisoner, committed to his custody." And in a note to the above we read: "He (Charles Duke of Orleans) was found under a heap of dead bodies by Mr. Waller with others of the archers, with some signs of life in him. Mr. Waller carried him to the King, who ordered care to be taken of him, and committed him to his custody. Ho (Richard Waller) had, in honour of his taking so noble a prisoner, an additional crest granted to him and his heirs for ever, viz., the arms or escutcheon of France hanging by a label on a walnut-tree with this motto affixed, Him fructus vertutis."
(2) From the same authority we learn that Groombridge did not belong to the Waller family until the end of the reign of Henry IV., circa 1410, when "Lord Clinton and Say alienated Groombridge to Thomas Waller, of Lamberharst in Sussex." And if this is correct, it is clear that King John of France could not have been unhorsed by David Waller, of Groombridge in Kent, Poitiers having been fought in 1356. Additional authorities for the proceedings are the Dean of York in "The Heraldry of York Minster," and Mrs. 0. Streatfield in a pamphlet entitled "Groombridge Place, Kent."
(3) Lipscombe in his "History of Buckinghamshire" gives "Agincourt" as a second motto of the Waller family.
(4) I am a Waller by birth, and a direct descendant of the said Richard Waller, and this is the history of the crest accepted by the family. I should be interested to know the authority for your account.—I am, Sir, &c.,
RACHEL DE SAMS (nie WALLER). Bewley Court, Uxbridge, March 23rd.
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