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When
my father David James McGeachie created these arms he was faced with
the difficulty of a blank canvas, as no McGeachie had ever been
granted Arms in either Scotland or Ireland.
After
many hours of discussion with the family, it was decided that the
basic layout for the shield would be a chevron with three charges. My
fathers reasoning behind this was that my mothers maiden name was
Cooper and they had a rendition of Cooper arms which has the same
layout (a chevron with three charges) which they all liked.
The
base colours of black and white were chosen to signify my fathers
thirty years as a martial artist taking part in Karate and Iaido. The
charges are; two gillyflowers and a chrysanthemum. The
gillyflowers were taken from the our present location Livingston and
are similar to the charges used on the Livingston Development
Corporation arms. The chrysanthemum is a reference to my fathers love
of all things Japanese, including his martial arts and a particular
brand of motorcycle manufacturer whose bikes he prefers to ride -
their colour scheme usually being green, black and white. The number
of petals in the chrysanthemum is also significant, as each petal
represents a generation traced back so far on the McGeachie lineage.
The green (Vert) of the charges are another reference to the family
roots going back to Ireland. The fimbriation was necessary due
to the rules of heraldry, having to place a metal between two
colours.
The
crest, the leopard and the ell-measure, is to represent the McGeachie
family origins of weavers in Glasgow, Lanark in the 18th & 19th
century and earlier back to Ireland. The leopards head is a charge on
the Incorporation of Weavers arms from Glasgow which had been in
existence from 1514 – 1905 (again as above, the same shield layout of
a chevron and three charges). The Scottish ell-measure (usually 37
inches long) was once used by weavers to measure cloth in the
market-place.
The
motto of "Peritia Et Honore" is another reference to my fathers
martial arts days and translates as: By Skill and Honour.
The
Arms of my father David James
McGeachie No 106 |
