Heraldry Of McGill University
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The
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
of
McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
is the official emblem of the university and derives from a
heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...
device assumed during the lifetime of the university's founder,
James McGill James McGill (6 October 1744 – 19 December 1813) was a Scottish-born businessman, politician, slaveholder, and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He was elected to the Legislative Assembl ...
. The first iteration was designed in 1906 by Percy Nobbs, then director of the
McGill School of Architecture The Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture, formerly the McGill School of Architecture, is one of eight academic department, academic units constituting the McGill University Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in ...
. The design subsequently varied for decades after until the university's current coat of arms, largely resembling the original design, was finally adopted by the Board of Governors in 1975. Today, the university has approved multiple logos across its faculties and departments, including a separate coat of arms used by the
Macdonald Campus The Macdonald Campus of McGill University (commonly referred to as the 'Mac Campus' or simply 'Mac') houses McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES), which includes the Institute of Parasitology, the School of Human Nutri ...
.


McGill University coat of arms, wordmark and colours


Coat of arms

The McGill University
heraldic achievement In heraldry, an achievement, armorial achievement or heraldic achievement (historical: hatchment) is a full display or depiction of all the heraldic components to which the bearer of a coat of arms is entitled. An achievement comprises not only ...
comprises a shield with a scroll beneath it. It is derived from an armorial device assumed during his lifetime by the university's founder,
James McGill James McGill (6 October 1744 – 19 December 1813) was a Scottish-born businessman, politician, slaveholder, and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He was elected to the Legislative Assembl ...
.


Shield

The shield is divided into two sections. The lower section contains three red martlets on a silver background. The martlets were taken from the arms of the McGill family, and are always shown in flight due to the heraldic martlet being a mythical bird without legs. Above this section is a red banner representing Montreal's surrounding mountains. The banner contains two silver crowns composed of
fleur de lis The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the ( stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis ...
representing Montreal's royal history and French origin. Separating these crowns is an open book, the heraldic symbol of an institution of learning, bearing the words ''In Domino Confido'' ("I trust in the Lord"), which was a motto used by James McGill.


Scroll

The scroll below the shield contains the university's official motto, ''Grandescunt Aucta Labore'' ("By work all things increase and grow"). According to the McGill University secretariat, the scroll's usage is optional, and should only be used when the coat of arms stands alone and is large enough that the Latin words of the motto are legible.


History of the arms

McGill University's coat of arms was first designed in 1906 by
Percy Erskine Nobbs Percy Erskine Nobbs (11 August 1875 – 5 November 1964) was a Scottish-Canadian architect who was born in Haddington, East Lothian, and trained in the United Kingdom. Educated at the Edinburgh Collegiate School and Edinburgh University, h ...
, then director of the
McGill School of Architecture The Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture, formerly the McGill School of Architecture, is one of eight academic department, academic units constituting the McGill University Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in ...
. Despite many varying designs over the last century, Nobbs' original design largely resembles that which is used today: a shield divided into two sections, the top containing two silver crowns separated by an open book with the Latin words ''In Domino Confido'' ("I trust in the Lord") on a red band, and the lower section containing three red
martlets A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be continuously on the wing. It is a compelling allegory for continuous effort, expr ...
on a silver background. Beneath the shield is a scroll containing the words ''Grandescunt Aucta Labore'' ("By work all things increase and grow"), which is the university's official motto. Nobbs' design was patented in 1922 by the Garter King-at-Arms in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, thus establishing the university's right to the arms. However, the university did not formally adopt its arms until 1975, and until then the design had sometimes been employed with reverse colors, a single crown, varying martlet designs, multiple mottos and/or a surrounding banner with the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
words ''Universitas Collegii McGill Monte Regio''. The current coat of arms used by the university was adopted by the Board of Governors in November 1975. In 1956, Lord Lyon King-at-Arms of Edinburgh granted a posthumous coat of arms to James McGill. The same year, the coat of arms was also registered in the Public Register of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland. In 1992, the coat of arms was registered with the
Chief Herald of Canada The Chief Herald of Canada is the director of the Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA) and is responsible for the authority's day-to-day operations. The chief herald typically handles petitions for arms and makes the grant of arms if the petition me ...
. The McGill University Secretariat governs the use of McGill's logos and branding, and it has a policy to ensure their correct use.


Wordmark

McGill University's
wordmark A wordmark or word mark is a text-only statement of the name of a product, service, company, organization, or institution which is used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark can be an actual word (e.g., Apple), a made-up term ...
is the word 'McGill' in a custom font derived from
Garamond Garamond is a group of many serif typefaces, named for sixteenth-century Parisian engraver Claude Garamond, generally spelled as Garamont in his lifetime. Garamond-style typefaces are popular to this day and often used for book printing and bod ...
. It is thus not possible to reproduce the wordmark using standard printing fonts.


Colours

McGill University's official colour is red, specifically PMS 485 (CMYK: 100% magenta, 90% yellow) for printed work. The coat of arms in full colour would be printed in the following colours: PMS 485 for the martlets, PMS 871U for the gold book and PMS 877U for the silver crowns. The
RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green, and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three ...
value is R237, G27, B47 or
Hexadecimal Hexadecimal (also known as base-16 or simply hex) is a Numeral system#Positional systems in detail, positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of sixteen. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using ten symbo ...
value #ed1b2f for electronic display.


MacDonald Campus coat of arms

McGill University's second campus, the
Macdonald Campus The Macdonald Campus of McGill University (commonly referred to as the 'Mac Campus' or simply 'Mac') houses McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES), which includes the Institute of Parasitology, the School of Human Nutri ...
, has its own coat of arms. It is partly derived from the arms of Sir William Macdonald, who founded the campus, and it also borrows from the university's coat of arms. The Macdonald Campus emblem consists of a shield with a scroll beneath it, like the university's emblem. The lower section of the shield contains a red hand holding a cross with two martlets on either side, all on a gold background. The upper section contains an open book with the university's motto in between two gold clover leaves, all on a green background. The martlets and book are borrowed from the university's coat of arms, while the hand and cross are derived from the second quarter of Macdonald's arms. The clover leaves represent fertility, and their three segments represent the three purposes of the campus – agriculture, food and service. Underneath the shield is a scroll with the words 'Mastery for Service'. The MacDonald Campus arms were originally designed in 1939 by Dr. W. Whitehead. They were subsequently redesigned in October 1978 by Dr. R.B. Buckland, with assistance from J. Marok.


Other McGill logos


Named faculties

McGill's named faculties have their own logos, such as the
Desautels Faculty of Management The Desautels Faculty of Management is a faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The faculty offers a range of undergraduate and graduate-level business programs, including the Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Business Adminis ...
and the
Schulich School of Music The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, Rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after the ...
.


Athletics and Recreation

McGill Athletics and Recreation have their own approved logo, which involves the superimposition of the McGill crest onto the capitalized letter "M".


See also

* Academic dress of McGill University *
Coat of arms of the University of Toronto The coat of arms of the University of Toronto is the primary emblem of the University of Toronto, which is the largest university in Canada. It is currently used in several different contexts by the University and can be seen on its own, on the Un ...
*
Heraldry of Harvard University Harvard University adopted an official seal (emblem), seal soon after it was founded in 1636 and named "Harvard College" in 1638; a variant is still used. Each school within the university (Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, Harvard La ...


References


External links


Arms of McGill University
– Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada {{Academic heraldry McGill University
McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...
McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...
McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...