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In
creating these Arms the armiger 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 his family, it was decided that the
basic layout for the shield would be a chevron with three charges. His
reasoning behind this was that Mr McGeachie’s wife's 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 the armigers
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 armigers’ present location Livingston
and are similar to the charges used on the Livingston Development
Corporation arms. The chrysanthemum is a reference to his 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 on Mr McGeachie’s lineage. The green
(Vert) of the charges is another reference to having traced his family
back to Ireland. The fimbriation was necessary due to the rules
of heraldry, having to place a metal between two colours.
The
reason behind the armigers crest, the leopard and the ell-measure, is
to represent the armigers 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. |
