Biggs Family History

It has always been handed down that we were descended from the family of Sir Thos. Bigg (or Bygges) Bart. of Norton and Lenchwick, though as his sisters children were next of kin, it could not have been from him or his brothers, but from his uncle Philip Bigge (sometimes called Sir Philip) or Aldington who had 5 sons. The first Thos. Biggs of Pedmore, who was born 1699 or 1700 and married in 1737, bore Sir Thos. Bigg's arms, and crest slightly modified, but with motto "Virtute mon astutia" (Be bold but keep your wits about you) instead of "Christus mini vita." Arms could not thus be taken in those days without proper title. He was slso received and acknowledged as one of the county families. We now (1904) know our family history definitely back for nearly 200 years, to early in 1700.

The first Thos. Biggs of Pedmore would only have to know who his grandfather was to bridge the 80 yrs back from his birth necessary to connect with the Norton and Aldington families, and would have been known by his contempories and not received as he was, unless his claims were correct.

There is however, a very strong probability that the family fell in the social scale and rose again, as they are supposed to have fought for King Charles and lost all their property. Against this on the other hand, we have crested silver dated 1713, (sugar sifter with Rev. Hesketh Biggs, expert opinion stated that as far as they could tell crest was of about the same date as manufacture and it differs from the later crests and must be considerably earlier that 1785), 1785, 1796, and from 1814 downwards.

It is not known when why the crest was modified and motto altered.

The illuminated and embroidered coats of arms showing a shield divided into four quarters, with arms of Biggs, Flint, and Newton, one in each quarter is obviously wrong and impossibly quartered. The snake in the crest of the same is also wrongly colored green instead of red. It looks as if the Hesketh arms had also been in the first quarter as well. (the arms would then correctly quartered if the Hesketh had married Flint and Newton heiresses) and that someone, in endeavouring to form impaled arms for the Thos Biggs who married Miss Hesketh, had removed the arms of the latter from the first quarter and substituted those of Biggs, instead of impaling them properly; and that the result has been taken as the Biggs family arms, oblivious of the fact that though a husband and wife bear their joint arms impaled, the children only take the arms of the father alone unless the mother was her family heiress. Our correct family arms are therefore only the old Biggs arms alone, viz: "Argent on a fess between three martlets sable as many annulets or" as shown of page and our present correct crest should apparently be the same as that on the silver of 1713, but with the snake "gules" - (red), instead of green as shown in recent colored crests.