Arms of the Society

To all and sundry whom These Presents Do or May Concern, We, Sir James Monteith Grant, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, Lord Lyon King of Arms, send Greetings: WHEREAS, John Ayton Gordon Copland, President, and George Anderson Brash, Secretary, having by Petition unto Us of date 1st April 1976, for and on behalf of The Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Shewn; that the Royal Scottish Society of Arts was instituted in 1821 with the aim of encouraging the inventive talents of the general public in the fields of science and technology and has awarded prizes to the authors of useful inventions or valuable processes; that Benefactors of the said Society have included Alexander Keith (1833), Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbae[sic] (1856) and John Stewart Hepburn (1862); that in 1841 the said Society was incorporated by Royal Charter under which it presently operates, the said Charter and Minute Books being deposited with the National Library of Scotland to which it transferred its extensive archives in 1968; that the said Society which is under the patronage of Her Majesty The Queen and of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, is regulated by Laws adopted in a revised form in 1974 and holds its meetings in Edinburgh; and the Petitioners having prayed that there might be granted unto them, for and on behalf of the said The Royal Scottish Society of Arts, such Ensigns Armorial as might be found suitable and accord­ing to the Laws of Arms, Know ye therefore that We have Devised and Do by These Presents Assign, Ratify and Confirm unto the Petitioners, for and on behalf of the said Society, the following Ensigns Armorial, as depicted upon the margin hereof, and matriculated of even date with These Presents upon the 107th page of the 59th Volume of Our Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, videlicet:- Or, between two eagle owls heads affrontée proper a torch Sable paleways enflamed Gules, on a chief Azure a saltire Argent, all within a bordure Ermine, and on a Wreath of the Liveries Sable and Or is set for the Crest the head of the goddess Athena contournée helmeted proper, and in an Escrol over the same this Motto "Pro Scientia et Arte," and on a compart­ment below the Shield are set for Supporters, dexter a scientist and sinister an artisan both in the habit of the early 19th century, the former bearing in his dexter hand a balance and the latter in his sinister hand a perpendiculum, by demonstration of which Ensigns Armorial the said Society is, amongst all Nobles and in all Places of Honour, to be taken, numbered, accounted and received as an Incorporation Noble in the Noblesse of Scotland; In testimony whereof We have Subscribed These Presents and the Seal of Our Office is affixed hereto at Edinburgh this 11th day of May in the 27th Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the Second, By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-eight,
J Monteith Grant
Lyon.