Founder, and President Emeritus, of the Heraldry Society of Scotland
Born 6 November 1940; died 23 February 2024
When Charles Burnett founded the Heraldry Society of Scotland in 1977, he unconsciously tempered minor societal change by crafting an entrée to a subject that previously had not always been a province for all. The upshot is the Heraldry Society membership roll now ranges from a baron to a bus driver, with a spin-off being a considerable growth of applications to record arms at the Court of the Lord Lyon. A leading heraldist of his generation, he promulgated the message that the so-called “gentle science” is for all. Blessed with creative skills, he engineered exhibitions, established conferences, and ran the Heraldry Society of Scotland. Nor were his efforts confined to Scotland, for he spread the word through lectures and presentations in four continents.
Charles had nurtured the notion of some kind of heraldic association in Scotland from his early twenties. In 1976 at his own expense, he hand-wrote letters to those he thought might be interested. Early in 1977, some 40 met in Edinburgh, with Charles providing a welcome through a short illustrated presentation, before putting the question – should a heraldry society be created? Enthused by the positive response, he famously replied: “I’ll now write to The Heraldry Society in London and let them know that they’ll have a branch in Scotland”. The resulting uproar rocked him, and he looked baffled. Then came: “So you want a separate Scottish society?”.
Charles John Burnett was born in Aberdeenshire – he termed it “God’s own country” – in the fishing village of Sandhaven west of Fraserburgh, an early memory being the sight of a swastika on a wounded German bomber during a raid on the Spitfire engine factory in Fraserburgh. His creative talents showed early: at age 12, he organised a Coronation display at his primary school, and five years later at Fraserburgh Academy, designed and built the display cabinet housing exhibits relating to Bishop Alexander Jolly, a noted 19th century town rector. In 1964, he conceived the costumes, setting, and programme for the production of Sir David Lyndsay’s Thrie Estatis in Aberdeen – and it was here that he met his future wife, Aileen McIntyre.
From Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, he graduated in fine art, along with a penchant for smoking what a friend termed “absolutely foul Gauloise cigarettes”. His target of a career in design saw him selected in 1965 as one of the team designing and managing the British Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. His abilities there came to the notice of the diplomat Paul Henderson Scott, who in his autobiography A 20th Century Life, mentioned Charles as “….a talented designer, an enthusiast for heraldry, of infinite patience, good nature and robust common sense”.
Career posts included the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh (where one of his assistants was a young Muriel Gray); Scottish United Services Museum, Edinburgh Castle; and finally, as Chamberlain of Duff House, Banff. Heraldically, his talents saw him appointed to office at the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1983, first as Dingwall Pursuivant and then Ross Herald five years later, the latter post being held for a near-record 22 years. He was a proud Knight of Order of St John, and with fellow heraldist and knight Henry Tilling, produced a history of the Order in Scotland in 1977.
Ever the individual, Charles ploughed his own furrow, refusing to learn to drive (“It’s something only servants did”); never failing to dress otherwise than immaculately; loathing sport; being passionately apathetic about Gaelic; and using Book Antiqua in blue as his personal typeface rather than near universal Times New Roman in black. Immensely proud of his Burnett heritage, he helped originate a Burnett Family Room within the caput of Crathes Castle on Deeside, adorning it with a score of hand-painted shields of notable Burnetts. He went on to script and star in a short film introducing heraldry, shot at Crathes.
Through his monthly programme for the Heraldry Society of Scotland, he created a historic link in 1986 by inviting John Brooke-Little, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms at the College of Arms in London. One of the curiosities of the Treaty of Union of 1707 is that in heraldry, Scotland and England remain foreign nations. Thus, it was that Brooke-Little paid the first formal visit by an English herald to Scotland since a predecessor Edward Norgate, Windsor Herald, in 1639.
Lists of Charles’s events, creative ideas, exhibitions, lectures, books, articles and duties run to some two dozen A4 pages, though he failed to itemise the litany of names he encountered through heraldic life from Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shah of Persia to Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas, plus members of the Royal family. Early years in advertising taught him marketing through catchy designations. His exhibition of Scotland’s ancient currency in Edinburgh in 1982 memorably drew record crowds thanks to the titling of it as “Angels, Nobles and Unicorns” – all of which are old Scots coins.
A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for more than 50 years, he contributed to the Society’s Proceedings (PSAS), always concerning heraldic matters. In 1986 (PSAS, 116 [1986], 473-559 Funeral heraldry in Scotland with particular reference to hatchments Charles J Burnett, Dingwall Pursuivant), his article detailed how and why funerals in Scotland during the 17th and early 18th centuries were resplendent with heraldic symbolism, with one element, the funeral hatchment, continuing in use long after other heraldic devices ceased to be part of funerary practice. Until his paper, it had been thought that few hatchments survived in Scotland; he was able to indicate that in fact some 50 are extant. He detailed how Scottish hatchments differ from those in England and how their use was supervised by the Scottish Officers of Arms. Scotland always having been rich in terms of kinship and ancestry, and since the small population and compact size of the country created close relationships through marriage particularly among the landowning section of the community, heraldry became the visual language of kinship, in so doing acquiring an importance in the Scottish psyche that has had ramifications in social custom and in the arts.
Charles adored family life. He was predeceased by his beloved Aileen, and is survived by his children Sara, a practice nurse; Sandy, a naval architect; and Johnny, a photographer; and grandchildren. As my friend of 58 years, I remember him as innovative, creative, attentive, informative, funny and endlessly helpful. He was such a fount of knowledge on so many fronts, and we all mourn him. He died full of years, a great man, and a great friend. His legacy is that he brought more heraldry to wider audiences in the 20th century in Scotland than possibly any other single person.
by Gordon Casely FSAScot
