Snawdoun Herald

Elizabeth Roads LVO, FSA

Snawdoun Herald was first mentioned in 1433 and the title of the office is derived from a part of Stirling Castle. In 1467 Unicorn Pursuivant was promoted to be Snawdoun Herald. Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, later Lord Lyon, was recorded as a holder of the office in 1531. Mrs Roads is the first holder of the office in over a century, the previous holder, William Montignani, having died in 1883. Elizabeth Roads was appointed Snawdoun Herald in 2010, having been Carrick Pursuivant from 1992. Prior to this appointment she served as Linlithgow Pursuivant Extraordinary in 1987 to represent the Lord Lyon during the creation of the Canadian Heraldic Authority. She was appointed as Secretary of the Order of the Thistle in 2014, having been Assistant Secretary from 2008. A Member of the Royal Victorian Order since 1990, she was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant in 2012. She was appointed an officer of the Order of St John in 1999 and holds the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. Mrs Roads was from 1986-2018 Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records. She is a Fellow and founding member of the Heraldry Society of Scotland, of which she is now a Vice-President, a Fellow of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Heraldry Society of New Zealand, a Fellow of the Heraldry Society, an Academician of the Academie Internationale d’Heraldique, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. She is Vice-Chairman of the Scottish Council of Archives. She was President of the XXXII Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences held in Glasgow in 2016 and is President of the Bureau Permanent des Congrès Internationaux de Généalogie et d’Héraldique. Mrs Roads writes heraldic articles and lectures all over the world on heraldic matters on a regular basis. Mrs Roads was elected Dean of the Merchant Guldry of Stirling in 2019.

Armorial Bearings of Elizabeth Roads LVO, FSA

HM Snawdoun Herald in Ordinary

On a shield of oval form Or, a saltire Gules, on a chief of the Last a pale Argent charged of a cross engrailed Sable a bordure of the First. Above the Shield on a Wreath of the Liveries. Gules and Or, is set for Crest a dexter arm in armour embowed the hand Proper grasping a broken sceptre Gules, and in an Escrol over the same this Motto: “SIC FUIMUS”. As heir to her late father Mrs Roads now bears these arms without the difference of the bordure Or.