148 The Society’s MSS. Chiseldon, &c. 
- Calley, Ralph, of Highway, Wilts, gent. Patent 23 Nov. 1579. Quarterly 
Argent and Sable on a bend Gules three mullets of the first. Crest. A demi 
lion Or, thereon a bend Gules, charged with three mullets Argent, in its paws _ 
a battleaxe Gules. 
There are two good working theories, either of which will serve 
to regulate the granting of arms, one, that a stranger in blood 
should never be allowed arms similar to those borne by any family 
of his name, the other that persons of the same and similar names 
should all be granted similar coats. The former theory is the one 
at present in vogue, the latter has been freely acted on in the past. 
Most persons of the name of “ Lawrence,” for instance, bear, with 
variations, a cross raguly, an extreme instance considering the origin 
of this patronymic. Now, having regard to this ancient, and con- 
venient, practice, it does not necessarily follow that, because in 
1579 the officers of arms conferred on Ralph Calley the coat, without 
any sort of variation or distinction, borne by the ancient Norfolk 
family of Cayley, they were satisfied of his lineal descent out of 
that county. Close upon one hundred and fifty years must, in 
1579, have already elapsed since the birth of his great-grandfather, 
may a RTE 
who lived and died, as we have seen, at Winchester—a long period i 
of time over which to preserve a correct tradition ; while to build a 
theory of a descent out of Norfolk upon a bequest in his grand- 
father’s will to Cromer Pier—absolutely the only mention of the 
county in any of our documents—is a somewhat light-hearted 
attempt. Even then, and however authoritatively confirmed to 
the family, these arms seem scarcely to have been credited to them 
with ease, for at the subsequent Visitation of the county in 1628, 
in the original Note Book of the Heralds, the pedigree, indeed, is 
entered, but with the note “ Defertur, sed non probavit arma.”’ 
Ralph Calley was twice married. His first wife is described in 
the Visitation of 1565 as “Ellynor, daughter of Richard Woodcock, 
of Dyddenham! in com. Wilts, esq.’’ Further particulars as to her 
parentage are supplied by a pedigree from Harley MS. 1043, 
printed for the Harleian Society as belonging to the Visitation of 
Worcester in A.D. 1569. It is of course conceivable that Ralph 
1 Diddenham in the parish of Shinfield, co. Berks, but anciently accounted 
as part of Wiltshire. 
hh aia 
