St Kilda Kilts & Scottish Gifts

The Davidson crest is a stag’s head.

In Nisbet’s 1722 System of Heraldry, the motto ‘Sapienter si sincere’ is recorded for the Davidsons of Curriehill, although their crest at the time was a boy holding a man’s heart.

Like the Colquhoun crest (and several more to follow) Deer tend to have the double meanings of reflecting the proud, noble, strong and brave virtues of the kindred’s chief, while also boasting about the natural wealth of their estates. James Coats 1725 New Dictionary of Heraldry stated that ‘In Armoury they may be said to denote such as have the Privilege of Hunting, or such as live in a Country abounding in Stags’ (p. 314). This crest is not recorded at that time, although stags were associated with the name in the shield.

The Workman Heraldic Manuscript of 1565-6 notes a seal of a John Davidson, parson of Newlands, which depicted a walking stag pierced by an arrow to the neck (R.R. Stoddart, Scottish Arms being a Collection of Armorial Bearings 1370-1678, p.117).

This crest is that of the Davidsons of Tulloch. The crest is a relatively recent adoption, through the nineteenth century that did not even have a crest of their own, instead using the older boy and heart crest. The change to the stag seems to date to around 1906 when they matriculated arms at the Lyon Court. In this context the stag will both be looking back at the old motif of various Davidson lines, but also the contemporary rage of stag hunting.

Our older Carrick range of clan crests interpretation of Davidson

MKP 29 August 2023