Funereal hatchments of local armigers were usually displayed outside the deceased's house for 12 months before being hung inside the local church.  St Mary's boasts a particularly fine collection, including those of Viscount Nelson and Admiral Isaac Smith, but three of them raise interesting questions over their origin.

 The hatchment hanging next to Nelson's is that of Sir William Hamilton, husband of the Admiral's mistress, who died in 1803.  As expected, the sinister side of the supporting board is white - indicating that his wife was still alive at his death.  However, the arms displayed are not his - they are the undifferenced arms of his first cousin, the 9^th Duke of Hamilton, surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Bath, of which Sir William was a knight.   The four quarters represent the cinquefoils of Hamilton, the galley of the earldom of Arran, and the red heart of Douglas, the family of which the Hamilton's are heirs male and which records the epic journey of Sir James Douglas, who carried Robert the Bruce's heart on a crusade after the king's death in 1329.

 The principles of heraldic cadency dictate that any arms used by, or granted to, Sir William would bear a striking resemblance to this, but he would in any event not have been entitled to the antelope supporters which flank the shield.   Only peers and a handful of others are entitled to supporters and a knight certainly would not be.  This does not mean that Sir William usurped his cousin's arms; it is more likely that they were reputed as his family's arms and mistakenly used on his hatchment after his death.

 The other anomaly concerns the two hatchments attributed to Sir Robert Burnett of Morden Hall and his wife.    Burnett was knighted in 1795 but was not granted arms until 1812.  His own hatchment (on the left) is exactly what one would expect - his own arms impaling those of his wife, Anne Fassett. 

 Lady Burnett's hatchment contains her own paternal arms, described in heraldry-speak as "argent on a bend azure three bucks heads cabossed argent."  (According to Burke's General Armory, the bend should be sable, but this is incidental.)  This coat is impaled with the undifferenced arms of the Scottish Burnetts of Leys, a coat upon which Sir Robert Burnett could have no possible claim.   Again, the white half of the supporting board (in this case on the dexter) indicates that the husband was still alive.   Lady Burnett died in 1802, 10 years before her husband received his arms; it appears that he simply adopted the chiefly coat of arms for the purposes of his wife's hatchment, since he had none of his own.  

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