Anthony Wagner

Wagner's distant ancestor, Melchior Wagner, arrived in England from the Saxon city of Coburg in 1709 and became hatter to George I and George II.

Wagner's father, Orlando Wagner, ran a day-school in London.

He attended Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, on scholarships.

He found the classics uninteresting and graduated with a third in Literae humaniores.

From early age he had been interested in genealogy and his favourite book as a boy was Hereford Brooke George's Genealogical Tables Illustrative of Modern History.

Sir Anthony Richard Wagner (6 September 1908 – 5 May 1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.

He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms.

He was one of the most prolific authors on the subjects of heraldry and genealogy of the 20th century.

Wagner joined the College of Arms as Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary in 1931.

His Historic Heraldry of England (1939) derived initially from an exhibition of panels in America, but drew a stern and scholarly line between those great men who were truly armigerous and those who were not.

On the other hand, his Heralds and Heraldry in the Middle Ages (also 1939) shed new light on the development of the functions of the earliest officers of arms.

He was promoted to Richmond Herald of Arms in Ordinary in 1943 and Garter Principal King of Arms in 1961.

He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 1944.

Although he contemplated remaining in the Ministry, he returned to the College of Arms in 1946 and took over the extensive practice of Alfred Butler, Windsor Herald.

He took part in the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll in 1951 as Richmond Herald, and as Garter King of Arms took part in and was involved in the ceremonial aspects of the state funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965 and the Investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969.

One idea, which he pursued persistently, was the establishment of a museum in which to display the treasures of the College of Arms itself.

Initially it was hoped to erect a building adjacent to the college, and a design was commissioned from Raymond Erith; this became impossible because of the increasing financial demands of repairs to the college itself.

His Records and Collections of the College of Arms (1952) remains a useful finding aid to the college's archival holdings.

Wagner's English Genealogy (1960; revised editions 1972 and 1983) remains a standard work of reference.

Many years later he traced the whole story of the College of Arms in a massive volume entitled Heralds of England (1967).

Roy Strong called the book "magisterial".

He belonged to the Vintners' Company, serving as Master from 1973 to 1974; and was a member of a number of important dining clubs including the Society of Dilettanti, the antiquarian Cocked Hats, and the bibliophilic Roxburghe Club.

A number of large projects engaged his attention and enthusiasm.

One, which arose from the Harleian Society, was an endeavour to list and describe the surviving English Rolls of Arms: to this series (CEMRA) Wagner contributed the first volume.

Another project, connected with the Society of Antiquaries of London, was a revised edition of the ordinary of arms originally produced by J. W. Papworth.

Many of his conclusions were rehearsed and reinforced in Pedigree and Progress (1975), where an important group of essays is annotated and brought up to date.

Always he stressed the mobility of social life and class in the course of English history, and in maintaining this view ran contrary to the opinions of some professional English historians.

In 1978 he retired to the subordinate position of Clarenceux King of Arms.

Oxford University awarded him a DLitt and in 1979 he was appointed an honorary fellow of Balliol College.

He was a firm believer in the view that appointments to the college were for life.

As a herald he enjoyed a very large practice and was able to train up a number of skilled and well-qualified assistants who later became officers of arms.

His professional library was enormous, but he was also able to build up an important collection of early heraldic manuscripts from the Clumber and other sales.

During World War II he served in the War Office for four years, and then moved to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, where he rose to be Principal Private Secretary to a series of ministers.

But in 1981 the Heralds' Museum opened in part of the Tower of London.

In 1981 he defended the ceremonial aspects of British political life in an interview with Philip Howard of The Times: "Ceremonial induces a more reflective mood. It is an art form that embodies the continuity of the nation and the deposit of history. We live in a time of great change. But every item in a ceremonial like the coronation links us directly to the roots of our nationality more than 10 centuries ago".

Howard said Wagner "is one of our most distinguished historians, the man who made heraldry respectable and who holds the sceptre of continuity in our changing times".

Wagner had many interests outside the world and work of the College of Arms.

The first volume (of what was now entitled the Dictionary of British Arms) appeared in 1992.

Genealogy occupied the foremost place in Wagner's affections, but his earliest publications made highly important contributions to the study of heraldry.

Issues of State Ceremonial took third priority.