Lo stemma dei Renier e di John Wakering fu per 500 anni lo stemma dell’Ospedale S. Bartolomeo in Londra. Ora è lo stemma della lega delle infermiere dell’Ospedale.
The hospital arms now in use are quite different from those of the priory, being party per pale argent and sable a chevron countercharged. They occur first on a seal attached to an agreement between John Wakering the master of the hospital and the prioress of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in 1423, and later in the cartulary written by John Cok in 1456. Sir Norman Moore says they would seem to be the shield of John Wakering, which from the use of the seal of his signet ring for more than forty years came to be regarded as the hospital arms. They do not occur anywhere in connexion with the priory, but the shield appears in a fifteenth-century book of Venetian Arms in the Heralds’ College under the name of the ancient Venetian family of Renier
The black and white shield has been the badge of St Bartholomew’s Hospital for more than 500 years. It was the Coat of Arms used by John Wakering, who was the Master of the Hospital from 1423 to 1462. Although this Coat of Arms was not granted to John Wakering or his family by the College of Arms, it became associated with the Hospital (probably because he was Master for so long) and continued to be used after his death. The shield appears as the Arms of the Hospital in a 16th Century roll in the College of Arms and, though never formally granted to the Hospital, continued use since the early 15th century presumably established the right to display them.
The League was founded in 1899 as that of St Bartholomew’s Nurses, without the word Hospital, but this was inserted in the late 1920s and withdrawn in 1986.
The badge consists of a black and white shield surrounded by a circular silver rim on which is engraved ‘League of St Bartholomew’s Nurses’. It would appear that from 1939 the word Hospital was included. This badge was first given in 1900 to League members who were trainees of the Hospital. The qualifications for League membership and eligibility for a League Badge were success in the final State examination and the award of the Hospital certificate following completion of their four year training. Exceptional circumstances, such as marriage within 6 weeks of leaving during the 4th year, resulted in a three year certificate with eligibility for a badge. League members signed to say that they would return the badge if the person ceased to be a member.
CASATO RENIER 