BCS Crest / Badge
Every Cottonian knows this Badge and Crest from Day One at BCS.
Many of us have looked closely, and probably figured out the meaning of some of the more easy to decipher elements.
Old Cottonian and Historian RAAJA BHASIN had published an analysis for the School many years ago, and we have a copy of his detail to share today :
The School Badge.
The badge of Bishop Cotton School is a replica of the coat of arms of Bishop Cotton and was adopted by the School. However, in place of the Cotton family motto which is ‘En utraque fortuna paratus’, the school motto is ‘Overcome evil with good’.
The shield is essentially a ‘per pale’ one, which means that it is divided vertically down the centre. In the larger tradition of English heraldry, this design allowed the arms of both the man and his wife to appear on the shield. Derived from Latin, the two sides are called the ‘dexter’ and the ‘sinister’. The man’s arms being the dexter and the woman’s, the sinister. In the case of the Bishop (and other ecclesiastics), the arms of the diocese take the position of the man. Here, the arms of the Bishopric of Calcutta are given the place of honour – Bishops and other clerics were regarded as ‘wedded’ to their dioceses. The arms on this side of the crest are the mitre, the staff and the open Bible. On the other side, the twisting figures are skeins of cotton and are an allusion to the family name. The chevron, the inverted V between these hanks, is a part of the ‘per fess’ division that divides the crest horizontally. This was normally taken to represent the gable of a house and was added where the family had an established tradition of military service. George Cotton’s relative, the Viscount Combermere ( after whom Combermere Bridge in Shimla is named) had served as Commander-in-Chief of the East India Company’s army.
Further reading:
BCS History researched by Raaja Bhasin
Wikipedia for info on Sinister and Dexter
I was so interested to read about the BCS crest and think it so relevant in today’s world which is so torn by all sorts of political & racial differences. My memories of school are wonderful – we just did not feel there was any barrier between the different groups and I still think of the five Sikh ‘articles’ which they always had to ‘wear’, even in the shower!
David Wood-Robinson 1940/45
Great reading Raaja! Thank you very much!
Cheers!
Inderjit Chadda
(L 1948 – 1954)
Thank you.
The motto comes from the Bible, the book of Romans in the New Testament, chapter 12 and verse 21
which reads “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
I read the chapter in chapel at BCS so many times that I have practically memorized it.
This is brilliant!
Obviously follows some serious research,
Makes me wonder why anyone would want to create a new site, foregoing all the material available on this, the existing site.
Indi
We have a treasure trove of information, photos, research work, much info on the history of BCS and the OCA. One article leads one to another (we do hope our readers click on the category and / or tags that we include with every post)…you could end up with hours gone by browsing this website. Thanks to the regular OCs who contributed and continue to contribute articles and photos etc.
Very insightful. We had a broad idea but this depth of detail makes it all the more meaningful. Thanks to Raaja Bhasin for this effort. Helps to keep the depth of feeling for the alma mater always alive !!
Thank you.
Great Research Raaja!
I don’t think any one of us knew the significance of each /separate parts of our School Crest to complete its description in entirety… as you have done!
It’s an amazing school crest, just as all what you describe make the history, legacy and spirit of our great Bishop Cotton School..
With so many challenges and changes in today’s world, my first choice yet again, again and again would be BCS!🙏🤗🙏Vivek “ Bonnie “ Bhasin.. Lefroy 1961-1970
Thank you, Bonnie.