Oriens Ex Occidente Lux - A light
is rising from the West
The University College, established in 1948 at
Mona, Jamaica, was the first Campus of the University
of the West Indies. Subsequently, campuses were
established at St. Augustine, Trinidad (1960)
and Cave Hill, Barbados (1962). Today the University
of the West Indies comprises 3 main campuses,
the Centre of Hotel and Tourism Management in
the Bahamas, the Institute of Business at St.
Augustine and Mona as well as 11 non-campus centres
situated in other Caribbean countries.
College
of Arms Description
According to the College of Arms, London (the
British Imperial authority on heraldic devices),
the University College of the West Indies was
granted the following Arms on July 18, 1949:
Barry wavy of six Argent and Azure
an open Book proper bound Gules garnished Or
on a Chief of the third a Lion passant guardant
Erminois.
Crest: A Pelican proper.
(Grants 111.231)
In other words the background of the main part
of the shield comprises 6 wavy stripes of white
and blue (Azure); the open book is proper, in
other words its natural colours, although its
binding is red (Gules) with gold/yellow (or) tooling;
the tope third (the Chief) is red and the lion
is gold/yellow with black ermine tail spots all
over it.
Crest: A Pelican proper. The pelican is painted
as in nature. It is standing on a Crest Wreath,
originally made of twisted silk to cover over
the join of where the crest (made of wood or boiled
leather) meets the helmet worn at a tournament.
The silk is a twist of the principal colours of
the shield, in this case: blue and white, starting
with white.
Simplified Description
The following description of the University Coat
of Arms is taken from the University Callender:
Forming the main background of the shield is
the sea represented by white and blue (three each)
wavy lines on which is the open book; the upper
part of the shield, the chief, is red with a Lion
to show the connection with the Crown, but the
Lion is covered with black spots. This is the
Lion borne by HRH Princess Alice, Countess of
Athlone, appointed by the King (George VI) to
be the first Chancellor, so that this appointment
is recorded forever in the Arms of the University.
The Crest is the brown Pelican which fishes in
its prehistoric fashion along the coasts of ll
the Caribbean Lands: the pelican is a symbol of
care for the young because of the medieval, but
untrue, belief that it punctures its breast to
feed its young on its blood. It is also used as
crest by both Corpus Christi Colleges of Oxford
and Cambridge.
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