Apart from the statutory command that all landowners should have them?

• They are a superb way to express your own identity (arms must be distinct from all others), and also your belonging to a larger community (by referencing other arms in the same family, or referring to your profession or a particular achievement);

• They are colourful and decorative, whether displayed on a banner, engraved on silver or other metal, incorporated into your home or displayed on headed paper, visiting cards, or the like;

• They can be passed down to future generations: your eldest son will inherit the arms you have carried, and younger sons will be entitled to carry the same arms with a mark of difference to show their relationship to you, and so on down the generations. Daughters will be able to use your arms while unmarried and, sometimes, to combine them with those of their husbands for future generations.