John Woody Papworth was an English architect, designer and antiquary. He is chiefly remembered for "Papworth's Ordinary" (1874), a reference guide to British and Irish coats of arms arranged systematically according to their design. G. D. Squibb commented in 1961 that "his memory rests more securely upon his Ordinary of British Armorials than upon any building for which he was responsible, though it is but fair to add that his professional achievements were not lightly regarded by his contemporaries".
The Albert Institution in Southwark, designed by Papworth: 1859 engraving. The Institution "...opened in Aug. 1859, in one of the most disreputable neighborhoods in London, as a reformatory establishment. It comprises infant, ragged and Sunday schools, a reading room, a library, baths, washhouses, and cheap dormitories."
Papworth's monument to Thomas Hardy (d. 1832), radical reformer, in Bunhill Fields burial ground
Extract from Papworth's Ordinary (1874)
Grave of John Woody Papworth in Highgate Cemetery
An ordinary of arms is a roll or register of coats of arms arranged systematically by design, with coats featuring the same principal elements grouped together. The purpose of an ordinary is to facilitate the identification of the bearer of a coat of arms from visual evidence alone.
Thomas Jenyns' Book, an English ordinary of arms compiled in c.1398. This page shows a sequence of coats of arms featuring lions rampant. British Library, Add. MS 40851.
Extract from Papworth's Ordinary (1874)
