Alex MAXWELL FINDLATER

The original arms were based on Scottish arms believed to have been used by the family, another branch of which remained in Scotland using a similar design. They were granted in 1863 by Ulster King of Arms, to Alexander Findlater of Dublin and of the Slopes, Kingstown, to be borne by the descendants of his father, John Findlater, of Greenock, Renfrew, according to the laws of arms.
Findlater is a place-name in Banff, with a castle dating from before 1264. The de Fynlater family died out in an heiress in 1366. However the later family, first evidenced in early 1500s, clearly originated from the North East of Scotland.
In these arms, we find the stars, so common in Scottish arms of the North East, as in the arms of Murray, Azure three stars Argent, and Innes of that Ilk, Argent three stars Azure. The Brodie arms, Argent betwixt three stars Azure a chevron Gules suggests that they were an early cadet of Innes (in Scotland the chevron was generally used in this early period as a difference, as indeed was the fess.)
The design of the Findlater arms, Azure a chevron between in chief three stars Or and in base an eagle reguardant proper, is most likely based on the evidenced Brodie descent, with tinctures changed. The tinctures probably have no significance, but it is a possibility that the eagle might refer to the height of Findlater Castle. In the Letters Patent from Ulster the eagle is painted gold with a white breast, although blazoned proper.
For the matriculation Lyon required two differences, one for a second son, and one for a fourth son. The bordure Or is used in the Stodart system for a second son, and Lyon allowed a Maxwell saltire on the breast of the eagle, for the matriculant's grand-parents, Herbert Snowden and Evelyn Maxwell Findlater. Herbert was the sixth son, but fourth with issue.