There is no such thing as a 'coat of arms for a surname'. Many people of the same surname will often be entitled to completely different coats of arms, and many of that surname will be entitled to no coat of arms. Coats of arms belong to individuals. For any person to have a right to a coat of arms they must either have had it granted to them or be descended in the legitimate male line from a person to whom arms were granted or confirmed in the past.

An extract from Lancashire Life December 1970.

If so you may be descended from a family who took their name from their place of residence, Unsworth, about three miles south of Bury. The family must have spread from the area at an early date in a westerly direction and the name has been noted in a number of places from Wigan to Liverpool. It is evident that the family were strong adherents of the Roman Catholic faith, for in 1717 the estates of Edward Unsworth in the Winwick area were registered as Papist, and the estates of of George Unsworth in Markland near Wigan were confiscated in the same year for the same reason. Edward Unsworth of Windle, near St Helens had his estates confiscated in 1652 and Thomas of Windleshaw, probably a descendant, registered his estate as a Papist in 1717. Members of the family were living in the Bury area about this period for the marriage of Robert Unsworth of Elton to Susan Kay was recorded in 1724.

In 1588, Golbert Unsworth was charged by John Risley for encroaching on waste land known as Southwood, Westwood, Towns Green and Shaw Moss in Risley near Warrington, and Roger Unsworth, who died in 1638, held his lands in Gorton from Nicholas Mosley of Manchester. He was succeeded by his son and heir Roger, born in 1599.

New Hall near Fazakerly was acquired by the Molyneux family of Alt Grange at the end of the sixteenth century. In the following century, Richard Molyneux of New Hall died and was succeeded by his daughter Francis, who, in 1745, married Thomas Seel. Her husband bought Woolful Manor in Huyton near Prescot and his surviving daughter, Francis Seel, succeeded to his estates. She married Thomas, son of Thomas Unsworth, a Liverpool merchant. Thomas the younger assumed the name and arms of Molyneux-Seel in 1814.

Arms of Molyneux of New Hall

Maghull Manor was purchased early in the eighteenth century by Thomas Unsworth of Liverpool, whose grandson was William Gillibrand Unsworth.

The Arms of Unsworth of Liverpool :- Sable on a bend erminois between three crosses patty fitchy or four crescent gules. Translated from heraldic English, this means :- the shield is black, with a diagonal band in gold colour sloping down from left to right and which is decorated with black ermine tails and four red crescents. (The crescents are used to indicate "cadency" i.e. genealogical descent of the particular branch of a family). Above and below the band (bend) are gold pointed crosses. (See illustration).

A crest of the Unsworth family of Maghull Hall, Liverpool and Lancashire (see illustration)- a lion rampant bendy of six or and azure, holding in the paws a cross patty fitchy of the first. (i.e. a lion facing left and standing on a curved bar of alternate gold and blue, holding a cross with spreading arms and a pointed stem. The lion may be 'proper' -its natural colours or heraldic tints. Usual to show lion with tongue and claws of a different colour to body.

Send e-mail to: Bob Unsworth  robert.unsworth@btinternet.com