There is no proven coat of arms for American immigrant Henry Luce (c1640-aft 1689) and his descendants. Henry’s ancestry is unknown, so we cannot connect him to any European family, nor is there any record he himself used a coat of arms.
The arms widely attributed to the Luces in America are:
Arms: Azure a crescent argent. Crest: An eagle wings displayed reguardant holding in the dexter claw a sword erect.
These are the arms of Luce or Lucy family of London (formerly of Antwerp), and Jersey (Burke, 628).
The earliest attribution of this coat of arms to the descendants of Henry Luce seems to be the Cleveland Genealogy, published in 1899 (p. 194). It cites Burke’s General Armory for the Cleveland coat of arms, and some others, so this was perhaps also its source for Luce.[1]
The claim was repeated by Wilford Litchfield in 1901 (p. 35n) and endlessly repeated from there.
There is another old speculation, that Henry Luce belonged in some unknown way to the de Lucy family who were medieval English barons. They took their name from the French town of Lucé in Normandy. There is no basis for the claim the American Luce family might be connected to them. Neverthess, I mention it here for the sake of completeness. Their arms were:
Arms: Gules, three lucies in pale argent.
Instead of following old and discredited claims, we should be coming at this differently.
Henry Luce is believed to have come from Gloucestershire, just outside Bristol. Banks thought he probably came from Horton (Banks, 3:246-48). Another family of Luces lived five miles away in Pucklechurch. Leslie G. Pine, an English expert in baronial genealogies, thought the Gloucestershire Luce families probably had a common origin in the mid-16th century. Further, he believed Henry Luce was probably (although not certainly) a member of one of those families.
Sir Richard Napier Luce, Baron Luce (1936 -) descends from the Pucklechurch family. He has been granted a coat of arms:
Arms: Gules, two lucies naiant in pale Or, and on a chief Or a key fesswise the wards to the dexter Gules between two martlets Sable. Crest: A mute swan naiant proper gorged with a chain pendant thereform a portcullis Or. Motto: Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light).
These arms are his and his descendant’s. In no sense can they be considered the arms of the American family. Nevertheless, they are interesting for us because they reflect the expert judgment of the English College of Arms. The Luce families of Gloucestershire are not descended from the same family as the Luces of London and Jersey, nor are they descended from the medieval de Lucy family.
- The Cleveland Genealogy also says (erroneously) Luce is “[a]n old Scotland name” (p. 194) and ”[a]n old Scotland Family of Huguenot descent” (p. 184).
Sources
- Banks, Charles Edward. The History of Martha’s Vineyard. Vol. 3, Family Genealogies. Edgartown, Massachusetts: Dukes County Historical Society, 1925.
- Burke, Sir Bernard. The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. London: Harrison & Sons, 1884.
- Cleveland, Edmund Janes. The Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families. Hartford, Conn.: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1899.
- Litchfield, Wilford J. The Litchfield Family in America 1630-1900 . Southbridge, Mass.: W.J. Litchfield, 1901.
Revised Aug. 31, 2025.
