Kettering's new coat of arms unveiled after figure of freed slave removed

The work of William Knibb, who was born in the town in 1803 and campaigned to end slavery, had been depicted by a figure of a black man with a broken chain since the symbol was first officially granted in 1938.

It had been on the old Kettering District Council and then Kettering Borough Council crest, but could not sit next to the shield when local government was reorganised in 2021 and Kettering Town Council was created.

Now a new coat of arms for Kettering has been completed, which is essentially the pre-1974 borough version without the ‘supporters’ – the freed slave and a griffin. A project to create permanent artwork celebrating William Knibb’s work is under way.

A Kettering Town Council spokesman said: “The decision taken in the run up to re-organisation – and confirmed by the new town council in 2021 – was that the coat of arms for the town council should essentially be the same as that of pre-1974 Kettering Borough Council. This was the council that was in place between 1938 and 1974, and the geography of that council area and the new town council is similar.

“The coat of arms which was used from 1974 to 2021 was not suitable because it referenced aspects of the former borough, such as Geddington and Rothwell, which are no longer in the town council area and so not relevant to the town council.

“The College of Arms, which created the new coat of arms, advised that parish councils’ coats of arms cannot include “supporters” – which in Kettering’s case involved an image of a freed slave – so the resulting coat of arms agreed by them and the King is essentially the central shield and helm.

“The freed slave referenced the work of William Knibb so now Kettering Cultural Consortium, which the town council, the civic society and local arts groups are members of, is looking at how it can create some permanent artwork which celebrates the work of William Knibb – partly to replace the prominence that the old coat of arms gave.”

A Kettering Civic Society spokesman added: “This exciting art project will be open for community participation and there will soon be an announcement about how artists can participate.”

At a council meeting in December 2023 it was agreed that the new coat of arms would be commissioned from the College of Arms at a cost of £2,135. A total of £1,035 of this came from the council’s reserves fund.

Councillors had voted to remove the freed slave figure at the town council’s first ever meeting in 2021.

At that meeting a Kettering Black Lives Matter protester told councillors it was not about "airbrushing history" but that the town should be looking forwards and not backwards.

Cllr Clark Mitchell (Lab, Avondale Grange) also told the meeting the symbol "had to change".

He said: "If the attendants on the mayoral mace and chains can cause offence to people, I think we should remove them."