Quarterly: 1st, argent a fess dancettée sable (for West); 2nd: azure three leopard's heads reversed jessant-de-lys or (for Cantelupe); 3rd: gules crusilly and a lion argent (for La Warr); 4th, quarterly or and gules a bend vair (for Sackville)
The barony and earldom are both pronounced "De La Ware", as in the American state of Delaware.[3][4]
The subsidiary title Viscount Cantelupe commemorates the West family's descent from the Anglo-Norman Cantilupe family. In the fourteenth century Sir Thomas West married Eleanor, heiress of Sir John de Cantilupe. Their son, also Thomas, inherited Hempston Cantilupe and was the father of Thomas West, 1st Baron West.
Baronies of De La Warr
The barony De La Warr is of the second creation; however, it bears the precedence of the first creation, 1299, and has done so since shortly after the death of William West, 1st Baron De La Warr. The precise legal situation concerning the second creation is murky. The modern rules attempt to regularize medieval practice, but there are many cases that cannot easily be made to fit, whether because a local custom was involved, or because an exception was made, or because the rules were still in flux. This is such a case because William West was heir male but not heir general. Because the original barony was created by writ, the descent is presumed to be to the heir (or heirs) general, and therefore it fell into abeyance between the daughters of Sir Owen West (and their heirs in turn). The second creation has been viewed in at least three ways:
As a means of placing beyond dispute an inheritance that should have gone to the heir male in the first place. The act concerning precedence is understood as rectifying the side effect this had of altering the precedence. Accordingly, some writers ignore the second creation when numbering: thus Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, is sometimes called the 12th Baron De La Warr.
As an extraordinary act resolving an important estate that should not be left in abeyance. In this case, the previous barony was intended to be extinguished and the act altering precedence is difficult to understand other than as political expediency.
As a part of an effort to solve relatively complex problems of inheritance case by case, before the doctrine of abeyance (as it now exists) had been worked out.
In United States history books, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr is often named simply as "Lord Delaware". He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, and Delaware Bay was named after him. The state of Delaware, the Delaware River, and the Delaware Indian tribe were so-called after the bay, and thus ultimately derive their names from the barony. Many other American counties, townships, and the like derive their names directly or indirectly from this connection.
^Ware DeGidio, Wanda (2011). Ware DeGidio, Wanda (ed.). Ware Family History: Descendants from Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Kings and Queens, and Presidents of the United States. p. 10. ISBN978-1-4010-9930-5.
