Heraldic Description Ladd Coat-of-Arms: "Or, a fesse wavy between three escallops, sable" Translated as: "On a gold background a wide wavy black line divides three scallop shells." The motto is: “Constant Et Ferme” (Always Ready)

SHIELD: (Anglo-Sax. Scyld) From the earliest times no doubt the shield borne on the arm to protect the bearer in battle was ornamented with various devices, one object of which was that the bearer should be recognized by his friends in the midst of the fight; and to the devices on these shields there can be no question that armorial bearing chiefly owe their origin. The fact that the devices were afterwards portrayed on the mantles and on the surcoats, on the trappings of the horses, or on flags and pennons, does not militate against this origin, since such were later developments. The crest on the helmet, however, may perhaps be considered in theory to have as early an origin as the device on the shield, but throughout the middle ages it was the device on the shield which marked the man, and afterwards his family, far more than the crest.

From the much more frequent occurrence on the earlier arms of the simpler devices, such as the fesse, the bend, the chevron, etc., it may reasonably be presumed that these had their origin in the structure of the shield itself, i.e. from the bars of wood, or more probably of metal, which passed athwart the shield to strengthen it. The example so frequently referred to as an early device, namely, the escarboucle, is essentially such as a thirteenth-century armorer would adopt to strengthen woodwork, and a similar device is not infrequently found on doors of churches. It was not originally deemed a charge but merely an ornament.