Bigland, Ralph

, garter principal king at arms, was born in 1711, the son of Richard Bigland, of Kendal, in Westmoreland, the descendant of a family originally seated at Bigland, Lancashire. The subject of this brief notice, after going through all the offices in the College of Arms, and executing also the office of registrar, to which he was appointed in 1763, became the head of it in 1780, but enjoyed his elevation a very short time, dying in James-street, Bedford-row, March 27, 1784. He was buried with his parents at Stepney. He was deservedly esteemed and regretted, as a man of much skill in heraldry and other branches of antiquities. The great collections he had made for a history of Gloucestershire were intended to have been arranged and given by him to the public, and have since been partly published by his son Richard Bigland, of Frocester, esq. under the title of “Historical, monumental, and genealogical collections, relative to the county of Gloucester,” &c. fol. 1792, to which a second volume will probably be added by Mr. Nichols. ²