The Sphinx and The Gryphon - University of Leeds Archive

Sir Nathan Bodington, the Principal of the Yorkshire College at Leeds, had a favourite statuette of a red sphinx on his desk, a trophy from a visit to Greece. Read on to find out how this holiday souvenir became part of the history of what is now the University of Leeds.

In 1887 the College had become part of the federal Victoria University with Manchester and Liverpool, and people at Leeds felt that it needed to strengthen its own corporate identity.  The creation of an heraldic shield (or ‘coat of arms’) for the Yorkshire College, and a college magazine were both seen as important steps towards doing that, as Liverpool and Manchester had already done.   Liverpool, however, had chosen the name ‘Sphinx’ for their magazine, so Leeds settled for ‘’The Gryphon’ instead.    

Expressing the need for a strong, unified identity, the Editor in the very first issue of 'The Gryphon', in December 1897, said “The different departments...do their own work...[There is] a danger they may forget that they are parts of one whole...”

This shield is described in heraldic terms as: Gules [red], on a chevron or [gold], a serpent coiled [nowed] proper between in chief two roses of York irradiated argent [silver/white] and in base a fleece or. The crest is described as: on a wreath gules and argent a Greek sphinx sejant [sitting] gules. 

Sir Nathan determined that the red sphinx would become part of the new design.      The front cover of this first issue of 'The Gryphon' shows the Sphinx as the crest above the newly designed shield of the Yorkshire College. This design was never officially granted by the College of Arms in London.

The unusual ‘barber’s pole’ colours may relate to the Leeds School of Medicine, while the knotted snake shown on the chevron is the crest in the coat of arms of the Dukes of Devonshire.  A member of that family was one of the more prominent patrons of the College, Lord  Frederick Cavendish, M.P.