The Kear Family Crest and Motto

The Kear (Kerr is the older spelling*) family motto, Sero Sed Serio, which is Latin for Late, but in Earnest, was "earned" at the Battle of Ancrum Moor in 1545, during one of the many English invasions of Scotland. At the time, the English were short of soldiers, so they hired mercenaries from Germany, Spain, and Scotland. Amongst these mercenaries were the Kears (Kerrs), hired on as cavalrymen.

The English initially held the clan back, planning to send them into battle as soon as a weak spot developed in the Scottish lines. But as the battle developed, the Scottish lines held and troops of both sides were engaged in hand to hand combat down in the valley.

At that point, the Kears changed sides and attacked the rear of the English army. In all the noise and confusion, no one stopped to ask where all these Scots came from.

With this in mind it's no wonder that in 1583 Thomas Musgrave wrote to Lord Burghley about these Anglo-Scottish border dwellers, "They are a people, that will be Scottishe when they will, and Englishe at their pleasure."


*How to pronounce Kear/Kerr: "Asked how to say his name, Admiral Lord Mark Kerr told The Literary Digest, 'In Scotland the name rhymes with care. Since many of the family have come to England the pronunciation in this country rhymes with car, which we have entirely submitted to.'" (What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)