Coat of arms of Montserrat
The coat of arms of Montserrat consists of an escutcheon charged with a woman in a green dress holding a golden harp and a black cross. In use since at least 1909, it has been the official coat of arms of the Caribbean island of Montserrat since the island became a British Crown colony in 1962. The escutcheon is featured on the flag of the territory.
History
Montserrat was first sighted and named by Christopher Columbus in November 1493, during his second journey to the West Indies. It became a colony of the Kingdom of England in 1632, when Thomas Warner – the first governor of Saint Christopher – sent Irish Catholics from his territory to Montserrat. Other Irish settlers from the Colony of Virginia consequently moved to the island. Sovereignty over Montserrat changed hands between the French and the British throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. This continued until 1783, when the Peace of Paris saw France permanently relinquish the island to the United Kingdom.Montserrat joined the British Leeward Islands federation in 1871. A Royal Warrant was issued on 10 April 1909 granting the island its own shield, along with Antigua, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Virgin Islands. The shields of each of these territories formed part of the coat of arms of the British Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands federation was dissolved on 1 July 1956 and Montserrat joined the West Indies Federation when it was created two years later. Montserratians ratified the territory's constitution in 1960, and the island became a separate crown colony in 1962. It consequently adopted the shield from 1909 as its new coat of arms.