ICS Coat of Arms
One of the very first vice-presidents of the Institute, Lord Cowdray, claimed that if a Royal Charter were to be granted:
it would absolutely ensure it [the Institute] being on the plane it ought to be namely, the authority responsible to the world for the character and ability of the shipbrokers who are members of it; it would give the hall mark, as it were, to the trade. If a charter were granted and its members could call themselves "Chartered Shipbrokers" the Privy Council will have materially helped to create the recognition of the Institute as the ship-broking authority to great advantage of the shipping trade'.
Lord Cowdray, Vice President in the Institute's first Council
The Charter was duly granted and became effective on 21 January 1920, the date from which the Institute became the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and:
will now take place amongst the organised professional bodies of the empire'.
In 1931, when Mr David W. Pinkney was Chairman of the Institute, the London Committee proposed the idea of having a Coat of Arms and, after much discourse on the form it would take, it was duly presented to commemorate the initiative of his father, the late Mr David G. Pinkney, who did a great deal of preliminary work subsequently to assist in place the Institute on a solid foundation.
the three ships represent the fleets whose destinies are influenced by the Institute, the blue field of the shield and four wavy bendlets are, of course emblematic of the sea. The crest is rather more elaborate. The anchors are indicative of the seafaring activities of the Institute and the ship's wheel is to show that it performs the function of a guide, whilst the mast head may be considered as both a symbol of safety, and the light of information spread by the members of the Institute.'
The Shipbroker, Volume 1, No 2, April 1931, p58
information on the page courtesy of Quality Ashore - A history of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers by Stephanie Zarach