Coats of Arms were designed originally to distinguish Knights in battle, but in the 14th Century they found them difficult to distinguish in the dust of battle, so they began to wear crests on their helmets so that they could be easily identified.

The supporters of the Digby Coat of Arms are two monkeys which hails from the Irish side of the family, the Fitzgeralds, who had three great lines; the Earls of Kildare, the Knights of Glynn, the Knights of Kerry & the Knights of Desmond who dominated Ireland for the centuries to come.

In 1360 there was a fire in the castle in Ireland at Cashel which started at the bottom of a turret where the son & heir, a small baby, was sleeping. No-one could get up to rescue him, but there was a pet monkey in the nursery that suddenly appeared at one of the upper windows with the baby in his arms.

The Digby family motto, 'Deo non Fortuna' depicted at the base of the Coat of Arms means 'In God, not in Luck.'