In 1914 the council chairman, Cyril Cobb offered to defray the cost of obtaining a grant of arms. Following discussions with the College of Arms, a design was submitted by the general purposes committee to the council on 24 February. The blazon of the proposed shield for the coat of arms was stated as: "On a cross the Imperial Crown between, in the first and fourth quarters a representation of the Tower of London and in the second and third quarters an ancient galley, on a chief a lion of England". The suggested crest was a lion issuing from a mural crown and holding a banner of Saint George. The supporters were to be a Roman officer-of-arms and a Saxon warrior. The Latin motto "loci dulcedo nos attinet" or "the pleasantness of the place holds us" was suggested. This was adapted from the "Annals" of Tacitus, and was stated to be the earliest mention of London in history.