Blakesley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

The name Blakesley dates back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæcleah which meant "dark wood" or "dark clearing". The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Domesday Book and little growth of the community was seen until the 19th century. By the middle of the 17th century Blackley was a village of just 107 inhabitants. Today Blackley is a suburb of Manchester with a population of over 10,000 people. There is also a hamlet named Blackey in West Yorkshire.

The Blackledge variant is interesting. It was derived from Black-lake, which evolved into Blackleach. "Probably the spot mentioned in a charter c. 1200 connected with property in Wilmslow parish, East Cheshire, from which district the name in most cases is undoubtedly sprung. " 1

Early Origins of the Blakesley family

The surname Blakesley was first found in Lancashire at Blackley, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Manchester, hundred of Salford. 2 The first record of this chapelry was in 1282 when it was known as Blakeley and literally meant "dark wood or clearing," for the Old English "blaec" + "leah." 3

Today Blakesley Hall is a Tudor hall on Blakesley Road in Yardley, Birmingham, England. Originally a timber-framed farmhouse, it was built in 1590.

Early feudal rolls provided the king of the time a method of cataloguing holdings for taxation, but today they provide a glimpse into the wide surname spellings in use at that time. Adam de Blakeneye, alias Adam de Blakeleye, London was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. In Cheshire, the Wills at Chester included: Jane Blakeley, of Bury, widow; and Ralph Blakeley, of Bury. 1 John Blakelache was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Lancashire in 1332. 4

Much further to the north in Scotland, the first record was of Radulphus Blackley who was juror on inquest at Berwick, 1321. 5

Early History of the Blakesley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Blakesley research. Another 197 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1321, 1473, 1587, 1601, 1615, 1662 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Blakesley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Blakesley Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Blakesley family name include Blackley, Blakely, Blakley, Blacklee, Blackely, Blackledge, Blacklege, Blatchly and many more.

Early Notables of the Blakesley family

More information is included under the topic Early Blakesley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Blakesley family to Ireland

Some of the Blakesley family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 57 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Blakesley migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Blakesley surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Blakesley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Samuel Blakesley, who landed in Connecticut in 1635 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Blakesley (post 1700) +

James Tilton "Jim" Blakesley (1896-1965), nicknamed Sunny Jim, an American minor league baseball player who hit over 200 career home runs
Joseph Williams Blakesley (1808-1885), English clergyman, canon of Canterbury Cathedral in 1863 and Dean of Lincoln in 1872
Rosalind Polly Blakesley, née Gray, British reader in Russian and European art and fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, trustee of the National Portrait Gallery
Nora Ratcliff Blakesley (1913-2009), birth name of Nora Ratcliff David, Baroness David, a British Labour Party politician and life peer

Citations +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)