Bankroft History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The Anglo-Saxon name Bankroft comes from when the family resided at or near an enclosure at a slope deriving its origin from the Old English phrase of the bank-croft. 1

Early Origins of the Bankroft family

The surname Bankroft was first found in Cheshire and south east Lancashire in the vicinity of Manchester where William and Henry Bancroft established estates, and erected monuments to the Bancrofts at various locations. Early records revealed that Bancroft was located "near Warrington, Cheshire" and the family were "a branch of the Lords of Boteler of Warrington." 2

Whilst this ancient local has been lost, today there is a Bancroft in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire but this is a recent residential district.

"The well - to - do family of the Bancrofts of Chellaston resided in that village for more than 300 years, and from this stock came Bancroft the poet, who flourished in the reign of Charles I. " 3

"The Cheshire Bancrofts have their principal homes in Cheadle, Stockport, and Marple, in which last place they have held land since the time of Elizabeth. " 3

Early History of the Bankroft family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bankroft research. Another 123 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1449, 1544, 1545, 1548, 1570, 1574, 1595, 1596, 1600, 1603, 1604, 1610, 1613, 1620, 1640, 1658, 1669, 1696 and 1764 are included under the topic Early Bankroft History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bankroft Spelling Variations

The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore,spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Bankroft has been recorded under many different variations, including Bancroft, Bancrofte, Bamcroft and others.

Early Notables of the Bankroft family

Distinguished members of the family include Richard Bancroft (1544-1610), Archbishop of Canterbury in 1604 who supervised the production of the authorized version of the Bible. Thomas Bancroft (ca. 1596-1658), was a minor 17th-century English poet who attended to St Catharine's College, Cambridge (1613.) He was a native of Swarston, a village on the Trent, in Derbyshire. John Bancroft (died 1696), an English surgeon, best known for his work in drama at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane.) He "was...
Another 75 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bankroft Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bankroft migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Bankroft or a variant listed above:

Bankroft Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Bankroft, who landed in Maryland in 1670 4

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
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)