Beaguley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Beaguley is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Beaguley family once lived in Cheshire, where they were held estates at Baggiley. The family name was originally derived from the name of this manorial seat. The word baggiley in ancient Saxon means high ground. These place names are generally thought to derive from an Old English personal name Bacga and the Old English word leah, meaning a clearing in the woods.

Early Origins of the Beaguley family

The surname Beaguley was first found in Shropshire at Bagley, a small rural village in the parish of Hordley. The earliest record of the place name was found in c.1090 when it was listed as Bageleia. 1

Bagley-Wood is a hamlet in the hundred of Hormer, in Berkshire. "A monastery was founded here by Cissa, viceroy of Centwine, ninth king of Wessex; which was removed to Abingdon in 680, that town and its appendages having been assigned to it by Ceadwalla. " 2

While the surname probably originated in Shropshire, we must look to Cheshire to find the earliest records. The family was Lords of the Manor of Baggiley and held a family seat there from ancient times. Baguley Hall near Manchester was built in the 14th century by Sir William de Baguley, or possibly by one of his sons. It may have replaced an 11th or 12th century structure. "[Baguley in Cheshire] was at an early period the property of the Baguleys, whose heiress brought it to the Leghs; the latter sold it." 2

Early History of the Beaguley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Beaguley research. Another 164 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1220, 1260, 1327, 1379, 1382, 1654 and 1674 are included under the topic Early Beaguley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beaguley 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 Beaguley family name include Bagley, Baggeley, Baggiley, Baggaley, Bageley, Baggelay, Bagly and many more.

Early Notables of the Beaguley family

Distinguished members of the family include Alexander Baguley, B.A., rector of the church of St. Michael, Aughton, Lancashire in 1674, but was "very soon deprived for simony [(buying or selling of something spiritual)]." 3 Humphrey Baggerley (fl. 1654), was a Royalist...
Another 40 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Beaguley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Beaguley family to Ireland

Some of the Beaguley family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 38 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Beaguley family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, 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 Beaguley surname or a spelling variation of the name include: James Bagley who settled in Virginia in 1639; Thomas Bagly settled in Virginia in 1641; Elizabeth Bagley settled in Virginia in 1638; and Philip Bagley settled in Virginia in 1635. John Bagley settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1750 and founded one of America's most distinguished families..

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
'Townships: Scarisbrick', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 265-276. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp265-276 [accessed 21 January 2017].