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Bramley History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Bramley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Bramley is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Bramley family once lived in Yorkshire where Bramley was a local name 'of Brambley,' a chapelry and village near Leeds.

Early Origins of the Bramley family

The surname Bramley was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Bramley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bramley research. Another 52 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bramley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bramley 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 Bramley family name include Bramley, Bramlie, Bramble, Brambley and others.

Early Notables of the Bramley family

Notables of the family at this time include

Peter Bramley of Leeds

Bramley migration to the United States +

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 Bramley surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Bramley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Francis Bramley who settled in Virginia in 1635
Hugh Bramley, who settled in Virginia in 1640
Thomas Bramley, who settled in Virginia in 1650
Mary Bramley, who landed in Maryland in 1674 1

Bramley Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

William Bramley, who landed in Virginia in 1703 1

Bramley Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Elizabeth Bramley, who arrived in New York in 1823
Thomas Bramley, who arrived in New York in 1842 1
William Bramley, who arrived in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1843 1

Bramley migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Bramley Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. John Bramley, (b. 1798), aged 21, British Convict who was convicted in West Riding, Yorkshire, England for 7 years for poaching, transported aboard the "Coromandel" on 27th October 1819, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), he died in 1882 2
Mr. William Bramley, (Bromley), (b. 1808), aged 23, English gardener who was convicted in York, Yorkshire, England for 14 years for house breaking, transported aboard the "Exmouth" on 3rd March 1831, arriving in New South Wales, Australia, he died in 1837 3

Bramley migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Bramley Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. William Bramley, (b. 1857), aged 1 year 6 months, English settler from Leicestershrie travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 21st September 1858 4
Mr. Aaron Bramley, (b. 1830), aged 28, English millwright from Leicestershire travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 21st September 1858 4
Mrs. Louisa Bramley, (b. 1835), aged 23, English settler from Leicestershrie travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 21st September 1858 4
Miss Elizabeth Bramley, British settler travelling from Liverpool aboard the ship "Tornado" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 26th September 1859 4
E.H. Bramley, British settler travelling from Liverpool aboard the ship "Tornado" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 26th September 1859 4
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Bramley (post 1700) +

Peter Bramley (1785-1838), English professional cricketer
Peter Bramley, English actor, director and theatre maker
Ms. Ann Bramley B.E.M., British Reading Champion for Western Community Primary School at Wallsend, was appointed Medallist of the British Empire Medal 29th December 2018 for services to the community in Wallsend 5
Fred Bramley (1874-1925), second General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress (TUC)
Randall Bramley, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Indiana University-Bloomington
Neil Bramley (b. 1979), Canadian photographer
Adam Bramley Byram (b. 1971), former English cricketer who played from 1989 to 2002 for Shropshire, brother of Gavin Byram

Historic Events for the Bramley family +

HMS Royal Oak

Raymond J. Bramley (1922-1939), British Boy 1st Class with the Royal Navy aboard the HMS Royal Oak (1939) when she was torpedoed by U-47 and sunk; he died in the sinking 6

Citations +

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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 12th March 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/coromandel
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 25th May 2022). https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/exmouth
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
"Birthday and New Year Honours Lists (1940 to 2019)." Issue 62507, 28 December 2018 | London Gazette, The Gazette, Dec. 2018, www.thegazette.co.uk/honours-lists
Ships hit by U-boats crew list HMS Royal Oak (08) - (Retrieved 2018 February, 9th) - retrieved from https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship68.html