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The name Legrey was first used by the descendants of the Boernician people of the Scottish-English border region. It is a name for a person who had gray hair. In Scotland, the surname Legrey actually came from two different derivations. As a nickname, it came from the Gaelic word riabhach, which means gray. As a habitational name, it derived from the place named Graye, in Calvados. This place-name came from the Gallo-Roman personal name, Gratus, which means welcome or pleasing. Legrey is therefore a nickname and a habitation name, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames.
The surname Legrey was first found in Northumberland, with Anschatel Groy of Haute Saone, Normandy, who fought with William the Conqueror in 1066 AD. After the conquest, Anschatel Groy settled in Chillingham, Northumberland. He was from the department of Haute Saone called Gray, sometimes Groy, or Croy, in Normandy.
From this house sprang the Grays of Suffolk, Kent, Tankerville, and Stamford. Some of the earliest records of the name include: Richard de Grey (born c. 1140); and his son, Sir Henry de Grey of Grays Thurrock, Essex (1155-1219), a favourite courtier of King John of England; and his son, Richard de Grey (died 1271) of Codnor, Derbyshire, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1258; and his brother Sir John de Grey (died 1266), an English soldier and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire (1238-1239) and of High Sheriff of Herefordshire (1252-1253).
John de Gray (died 1214) was Bishop of Norwich in Norfolk, and later became Archbishop of Canterbury, but was never confirmed. Backworth in Northumberland was home to one branch of the family. "This place formerly belonged to Tynemouth priory, and afterwards to the Grey family, by whom it was sold to the late Duke of Northumberland, for £95,000." 1
Barcombe in Sussex was another ancient family seat. "It comprises 3106 acres, whereof 305 are common or waste; and is bounded on the east by the river Ouse, on which is a flour-mill that has existed since the Conquest, and has been for more than a century in the possession of the family of Mr. Russell Gray, who has also established an extensive oilmill at an expense of £10,000." 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Legrey research. Another 119 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1248, 1250, 1255, 1266, 1268, 1282, 1296, 1305, 1323, 1353, 1362, 1377, 1380, 1387, 1390, 1392, 1416, 1424, 1427, 1437, 1439, 1440, 1445, 1449, 1451, 1454, 1469, 1490, 1501, 1505, 1582, 1590, 1599, 1611, 1612, 1614, 1621, 1622, 1623, 1624, 1628, 1630, 1639, 1657, 1660, 1663, 1673, 1674, 1676 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Legrey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the many years before the invention of the printing press and the first dictionaries, names and other words were spelled according to sound, often differently with each person who wrote them. Spelling variations of Legrey include Gray, Grey, Groy, Croy, Graye and others.
Notable among the family at this time was Andrew Gray, 1st Lord Gray (c.1390-1469), a Scottish nobleman, politician and diplomat; Sir Andrew Gray (d. 1445) of Fowlis, Perthshire; Sir John Grey KG (c.1387-1439), English nobleman and soldier; Edmund Grey (1416-1490), English nobleman; Thomas Grey KG (1451-1501), 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, and 1st Marquess of Dorset, an English nobleman and courtier; George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent (1454-1505), the son of Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent and Lady Katherine Percy, was the Second Earl of Kent from 1490 to 1505; Nicholas Grey (c.1590-1660), English headmaster of...
Another 106 words (8 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Legrey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Another 60 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In many cases, the ancestors of many of these Boernician-Scottish people are just now learning of their Scottish heritage. Since the trip was so arduous, and many were fleeing from poverty itself, settlers brought little with them and often had nothing of their personal history to hand down to their children. Clan societies and highland games have helped to correct this problem in the 20th century. Early immigration records have shown some of the first Legreys to arrive on North American shores: Francis Gray who settled in Virginia in 1635 with his wife Alice; Robert Gray settled in Barbados in 1680 with his wife and servants; David, Edward, Henry, James, John, Joseph, Martha, Patrick, Richard, Samual, Thomas and William Gray, all settled in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1860.