Show ContentsBaconsthorpe History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Baconsthorpe family

The surname Baconsthorpe was first found in Norfolk at Blakeney, a small sea-port, post-town, and parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Holt. "In this monastery [of Blakeney], John de Baconthorpe, a learned divine and acute metaphysician, became a friar; he was born here, and died in London in 1346." 1

Another source notes that John Baconthorpe, Bacon or Bacho (d. 1346), the 'Resolute Doctor,' "took his name from Baconsthorpe, a small Norfolk village in the hundred of South Erpingham. According to the elaborate genealogy of the Bacon family among the British Museum manuscripts. He was the third son of Sir Thomas Bacon of Baconsthorpe, and grandnephew of the famous Roger Bacon. " 2

Early History of the Baconsthorpe family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Baconsthorpe research. Another 90 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1340, 1455 and 1487 are included under the topic Early Baconsthorpe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Baconsthorpe 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 Baconsthorpe family name include Baconthorp, Baconthorpe, Baconsthorp, Baconsthorpe, Beconthorp, Beconsthorp, Beconthorpe, Becnsthrupp, Beconsthrop and many more.

Early Notables of the Baconsthorpe family

Distinguished members of the family include

  • the Baconsthorpe family of Yorkshire

Migration of the Baconsthorpe 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 Baconsthorpe surname or a spelling variation of the name include: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands..



  1. Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
  2. Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print


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