| ![Show Contents]() Beachley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England The name Beachley is part of the ancient legacy of the early Norman inhabitants that arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Beachley was a Norman name used for a person who lived near a stream, or a person who lived near a prominent beech tree, or area wooded with beech trees. The two different landmarks were referred to by the same Old English root, beche. Early Origins of the Beachley familyThe surname Beachley was first found in Hertfordshire where Gosfrid le Beche was sometimes known as Geoffrey de Bec, one of the principal holders and tenant-in-chief of land in that shire as recorded by the Domesday Book in the year 1086. He was from Beche in Normandy and accompanied William the Conqueror into England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Amongst other villages he also owned Aldenham, Cokenach, Eastwick, Hailey, Lilley, Langley and many others in Hertfordshire. Robert de Beche, c. 1100, witnessed a charter of William Peveril of Dover and Goisfrid de Bech was a tenant in capite, Hertford, 1086. 1 The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 listed Jacob de la Beche, Oxfordshire; Matilda de la Beche, Cambridgeshire; and William de la Beche, Oxfordshire. 2 Early History of the Beachley familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Beachley research. Another 134 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1538 and 1539 are included under the topic Early Beachley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Beachley Spelling VariationsAnglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Beach, Beche, Beck, Becke, Beache, Bech, Beech and many more. Early Notables of the Beachley familyAnother 46 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Beachley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Beachley familyBecause of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Beachley name or one of its variants: Henry Beck of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, who captured a French banker, in 1814; Thomas Beck was residing in St. John's Newfoundland in 1821. There is a Beck Bay in Newfoundland. Early settlers in the United States were: Richard Beach who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1637.
| Contemporary Notables of the name Beachley (post 1700) | + |
- Catherine L. Beachley, American Republican politician, Candidate for Maryland State Senate District 1-A, 1970 3
- 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)
- Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
- The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 26) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
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