Show ContentsBeazley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Beazley Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Etymology of Beazley

What does the name Beazley mean?

The ancient roots of the Beazley family name are in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The name Beazley comes from when the family lived in Beesley, in the county of Lancashire. 1 The place name literally means 'woodland clearing' having derived from the Old English beos 'bent grass' + leah. 2

However, one source claims the family came from Baslow, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Bakewell, hundred of High Peak in Derbyshire. 3

Early Origins of the Beazley family

The surname Beazley was first found in Lancashire where Thomas de Besleg was listed in the Assize Rolls for 1246. 1

While this is the generally accepted place of origin, the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 had no mention of the family there in later years, as these rolls listed Hugh filius Basilie, Nottinghamshire; Alan Basel, Cambridgeshire; Richard Baseli, Oxfordshire; John Basely, Cambridgeshire; and Michael Basely, Buckinghamshire. 3

Early History of the Beazley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Beazley research. Another 135 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1587, 1588, 1591, 1655 and 1729 are included under the topic Early Beazley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beazley Spelling Variations

One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Beazley has appeared include Beazley, Beasley, Beasely, Beesely, Beesley, Bezley, Beasey and many more.

Early Notables of the Beazley family

George Beesley or Bisley (d. 1591), English Catholic missioner, born at a place called the Mount, in Goosnargh parish, in Lancashire. "Ordained priest in 1587 he was sent upon the English mission in 1588. Falling into the hands of the persecutors he was so frequently tortured by the notorious Topcliffe that he was reduced to a mere skeleton...
Another 57 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Beazley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beazley Ranking

the United States, the name Beazley is the 17,887th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Migration of the Beazley family to Ireland

Some of the Beazley family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beazley migration to the United States +

At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Beazley arrived in North America very early:

Beazley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • John Beazley, who arrived in Maryland in 1672 5
  • Robs Beazley, who landed in Virginia in 1695 5
Beazley Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Richard Beazley, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1848

Beazley migration to Canada +

Beazley Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • G. J. Beazley, who settled in Burin, Newfoundland in 1805 6
  • Gabriel Beazley was a fisherman of Sound Island, Newfoundland in 1871 6

Beazley migration to Australia +

Beazley Settlers in Australia in the 18th Century
  • Mr. Charles Beazley, (Beasley), (b. 1776), aged 21, English weaver who was convicted in London, England for life for highway robbery, transported aboard the "Barwell" in September 1797, arriving in New South Wales, Australia, he died in 1837 7
Beazley Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. Edward Beazley, (b. 1822), aged 14, British shoe maker boy who was convicted in London, England for 7 years for stealing a handkerchief, transported aboard the  "Frances Charlotte" on 7th December 1836, arriving in Van Diemen's Land, Tasmania 8
  • Mr. William Beazley, British Convict who was convicted in Warwick, Warwickshire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Coromandel" on 25th June 1838, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 9
  • Mr. Henry Thomas Beazley, English convict who was convicted in Winchester, Hampshire, England for 10 years, transported aboard the "Belgravia" on 4th April 1866, arriving in Western Australia 10

Beazley 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:

Beazley Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Miss Eliza Beazley, (b. 1823), aged 33, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Joseph Fletcher" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 24th October 1856 11

Contemporary Notables of the name Beazley (post 1700) +

  • John Andrew Beazley (1918-1990), American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher
  • William Beazley, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Texas, 2008 12
  • Frank Bryant Beazley (1897-1973), American Democratic Party politician, Member of Virginia State House of Delegates, 1944-51 13
  • Samuel Beazley (1786-1851), English architect, novelist and playwright, born in 1786 in Parliament Street, Westminster, where his father carried on the business of an architect and surveyor 13
  • John Beazley, English co-founder of Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited, a British book publisher in 1969
  • Sir John Davidson Beazley (1885-1970), English (Scottish born), Professor of Classical Archaeology in Art at Oxford
  • Charles Nightingale Beazley FRIBA (1834-1897), British architect
  • Peter George Beazley CBE (1922-2004), British businessman and politician, Member of the European Parliament for the Conservative Party
  • Kim Edward Beazley AO (1917-2007), Australian politician, 10th Minister for Education (1972-1975)
  • ... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
  1. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  2. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  3. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  4. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  5. 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)
  6. Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
  7. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 29th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/barwell
  8. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 24th October 2022). https://convictrecords.com.au
  9. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 19th March 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/coromandel
  10. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 30th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/belgravia
  11. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 17th October 2018). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  12. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 13) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  13. Wikisource contributors. "Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900." Wikisource . Wikisource , 4 Jun. 2018. Web. 14 June. 2019

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