Holdcraft History, Family Crest & Coats of ArmsEtymology of HoldcraftWhat does the name Holdcraft mean? Holdcraft is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Holdcraft family once lived in the area of Holcroft in Lancashire. 1 2 Early Origins of the Holdcraft familyThe surname Holdcraft was first found in Lancashire where one of the first record of the name was Robert de Holecroft, who was listed in the Assize Rolls in 1246. A few years later, John Holecroft was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of 1327. 3 "Lytham [a parish in Lancashire] is mentioned in the Domesday Survey from 1086 under the name of Lidun. It early belonged, by gift of Richard Fitz-Roger, to the monks of Durham, and after the Reformation was granted to Sir Thomas Holcroft, whose descendant, Sir John, is said to have sold the property in 1606 to Sir Cuthbert Clifton, ancestor of the present lord of the manor." 4 Early History of the Holdcraft familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Holdcraft research. Another 183 words (13 lines of text) covering the years 1270, 1425, 1629, 1640, 1644, 1648, 1650, 1656, 1662, 1692, 1693, 1745 and 1809 are included under the topic Early Holdcraft History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Holdcraft Spelling VariationsSound 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 Holdcraft family name include Holcroft, Holcrofte, Howcroft, Hocroft and others. Early Notables of the Holdcraft familyNotables of this surname at this time include: Sir Henry Holcroft, from West Ham in Essex and his son, Francis Holcroft (c.1629-1693), an English Puritan divine. "He is said to have been born at West Ham in Essex. Tillotson, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, was his 'chamber-fellow' at Clare Hall, Cambridge, about 1650. Holcroft eventually formed a church on congregational principles, and, after being ejected in 1662 from Bassingbourne, became a bitter opponent of Episcopalianism." 5John Holcroft (died 1656), was an English politician, sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1648, fought in the Parliamentary army in...
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 Holdcraft surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Holdcraft Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
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