Show ContentsLaidley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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

Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Etymology of Laidley

What does the name Laidley mean?

The name Laidley comes from the Boernician Scottish-English border region. The Laidley family lived in Selkirk (now part of the region of Borders). "This place, which is of considerable antiquity, derives its name, in the Celtic tongue signifying 'the Church in the forest,' from the ancient state of the surrounding district, which was thickly covered with wood and appropriated as a royal chase." 1

They moved there from Laidlawstiel in Galashiels; however, it seems likely that Laidlawstiel was named after the family, not vice versa.

Early Origins of the Laidley family

The surname Laidley was first found in Selkirk, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

"There is a tradition that the Laidlaws had their origin in England, and the name has been traced over the Border down to the south of England under the variants Laidlaw, Laidley, Laidler, Ladly, and Ludlow. William of Lodelawe was charged in 1296 with concealing a horse from the English." 2

Early History of the Laidley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Laidley research. Another 192 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1585, 1590, 1603, 1644, 1650, 1674, 1682, 1780, 1801, 1817 and 1845 are included under the topic Early Laidley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Laidley Spelling Variations

Since medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, and since there were no consistent rules for the translation of rules from Gaelic to English, spelling variations are extremely common in Boernician names of this vintage. Laidley has been spelled Laidlaw, Laidlay, Laidler, Laidley, Ladlyle and others.

Early Notables of the Laidley family

William Laidlaw (1780-1845), friend of Sir Walter Scott, was born 19 Nov. 1780, at Blackhouse, Selkirkshire, where his father was a sheep-farmer. In 1801 Hogg and Laidlaw helped Scott with materials for the ‘Border...
Another 34 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Laidley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Laidley migration to the United States +

Many of the Boernician-Scottish families who crossed the Atlantic settled along the eastern seaboard in communities that would become the backbone of the emerging nations of the United States and Canada. In the War of Independence, American families that remained loyal to the Crown moved north into Canada and became known as United Empire Loyalists. The ancestral culture of all of these proud Scottish families remains alive in North America in the 20th century through Clan societies and highland games. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Laidley or a variant listed above:

Laidley Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Thomas Laidley, who landed in Virginia in 1774 3
Laidley Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • James Laidley, who settled in Philadelphia in 1805
  • J. Laidley, who arrived in San Francisco in 1850

Contemporary Notables of the name Laidley (post 1700) +

  • John Laidley (1791-1863), American lawyer and politician from Morgantown, West Virginia; he was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, one of the founders of Marshall University in 1837
  • William Sidney Laidley (1839-1917), American politician, Member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Kanawha County, 1872-73 4
  • Thomas H. Laidley Jr., American politician, Member of Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from Greene County, 1873-74 5
  • John Osborn Laidley (1791-1863), American politician, Delegate to Virginia State Constitutional Convention, 1829-30 5
  • John B. Laidley, American politician, Member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Cabell County, 1885 5
  • J. G. Laidley, American politician, Postmaster at Parkersburg, Virginia, 1805-06 5
  • William Laidley (1828-1897), Australian businessman and politician from Sydney; he ran the first steamship service from Sydney to San Francisco and was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1889
  • James Turquand Laidley (1823-1877), Australian politician, Member of the Queensland Legislative Council (1860-1864)
  • Dean Laidley (b. 1967), Australian rules football assistant coach and former player
  1. Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
  2. Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
  3. 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)
  4. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, February 1) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html

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