Peasley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Peasley was first found in the Orkney Islands, where "the earliest recorded Orcadian form of the name is Pase or Paise in 1402. Anders Pass, "aff wapu," i.e. armiger, appended his seal to a deed at Copenhagen in June 1433. James Pase witnessed a disposition of a land in Wasbister in the parish of Holm in 1483." 1

Further to the south in Durham and Yorkshire, England, the Pease family of Darlington were 'one of the great Quaker industrialist families of the nineteenth century' involved with woollen manufacturing, banking, railways, locomotives, mining, and politics. The progenitor was Edward Pease of Darlington (1711-1785.)

Baron Gainford, of Headlam in the County Palatine of Durham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created on 3 January 1917 for Jack Pease, a member of the Darlington Pease family. This lineage continues today with Adrian Christopher Pease, 5th Baron Gainford (b. 1960.)

"The notable family of Pease, which has been connected with Darlington since the last century, hailed originally from the vicinity of Wakefield in the West Riding." 2

Other early records include: Thomas Pease who was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls for Berkshire in 1194; Roger Pise in the Curia Regis Rolls for Norfolk in 1206; Margeria Pyse in the Subsidy Rolls for Suffolk in 1327; 3 John Pese, who was listed in Bedfordshire in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273; and Willelmus Pece and Thomas Paas, both listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 4

Pease pudding is a pudding dish from boiled legumes, most often split yellow peas, with water, salt and spices. It is a common dish in the north-east of England. The name was derived from the Middle English word "pease" and is featured in a nursery rhyme, "Pease Porridge Hot."