Sandby History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Sandby family

The surname Sandby was first found in Nottinghamshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Sandby and East Markham held by a stweard of the King who held those lands, and who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086. They branched soon there after to Lincolnshire.

Early History of the Sandby family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Sandby research. Another 105 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1094, 1510 and 1600 are included under the topic Early Sandby History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Sandby Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Sandby are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Sandby include Sandby, Sanby, Samby and others.

Early Notables of the Sandby family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

the Sandby family of Lincolnshire

Sandby migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 2

Sandby Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Mr. Thomas Sandby, (b. 1617), aged 17, British settler travelling from London, UK arriving in St Christopher (St. Kitts) on 5th January 1634 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Sandby (post 1700) +

Paul Sandby (1725-1809), English map-maker, landscape painter and caricaturist, son of Thomas Sandby ‘of Babworth,’ and younger brother of Thomas Sandby, born at Nottingham
Thomas Sandby (1721-1798), English cartographer, older brother of Paul Sandby

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
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)