Sorby History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland

Early Origins of the Sorby family

The surname Sorby was first found in Galloway (Gaelic: Gall-ghaidhealaibh), an area of southwestern Scotland, now part of the Council Area of Dumfries and Galloway, that formerly consisted of the counties of Wigtown (West Galloway) and Kirkcudbright (East Galloway), where they held a family seat from very ancient times, as Lords of the manor of Sorby and the parish, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D. The first record of the name was in the Wigtonshire now called the parish of Sorby. Many of the family moved from here to the parish of Stonehouse, Lanarkshire. Sorbie is a small village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Sorbie Tower lies in Wigtownshire, about a mile out of the village of Sorbie on the Garlieston Road. The old stone structure is in ruins today but stands close to Sorbie Motte, an earlier Pictish wood fort dating back to the 1100's.

Early History of the Sorby family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Sorby research. Another 84 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1662 is included under the topic Early Sorby History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Sorby Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Sorby, Sorbie, Sowerby, Sowerbie, Sowersby, Sorebi, Soreby and many more.

Early Notables of the Sorby family

More information is included under the topic Early Sorby Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Sorby migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Sorby Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Charles Sorby who settled in Philadelphia in 1843
William Sorby, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1850 [1]

Sorby migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Sorby Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. William Sorby, English convict who was convicted in West Riding, Yorkshire, England for 14 years, transported aboard the "Augusta Jessie" on 27 September 1834, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) [2]

Contemporary Notables of the name Sorby (post 1700) +

Angela Sorby, American poet, professor and literary scholar
Thomas Austin Sorby (1823-1885), English partner in Robert Sorby and Sons, edge tool manufacturers, father of Thomas Sorby, the footballer
Henry Clifton Sorby (1826-1908), English microscopist and geologist born at Woodbourne, near Sheffield in Yorkshire; his studies paved the way for the mass production of steel, eponym of the lunar Dorsa Sorby
Warren Sorby (1965-1984), Fijian Olympic swimmer who competed in the 1984 Olympics
Thomas Sorby (1856-1930), English international footballer from Sheffield, Yorkshire, member of the England National Team in 1879

Citations +

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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 14th August 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/augusta-jessie