1085

EARL OF BUCKINGHAM, LORD GIFFARD
Bowlby family history has been linked to that of Normandy by a statement about the lineage of the Bowlby family in England made in Burke's LANDED GENTRY: " The family of Bolbec (from whom the Bowlby family claim descent) was established in this country by Hugh de Bolbec, one of the followers of William the Conqueror." As the name implies, Hugh was from Bolbec in Normandy, and Bolbec was and is a small town near Le Harve, France.

Gunnora, second wife of Richard the Fearless, became Duchess Dowager of Normandy upon her husband's death, and was great-grandmother of William, Duke of Normandy. Gunnora had two sisters, Wevie and Aveline, one of whom-- authorities disagree as to which one-- married Osborn Giffard, "Sieur de Bolebec." History indicates that Osborn had three sons by this union before his death in 960 A.D.: Gautier (Walter) Giffard, Hugue (Hugh) de Bolebec, and Geoffrey (George) de Bolebec. Apparently, the elder son was known by the father's surname while the younger sons were designated by their father's holdings.

The genealogy of the Giffard family becomes obscure until another Gautier, Sieur de Bolebec, probably a grandson of the first Gautier, became a staunch follower of his kinsman, William, Duke of Normandy. William rewarded Gautier for his support around the year 1053 with the title and lands of Counte de Longueville. Gautier Giffard accepted this as his chief honor, and established his family in Longueville, apparently leaving his subfeudary honor of Bolebec to his brother Hugue, since Hugue de Bolebec joined Walter Giffard , Counte de Longueville, in the donation of the church of Bolebec to the abbey of Berney in 1061. Gautier gave a horse that he had received from the King of Spain to the Duke of Normandy-- William is said to have ridden the horse in the Battle of Hastings-- and furnished 30 vessels and 100 men for the invasion fleet. Gautier was at Hastings, though he was considered an old man, and mention was made of his rescue by William. He was later said to have been a participant in the unsavory execution of King Harold. He was richly rewarded for his efforts after the battle with 107 lordships and manors, 48 of which were in Buckinghamshire. He is said to have been the founder of the oldest, most distinquished families in the history of English peerage.

Hugh de Bolebec, son of Sieur Hugue de Bolebec, accompanied William the Conqueror to England. He is refered to as a cousin, sometimes as a brother of Walter Giffard, the first Earl of Buckingham. Hugh held the manor of Whitchurch in Buckinghamshire under his kinsman, Walter Giffard, to whom King William had granted it at the time of the survey. Hugo de Bolebec, or Hugo de Bolebech, is listed in DOOMSDAY as "tenent in capite" -- a tenent holding land immediately from the King -- fourth burger in the county of Buckingham. He held the manors of Messenden, Agmondesham,Chesham,Medmenham, Brock, Citedone (Cheddington), Claveston, Linford, Hardmead, and Vavendon. He also held the manors of Rycote, or Ricot, in Oxfordshire, and Walton in Huntingdonshire; he is also said to have been the Baron of Headon in Northumberland. According to a manuscript in the Ashmolean Collection in Oxford, Hugh de Bolebec was an attesting witness to the charter of endowment when Walter Giffard, second Earl of Buckingham, founded Notley Abbey for a reformed order of Augustine monks in 1112, and to another charter giving to the abbey the church of Hillesden. The Bolebec family were traditionally the owners of Bullbanks Castles at Danesfield. Hugh de Bolebec had two sons, Hugh and Walter, and was succeeded by both in turn.

Hugh, the first son, was probably the builder of Bolebec Castle at Whitchurch. He also built Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire for the Cistercian monks in 1145, assigning to the monks the great titles of the parish, and later adding the honor of Medmenham as a cell to the abbey. In 1164, Walter Giffard, the second Earl of Buckingham, died without issue, and Hugh de Bolebec, his subfeudatory, obtained the seigniory of the manor of Whitchurch.

Walter de Bolebec, second son of Hugh de Bolebec, succeeded his brother, Hugh, in the barony and died before 1185, leaving a daughter, Isabel, and possibly a second daughter, Constance. In 1165, Walter de Bolebec gave 100 marks to the King for the wardship of his nephew,whose name was unstated, and when assessed the following year for the marriage of Maud, daughter of Henry II, he certified of the King eight knight's fees. His name also appeared in an original charter assigning lands to the church of Winchester.

Isabel de Bolebec, daughter of Walter, was nine years old at the death of her father, and became the ward of Alberic de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who paid the King 500 marks in 1191 in order that his son might marry her. She married Robert de Vere, and had a son, Hugh de Vere, who became fourth Earl of Oxford, Baron de Bolebec, and Great Chamberlain of England. In 1207, Isabel procured the King's patent, that she might receive from all her freehold tenants monies toward the means of raising a fine of three hundred marks and three palfreys, that she might not be compelled to marry, but might enjoy the arrears of her own inheritance, and that of her sister, Constance. After 1221, Isabel is known to have married Henry de Novant, whose name also appears as de Novent, and de Nuvant. As a widow of her first husband she had the custody of the castles of Caveneles, and Hengeham-- probably Heningham -- near Earls Colne, the burial place of the de Veres, committed to her charge in 1222. She built a convent for the Dominicans at Oxford. In 1239, Reginald de Valletort gave 600 marks to the King for the living of Clifton, Claughton,and Buksham, held by Isabel de Bolebec in dower from her husband Henry de Novant. That same year, she appointed Peter de Mera to the living of Whitchurch. Isabel died 3 February, 1245. Since her son, Hugh de Vere, assumed the title, Baron de Bolebec, most references consider Isabel as the last of her family. However, there were others to carry on the family name though their relationship is obscure, or unknown.

In a study of the Wedon family written by A.V. Woodman, a historian using local Buckingham sources, appears the following statements:

I. "Alured de Wedon, perhaps Almar's grandson, occurs in a Chesham charter of the second third of the twelfth century as a man of Hugh de Bolebec. In the year 1200 Ralf de Wedon claimed the advowson of Wingrave church of the abbot of St. Albans on the ground that his grandfather made the last presentation.

II. Willaim de Wedon gave the monks of St. Albans the church of Wingrave. With the good will and consent of Mabel, his wife, and of Ralf, his son and heir, and of all his other sons, he quit-claimed to the monks of Riddlesden the land of Estwell given to them by William de Bolebeke, his wife's father."

This evidence of a William de Bolebeke, who was obviously related in some way to Hugh de Bolebec, living in county Buckingham around 1275, contradicts any belief that Isabel de Bolebec was the last of her family. An entry from the Hundred Rolls of 1273 in county Buckingham further supports the above evidence by listing a William de Boleby.

In the Victoria series of English county histories is a HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE NORTH RIDING, Vol. II, edited by William Page, in which appears this account of Ralph de Bolebec.

"King John in March 1203-4 confirmed to Ralph de Bolebec and his heirs the bailiwick of the 'Haya' of Scalby and of Scalby Forest as he had held it in the time of Henry II. In 1209-18 the second Ralph de Bolebec gave to the King 80 marks and a palfrey for having his father's bailiwick in Scalby Forest and an iron forge in his wood of Levisham...The second Ralph de Bolebec had sons Ralph and Osbert; the former died childless in 1252 seised of the manor and advowson. Osbert sold his lands in Levisham, Lockton, Scalby, Pickering and Nawton to Hugh Begod, to whom they were confirmed by the King in 1255-6...Ralph de Bolebec gave land and pasture there to Malton Priory, which further obtained a mill and land from Ralph son of Ralph in 1250."

Ralph de Bolebec held lands at the time of Henry II, and this recalls that it was Henry II that Walter de Bolebec paid for the wardship of his nephew. Circumstances must satisfy until proof secures, so Ralph is a good candidate for being Walter's nephew, and represents a continuation of the family in North Riding, Yorkshire.

During the ninth, tenth and first part of the eleventh centuries, piratical rovers from around the Baltic were the scourge of Europe. Scandinavians -- or Danes as the Saxons named them all, whether coming from Denmark or not -- infested the whole eastern coast of England, not only making occasional descents, but conquering large districts and forming permanent settlements. Their chief stronghold was Yorkshire, and York was their capitol. The existance of these Danish settlements can be traced today on a map of England by the number of place names with Danish suffixes, in particular, the suffix "-by." In both Swedish and Danish "-by" indicated a dwelling place, but in time it became ingrained in the English language and expanded in meaning to include a village or town. When the English, particularly those in Yorkshire, were confronted with the name "Bolebec" in the later part of the twelth century, the "-bec" sounded to them as "-by." Naturally, the name became "Boleby." It was only after the Germanic influence brought to the English language with the printing press that a "w" or "u" was added to the spelling.

Today, there is a hamlet of Boulby on the east coast of North Riding along with Boulby Scar. The lands sold by Osbert de Bolebec in 1250 seem to form a trail across North Riding toward Helmsley where 300 years later the earliest documentation of the Bowlby family begins. HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES by C. W. Bardsley contains the following entry:

"BOULTBEE, BOULBY, BOWLBY -- Local, 'of Boltby,' a parish in co. York; cf; Applebee for Appleby. It appears more natural to assume that Boulby and Bowlby are modifications, but my last entry from the Hundred Rolls suggest a seperate and independent origin.

Adam de Bolteby, co. York 1273
Hugh de Bolteby, co. York, ibid.
Adam de Boltby, co. Northumb., ibid.
William de Boleby, co. Bucks., ibid."

Perhaps the family name came before the name of the parish.

In spite of the favoring circumstances, the name of Bolebec and Bowlby remain unwed, and in all probability will remain so, as distinctly explained by Rupert Furneaux in his book INVASION 1066:

" No one alive today can establish a direct descent by legal process, from a companion of the Conqueror. Registration of birth, marriage and death did not become compulsory until 1533, and up to then, except perhaps in the case of people nationally prominent, the only records were those of ownership of land and summoning to military service. Nonetheless, many people living in Britain, the Commonwealth, and the United States can reasonably claim to belong to families that may have been founded in the eleventh century, especially if their names are the same as those then recorded... As in some families, there is a break in continuity for some years after 1349 when two thirds of the population was wiped out by the black death."

Genealogically, the Bowlby family emerges from obscurity as yeoman living at the edge of the Yorkshire moors in North Riding. They were yeoman in the sence that they were probably small farmers who cultivated their own land, and belonged to a class of English freeholders below the gentry. The earliest records of the family were made publicly available in 1916 by Charles Cotsford Bowlby when he filed the Bowlby pedigree at the College of Arms in London. The pedigree was based upon the early court records at York and the parish records of Helmsley, which is situated in Rysdale between the vale of Pickering to the south and the moors of Yorkshire to the North. For five consecutive generations, the Bowlby family was designated as being "of Helmsley" or "of Griff."

When Walter Espec held the lands and manors of Helmsley in 1161, he granted the land for the Cistercian monks to build Rievaulx Abbey some three miles from Helmsley. This included the grange of Griff. In 1538-9, after Henry VIII forced the dissolution of the religious houses of Yorkshire, he granted the grange of Griff to the Earl of Rutland, Baron de Ros, whose surname was Manners. The land of Griff became the model farm attached to the manor held by the Manners family, and its ownership descended with their titles. John Bowlby of Griff married an Elizabeth Manners in 1625, and Bryan Bowlby, whose father was of Griff, married an Elizabeth Manners in 1659. In neither case has it been proven that these wifes in the Bowlby family were related to the Earl of Rutland, but the time, place and circumstance indicate that there may have been some relationship.

Available information on the Bowlby family today falls naturally into two major branches, English and American. Both branches share the same lineage in the first four generations according to the pedigree chart of Charles Cotsford Bowlby, but diverge in the fifth with two of the sons of Richard and Elizabeth (Spence) Bowlby of Helmsley. The major portion of information found in the Bowlby pedigree consists of lineages descended from Richard, fifth son of Richard and Elizabeth (Spence) Bowlby, who married Francis Swainston in 1697. Several of these lineages are to be found in Burke's volumes of Landed Gentry and Peerage and Baronetage. These English lineages are well documented, because they include many distinquished families, and eventially produced Sir Anthony Alfred Bowlby, first baronet, created 1923, who was a surgeon of outstanding achievement in World War I, and became surgeon to King George V. The American branch of the family descended from Bryan, third son of Richard and Elizabeth (Spence) Bowlby. The Bowlby pedigree gives the dates of his baptism at Helmsley in 1633, and his marriage to Elizabeth Manners at Helmsley in 1659, but ends there. The research of William J. Hill of California, published in OUR BOWLBY KIN, Vol. I, compiled by June B. Barekman, reveals that Bryan and Elizabeth (Manners) Bowlby left their anscestral home and moved to Nottinghamshire where their children were born. Thomas was their third son, and he became the earliest presently known progenitor of the Bowlby families in the United States and Canada. It seems that whenever a Bowlby lineage is traced back to early 1700's, it culminates in the lives of one of four sons of Thomas Bowlby and his wife Martha Barker.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bardsley, Charles Wareing, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames; Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1967.
Bowlby, Charles Cotsfold, "Pedigree of the Family of Bowlby from 1552 to 1915" - a chart entered in the records of the College of Arms in January, 1915.
Burke, Sir John Bernard, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry; Century Edition; Burkes Peerage Limited, 1937.
Burke, Sir John Bernard, "Sir Anthony Hugh Mostyn Bowlby, 2nd Bt.," Peerage and Baronetage, Burkes Peerage Limited, all late editions.
Crispin, M. Jackson, Falaise Roll Recording Prominent Companions of William Duke of Normandy at the Conquest of England; Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1969.
Ditchfield, P.H., and other writers, The Counties of England Their Story and Antiquities, published in two volumes, George Allen and Company.
Douglas, David C., William The Conqueror, University of California Press, 1964.
Ellis, Sir Henry, A General Introduction To Doomsday Book; published in two volumes, Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., Baltimore, 1971.
Fraser, Maxwell, Companion Into Buckinghamshire; Methuen & Company Limited, 36 Essex Street, Strand, W.W. 2, London, 1950.
Furneaux, Rupert, Invasion 1066; Printice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1966.
Hill, William J., "Six Generations of Bowlbys from Helmsley, Yorkshire, England," published in Our Bowlby Kin, Volume One, compiled by Miss June B. Barekman, Genealogical Services and Publications, 2905 North Kilbourne Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60641. Also published as "Seven Generations of the Bowlby Family from Helmsley, York, England, in The Tysdale Historian #3, by the Yorkshire Archeological Society, April, 1967.
Page, William, editor, A History of Yorkshire North Riding, Volume Two-- Victoria series of English county histories, Dawsons of Pall Mall, London, 1968.
Philips, George, Philips' Imperial Atlas of the World: Philips & Son Limited; The London Geographical Institute, 32 Fleet Street, E.C., 1915.
Pine, Leslie Gilbert, Sons of the Conqueror: Descendants of Norman Ancestry; Charles E. Tutle Company, Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan, 1973.
Taylor, Rev. Isaac, Words and Places or Etymological Illustrations of History, Etymology and Geography; George Routledge & Sons Limited, London, 1909; republished by Gale Research, Book Tower, Detroit, 1968.
Webster's New International Dictionary; Second Edition, unabridged; G. & C. Meriam Company, 1959.
Woodman, A. Vere, (F.S.A., Esquire of Wing, co. Bucks, England), "The Wedons of Botley in Chesham, Co. Bucks," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: Volume cviiii, January, 1954: republished by the Society at the Robert Eddy Memorial Rooms, 9 Ashburton Place, Boston, 1954.
Wurts, John S., Magna Carta: published in eight volumes; Brookfield Publishing Company; reprinted in 1945.