The first of this family upon record, William Bardolf, was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, from the 16th to 21st of Henry II [1170-1175], inclusive, and after him came his son and heir, Thomas Bardolf. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 22, Bardolf, Barons Bardolf]