Broadley

[clayton bradley]

The author George Redmonds says that Broadley is a one origin surname from Halifax in Yorkshire. It is easy to prove this for England using the 1881 census but I am still wondering about Lanarkshire. Does anyone know if the Broadleys there have a different origin? claytonbradley

[jonn]

You may get that information on Scotlandspeople, by searching the 1881 census for lanarkshire, by just using the free search.

There are 265 in Lanarkshire, using exact spelling Broadley, on SP.

On the 1881. census disc for Lanarkshire, there are 266. using exact spelling Broadley, of them 61 are Irish born. also there are a lot of the others born Scotland, from Irish Parents.

So i would say its mainly a Irish, surname, well in that area anyway.

Regards,
Jonn.

[GR2]

Black's "Surnames of Scotland" does not have an entry for Broadley, but for "Bradley" points to Braidlie in the barony of Hawick, Roxburghshire. However, there are places called Broadley elsewhere in Scotland and the name may have multiple origins.

[clayton bradley]

Thank you, jonn and GR2, that's very helpful. 265 is more than Lancashire in 1881 which has 186, second only to Yorkshire, so it looks as though it may be a separate origin, claytonbradley

[ABradley]

My great grandfather came from Co.Derry to Scotland in 1870 and was called Bradley. This is an anglicised version of the original Irish "O'Brallaghan",which I think itself has various spellings.

The family at one time were referred to as Broadley. I think this may have had a lot to do with the particular dialect in the west of Scotland at the time.

Andrew

[clayton bradley]

That's a big help. It seems pretty certain from what you say that the Irish/Scottish Broadleys have a different origin from the Yorkshire family, thank you Andrew, claytonbradley

[Moira27]

brodlay and broadley on same extract

[clayton bradley]

Thank you Moira 27, that's very kind of you. Broadley in England does have variations of spelling too, sometimes even being spelled Bradley, but from what everyone has said I'm now pretty sure that Broadleys in Lanarkshire don't originate from Yorkshire but from Ireland. The Yorkshire Broadleys were from the Halifax area and were very nonconformist, quite anti-Catholic, in the 16th and 17th centuries and the ones in your document seem to be Catholic, although anyone can change the church they attend. Thanks again, claytonbradley