RootsChat.Com

I am following a personal genealogical investigation of the Swanland Beilby family.  It was through this site that I connected with some of my distant cousins now living abroad.

In addition to my personal family history I have also embarked on a wider one name study of the Beilby surname.

I can answer your question about Beilby/Bielby as I am undertaking a one name study of the surname.

I am a direct descendent of the Swanland Beilbys.

There does not seem to be any consisency between the spelling of the surname in BMD or census records.  I am having to treat the surname spellings as completely interchangeable.

We still have to discover where the original Thomas Beilby came from.  All we know is he had enough money to build the first mill in Swanland.  I suspect that he is related to Francis Beilby of Ferriby and his son Samuel Beilby (who later went to Cambridge University and became a DD).  Samuel Beilby was according to the Gentleman's Magazine a direct descendent of the Beilby mechants in Hull.  One day the missing Beilby family parish records may become available and we might be able to confirm our suspicions.

Sorry, I cannot help you with the pronunciation of Sophia.

I have unearthed some information for my fellow researchers.  I have found a copy of the book "A New History of Swanland" compiled by The Swanland Village History Group in 2002.  ISBN 0-9543440-0-6.

I have had access to it in my University Library.
The book clearly states that Thomas Beilby built the first mill in Swanland in 1797.  The mill was later rebuilt in 1849 and finally demolished in 1906 after gale damage in 1895.
On 7th Feb 1834 Thomas Beilby the elder was declared bankrupt.

In the 1797 land tax assessment, Thomas Beilby was assessed for house and mill at £1, with rate payable 4 shillings in the pound.  No Beilby was mentioned in the 1791 assessment.

Neither was there any mention of Beilby for window tax in 1774 or 1779.  Nor in Swanland Rental in 1779.

Other Beilby members of Swanland (in the census returns):

Henry Beilby, blacksmith (1861,1881,1891)
James Beilby, builder (1891)
Mary Beilby, seamstress (1841,1861)
Sophia Beilby,seamstress (1851)
George Beilby, miller (1841,1851)
Henry Beilby, miller (1851,1861)
Rowland Beilby, miller (1851)

It certainly looks as though Thomas Beilby and his wife Mary moved to Swanland to build the mill just before 1797.  It looks like their children are heads of families in the 1841 census. We now need to work out where Thomas came from before Swanland.

I am starting a One Name Study for Tunnicliffe, and spelling varients (including Dunnicliffe). 

I do not believe the official version that the name originated just outside Rochdale.  Most of the early records seem to be in Staffordshire and Derbyshire.


I have been compiling databases of all the Tunnicliffe birth, marriage and death records, parish records and census records.

Still a work in progress, but happy to share with other members of the family.

Are you descended from William Tunnicliffe and Sarah?  I am.  I believe that they had 2 sons Francis and William.
William is described as a widower in the parish records. I have speculatively constructed a family tree from the Rocester parish records going back several generations.