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Hello,

The family name Westbury/Westberry/Westborough originates from the usage of a placename stating origin.  It has both pauper and rich land owning routes, which are in fact different genetic families.  A number of places called Westbury exist. These include:

Westbury - Wiltshire
Westbury - Shropshire
Westbury - Somerset
Westbury upon trym - Gloucestershire
Westbury sub mendip - Gloucestershire
etc...

Not only had towns and villages given families the Westbury surname, but so has property.  An example of this is the Westbury Manor in Kent, Now burnt down, generating a well off Westbury family that seemed to survive for a period before disappearing. other examples include the barony of Westbury, Lord Westbury, which is currently held by a Bethell family.  other anglocisations of other nationals from other countries have also occured in both the UK and English speaking ex-colonies such as Canada, USA, Australia, etc... This includes converting such names as, for example: Westburg.  Also other places have been called Westbury, such as Westbury in New York.  This confuses the tracing of the origins of this surname.

There have been a number of movements of the name.  As such, a pauper line can be seen to originate from the Gloucestershire and Bristol area, a rich family line covering the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire area, migrants into London from the European continent have taken / been given the Westbury family name, such as Germans and Swedes.  Also after the second world war Jewish migrants took the surname and settled prodominantly in London.  Further to this, freed slaves have taken / been given the Westbury surname as their own. All this has broughta multi-ethnicity to the Westbury / Westberry surname.  Both free and forced migration has taken the Westbury surname to every continent on the planet, with sizable populations in America, Australia and Africa.  The total population carrying the surname stands at roughly 15000 people world wide, making it both interestingly diverse and rare.

Nick westbury

   

Thank you!  Using the information you've provided above to chase another thread of the story, I've found this snippet, can you access?

http://books.google.com/books?id=SjMtAAAAMAAJ&q=%22steward+of+castle+combe%22&dq=%22steward+of+castle+combe%22&cd=6

Footnote 4:

"4. In 1429 they, with John Kyrtlyng, were the feffees of Sir John Fastolf during his absence abroad; Westbury was steward of Castle Combe  (ibid., p198)."

What does this relate to? And which Westbury? 1429 - Suspect that to be William Westbury. Who were the other feoffees of Sir John Fastolf?

I know it is cheeky.  but I'm wondering whether you can help me out with these two snippits please?


http://books.google.co.uk/books?lr=&cd=3&id=9sULAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22william+de+westbury%22&q=%22william+de+westbury%22#search_anchor

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z1dnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22william+westbury%22&dq=%22william+westbury%22&lr=&cd=6

Pieced it together from the Snippets - took 3 hours!

"Page 326

Nicholas Carent clerk, otherwise dean of the cathedral church of
Welles, and John Chafyn, and to give them seisin of a moiety
Of the manor of Orchardley; as it is found by inquisition, taken
On Thursday after St. Matthew, 28 Henry VI, before John Tyler
Then escheator, that William Westbury the elder long before his
Death by charter dated Berkeley, 12 January, 24 Henry VI, gave
that moiety to the said Nicholas and John Chafyn and to
Robert wheler of Boxe, their heirs and assigns, to the intent that
When William Westbury the younger should come of age, they
Should by charter make a grant thereof to him and the heirs of
His body, with reversion to themselves, their heirs and assigns
To perform the last will of William the elder, that the grant was
Made fraud and collusion to defraud the king of the
wardship of that moiety and of the marriage of William the younger
That the said moiety is held in chief by the service of the twentieth
Part of one knight’s fee, and that William Westbury the
Younger is cousin and heir of William the elder, and it is found
By another inquisition taken 8 June last, before Henry Flaxby
Then escheator, that William Westbury was seised of the said
Moiety, and held the same in chief by the service aforesaid,
and by charter (as above) gave the same to the said Nicholas and John and
to Robert Wheler now deceased, their heirs and assigns to the intent etc."

Calendar of the close rolls preserved in the Public Record Office--Henry VI, Vol 6. 1454-1461

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F_8WAQAAIAAJ&q=%22and+John+Westbury,+junior,%22&dq=%22and+John+Westbury,+junior,%22&lr=&cd=1 - John Senior (Grandparent of the John you're interested in)

Scope and content    
Robert Leversegge and Agnes his wife, daughter of William Westbury, justice of the King's Bench. v. John, son of William Paston, late justice of the Common Pleas, feoffee.: Lands, &c. in Westbury: Wilts.

Covering dates    1454-1455
Availability    Open Document, Open Description, Normal Closure before FOI Act: 30 years
Held by    The National Archives, Kew

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=7&CATID=-2408369&j=1