Fosbery Family History
In 1998 I thought that the Arms of Fosbery were the same as those of Fosbrooke.
This information was gained from a collection published in 1816 titled
" Sketches - Collected chiefly from the Records in
'Ulster's Office'
and other authentic documents " - by Patrick Kennedy - Herald Painter - 1816
No place of origin had then been found for the first Fosbery who settled in Ireland. Francis of Kilcooly being the first name in the Irish Fosbery Tree, and he was reportedly a Dragoon Officer with King William's forces in the 1690's.
This opened up an interesting line of research, for strangely enough one branch of the English Fosbroke family had a third son Francis born in 1601.This was only the second and final occurrence of that forename in the Fosbroke family records perused. This forename is however a common name in the Fosbery family in records from mid 1600's onwards.
The records that I had perused had shown that on 30th April 1668 one Francis Fosbroke had married at Clanfield in Hampshire. The maiden name of his wife was not given, but he is the only Fosbroke found in those records in the South of England.
I thought that there could have been a primary connection there.
Thinking for example that this third son (Fosbroke) went to Ireland and there adopted, or perhaps there occurred, a change in style of his name - spellings were often found to be varied in former times even within the same family, sometimes even within the same document - certainly between different regions.
If he had been set up as the head of a 'new' branch of the Family, now having Estates - procured from the Irish Proprietors - could he not have retained the customary arms of his family even if restyling his name, perhaps alluding to an older spelling and relating to the Wiltshire Fosbury?
The first record of the spelling Fosbroke, occurs 300 years after the Domesday records.
Considering various ancient spellings and the centuries involved we find many interesting variations:
VARIOUS SPELLINGS OF FOSBERY AND FOSBROOKE found between 1086 and 1700