| ORIGINS OF THE NAME & ETYMOLOGY |
Although CHALONER may have been the original way of spelling the surname, CHALLINOR is now the most frequently occurring.
There are many family groups that share variants of the surname, and in most cases, the recording of the surname has changed over generations within their family group.
For example, my surname is CHALLINOR, but both my grandfather and his father had their births registered as CHALONER.
One group is descended from an ancient North Wales family, referred to as Family A below. One branch of this family is one of the few still bearing the original spelling of the surname.
As far as the other groups are concerned, they are probably not connected to Family A, but the surname derived from an occupation.
According to The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names, CHALONER is an occupational name from an agent derivative of Middle English chaloun 'blanket', for a maker of or dealer in blankets or coverlets, and named after the original place of manufacture, Châlons-sur-Marne.
The Internet Surname Database agrees that the unusual surname of Challoner is of early medieval English origin, and is an occupational name for a maker or seller of blankets.
The derivation is from the Middle English "chaloun", a blanket, coverlet for a bed, with the addition of the agent suffix "-er" (one who does or works with).
The articles were so named from being first and most notably produced in the French town of Châlons-sur-Marne, itself so called from a Gaulish tribe referred to in Latin sources as "Catalauni", who were the earliest recorded inhabitants of the place.
| Patronymica Britannica
CHALONER. Cole admits this name into his Dictionary as that of an ancient family. It means in old French either a boatman, from Chalun, a boat, or a fisherman, from Chalon, a kind of net, N. & Q., v. 592. It occurs in the H.R. in the forms of Le Chalouner, Le Chaluner, Le Chalunner. Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain. |
Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary, but originated at different times in different places and with different spellings. In records of the Winchester Fair, dated 1252, reference is made to "chalons of Guildford" that were bought for the King's use, and a quotation from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (written between 1387 and 1400) reads: "In his owen chambre he made a bedde ... with chalons fair yspredde".
Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax, firstly levied in 1377 and led to the Peasant's Revolt in 1381.
Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Early examples of the surname [not mentioned elsewhere on this website] include:
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| SCOPE OF THE STUDY |
The Guild suggests that the variants registered in a One Name Study should be limited to those still found today and uses the term 'deviant' to describe apparent variants that were really clerical errors in recording or transcription.
In England & Wales, attendance at school didn't become compulsory until 1880. Even then, attendance was mandatory only to the age of 10, so particularly amongst the working classes, there was general illiteracy, although some might be able to read but had no need to write. Consequently, before the 19th century, spelling was not important, so variations in the spelling of surnames was common. The vicar / curate, registrar or enumerator, who might not be familiar with local surnames and local accents, would interpret how to spell the surname that was entered in the parish register, GRO records and censuses. It is, therefore, not surprising that variants and deviants exist.
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names identifies CHALLINOR as the most common spelling of the name nowadays. The original spelling of the family name is undoubtedly CHALONER, so this raises the question as to whether the title of this study should be the CHALONER or CHALLINOR One Name Study? All things considered, the latter has been chosen as the most appropriate.
So, the scope of this study is individuals born with or who adopted the surname of CHALLINOR (or one of the variants), their spouses and descendents, but as a general rule, not the ancestry of the spouses.
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (authored by Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, and Peter McClure) is a dictionary of reference work on family names in the UK, covering English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and immigrant surnames. It includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, and/or those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census. Each entry contains a list of variant spellings of the name, presumably as enumerated or transcribed, so no account taken of any deviants, hence a lot of variants.
There are 9 surnames considered to be variant spellings of that name that qualify to be listed in The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names (ODFN), namely :
| SURNAME | |
1881 census (ODFN) | 1921 census (FMP) | 1939 Register * | 2020 ODFN | ||
| FREQUENCY | MAIN LOCATIONS | FREQUENCY | FREQUENCY | FREQUENCY | |||
| GB | England & Wales | England & Wales | GB | Ireland | |||
| CHALLINOR | |
1054 | Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire | 1747 | 1614 | 2097 | 4 |
| CHALLONER | |
733 | Lancashire and NW Midlands; also Northumberland | 1087 | 1160 | 1020 | 73 |
| CHALONER | |
491 | Denbighshire, Lancashire | 775 | 633 | 756 | 9 |
| CHALLENOR | |
295 | West Midlands, especially Shropshire and Staffordshire; also Denbighshire | 496 | 469 | 446 | 0 |
| CHALLENDER | |
104 | Lancashire; also Cheshire | 180 | 185 | 173 | 0 |
| CHALLENER | |
101 | Lancashire; Staffordshire and Warwickshire | 155 | 134 | 82 | 0 |
| CHALLINER | |
148 | Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire West Riding | 203 | 147 | 60 | 0 |
| CHAWNER | |
216 | Leicestershire, Staffordshire (see Origins) | 451 | 378 | 531 | 0 |
| CHANNER | |
141 | Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire; also Kent and Surrey (see Origins) | 333 | 329 | 531 | 0 |
Click on a surname in the chart above to see a heatmap of where people were living in 1881 © Archer Software, or these heat maps to see where the largest pockets are currently.
Click on the WikiTree logo to view the WikiTree page dedicated to this name variant.
* excludes redacted records in 1939 Register.
Other variants involve having one L or two, and almost any combination of vowels.
Variants include Chalinor, Chalener, Chalaner, Chalinar, Challaner, Chaliner, Chaliner, Chalener, Chalenner, Chalinner, Chalanor, Chalner, Chalinour, to name but a few.
To see how many people bearing these name variants (or deviants) in the 1881 census, look here.
When researching on genealogical websites and search engines that allow wildcard entries, it is a good idea to search using CH*L*N*R.
The surnames of Chawner and Channer are said to be derived from the same occupational surname as Chaloner. Although these surnames are NOT variants of Chaloner, they do appear in this study because ...
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Click on this link to view heat maps of births / baptisms by county, where all variants of surnames have been combined, i.e. no differentiation of spellings.
These heat maps represent a count of births and baptisms in English & Welsh counties in various time periods.
An accumulation of more than 21,300 individuals (excluding spouses) has been compiled from various sources and gathered into 140 family groups presented by county and place of origin.
About 74% of this number are featured in the searchable online TNG database; the remainder are simply listed as Unappropriated Records [see left hand panel].
In addition, there are almost 15,400 marriages (37% unappropriated) to be found in the TNG database and Unappropriated Records.
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FOOTNOTE There are a small number of individuals in this study with the surname Challenger, who qualify to be included because their descendents changed their surnames to a Challinor variant. There is a Challenger One Name Study and it is possible that this study may include the same individuals. |
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FACT Thomas Cromwell ordered that Parish Registers be kept from 1538 to record baptisms, marriages and burials. Originally the parish registers were written on paper but, in 1598, parchment registers were introduced. |
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FACT The adoption of surnames in England generally began after the arrival of the Normans in 1066, but it was only by 1400 that most English families bore hereditary surnames. |
| FAMILY GROUPS |
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 The Right Reverend Richard Challoner Vicar Apostolic of the London District |
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| WELSH ORIGINS |
| The so-called 15 Tribes of North Wales all came from Gwynedd, the old Principality of Wales, represented today by Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and part of Flintshire.
The tribe in which we are interested is usually referred to as the Seventh Tribe of North Wales founded by Maelawg Crwm, Lord of Llechwedd Issa, and Creuddyn in Carnarvonshire. Maelawg Crwm (Maeloc the Bowed - he was a hunchback) lived in the time of Prince David (1170-1203). His coat of arms is described as |
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The Coat of Arms granted to the family is also described as a black shield with a gold chevron between three cherubims' heads, the Crest being a gold demi sea wolf rampant.
In The Royal Tribes of Wales, Philip Yorke, Esq., of Erthig, writes :
The great-grandson of Maelog Crwm was Trahaiarn Chaloner, so called because his grandfather Madoc Crwm had lived in a town in France called Chaloner, from whence he took that name.
By "the town in France called Chaloner" is probably meant Chalons, either Chalons-sur-Marne, the capital of the department of Marne; or Chalons-sur-Saone, the capital of an arrondissement of the department of Saone et Loire.
Trahaiarn de Chaloner was the son of Gwilym ab [son of] Madog ab Maelog Crwm, and it was the latter who took the Lord of Chaloner prisoner in France, took possession of his lands and assumed his armorial bearings*.
He was the ancestor of the Chaloners of Lloran Ganol, Denbighshire, and of Chester, both extinct (Hist. Powys Facing, iv., p. 347).
| * Possibly returning returning from the crusades with Richard I, who was fatally wounded and died on 6 April 1199 whilst besieging the castle of Châlus in central France. |
W J Hemp (more of him below) agrees that Madoc Crwm, son of Trahaiarn, was the first to take the name of Chaloner in the thirteenth century, but that the origin of the name was from some Cheshire maker of or dealer in linen quilts or coverlets, known as "shalloons"; "Roger the Chaloner" of Chester occurs in 1288.
However, Hemp also says that, in Elizabethan times, the claim was made that this family had been called "Chaloner" as a result of residence at Chalons in France. Improbable as this tale of the Welsh sojourner in France may be, in view of the frequency of the name Chaloner at that period, it is a fact that in 1301 the Public Records tell of "William de Chalons, burgess of Conway, who bought land at Conway from the King and subsequently lent money to the King's workmen employed at Conway".
| THE GENEALOGICAL DESCENDANCY OF THE SEVENTH TRIBE OF NORTH WALES |
an extract from
ANCIENT AND MODERN DENBIGH : A DESCRIPTIVE HISTORY OF THE CASTLE, BOROUGH AND LIBERTIES
It appears from the Reynolds' Genealogies that the Chaloners of Denbigh and Chester, so frequently mentioned in our municipal records, were of Welsh origin, notwithstanding they bore a Norman surname : -
John Chaloner, son of Jacob Chaloner, son of Thomas Chaloner of Chester, son of William Chaloner, son of Robert Chaloner, son of David Chaloner, son of Rees Chaloner, son of Richard Chaloner, son of William Chaloner, son of David Chaloner, son of Howel Chaloner, son of Madog Chaloner, son of Jerwerth Chaloner, son of Trabairn de Chaloner, son of Jerwerth Chaloner, son of Madog Crwm de Chaloner in France, son of Trahairn, son of Gwylym, son of Madog, son of Maelawg Crwm Lord of Llechwedd Issa, and Nant Conwy, and one of the fifteen Tribes of North Wales, Anno à Christi nati 1135. - Chester Edit. 1739, page 87.
Note : The Editor of the revised edition of The Royal Tribes of Wales by Philip Yorke describes Reynolds' work as a very imperfect compilation by MS. materials left by his uncle, and put together with very little knowledge of the subject - but see below
The University of Aberystwyth holds a collection of handwritten genealogy charts, the amazing work of Peter Clement Bartrum (1907-2008), a researcher and genealogist who specialised in the genealogy of the Welsh nobility of the Middle Ages. In the table below is a comparison of his work with that which appears in Reynolds' Genealogies.
In The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd by Jacob Youde William Lloyd (1816-1887) there is a tree that is similar to that decribed in Reynolds' Genealogies down to generation 15, from where his chart entitled Chaloner of Lloran Ganol follows a son John of Lloran Ganol.
| Reynolds | gen | Bartrum | Chart | Dates | notes |
| Maelawg Crwm | Maelawg Crwm | c1140 | |||
| Madog Crwm | Madog Crwm | c1160 | |||
| Gwylym Crwm | Gwylym Crwm | c1180 | |||
| Trahairn Crwm | Trahaiarn Crwm | c1200 | |||
| Madog Crwm de Chaloner | 4 | Maelog Crwm | 1 | c1220 | of Arllechwedd Isaf |
| Jerwerth Chaloner | 5 | Iorwerth Crwm | 1 | c1240 | m. Jane |
| 6 | Gwilym Goch Crwm | 1/2 | c1260 | m2. Jonet | |
| Trabairn de Chaloner | 7 | Trahaearn | 2 | c1280 | |
| 8 | Madog Chaloner | 2 | c1300 | m. Joyce | |
| Jerwerth Chaloner | 9 | Iorwerth Chaloner | 2 | c1320 | m. Lleucu |
| 10 | Iorwerth Fychan Chaloner | 2 | c1345 | m. Jonet | |
| Madog Chaloner | 11 | Madog Chaloner | 2 | c1375 | m2. Gwerful |
| Howel Chaloner | 12 | Hywel Chaloner | 2 | c1400 | m. Alice Richard |
| David Chaloner | 13 | Dafyd Chaloner (of Denbigh) | 2/2A | c1420 | m. Rose Anwyl |
| William Chaloner | |||||
| Richard Chaloner | |||||
| Rees Chaloner | 14 | Rhys | 2A | c1440 | m. Ursula Peake |
| David Chaloner § (c1470- ) | 15 | Thomas ¥ | 2A | 1466-1549 | m. Agnes Thicknesse |
| Robert Chaloner (c1500-1550) | 16 | Roger Chaloner (of London) | 2A | 1493-1550 | m. Margaret Middleton |
| William Chaloner (c1530- ) | 17 | Sir Thomas Chaloner | 2A | 1521-1565 | |
| Thomas Chaloner of Chester | |||||
| Jacob Chaloner | |||||
| John Chaloner |
§ David was the second son of Rhys. The fourth son of his son Robert, is the Thomas Chaloner (c1530-1598) of Denbigh and Chester, Ulster King of Arms referred to in the article by W J Hemp below. He made an ingenious attempt to record in a compact circular form five generations of the ancestors of Thomas Chaloner, together with the arms they bore or which were attributed to them.
¥ Thomas was the eldest son of Rhys, his grandson, Sir Thomas Chaloner1 (1521-1565), was described by Philip Yorke in The Royal Tribes of Wales, as one of the most famous men descended from Maelawg Crwm.
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Sir Thomas Chaloner1 was a statesman who is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. He was educated at both Oxford and Cambridge and during his lifetime he acquired three estates Guisborough in Yorkshire, Steeple Claydon in Buckinghamshire and St Bees in Cumberland. The Guisborough Monastic Estate was bought from the Crown for the princely sum of £854 13s 4d in 1558 and Guisborough Hall became the family seat. He had brothers John1 (c1520-1581) and Francis, both of whom settled in Ireland.
As the first wife produced no heirs, Thomas1 was keen to remarry, but his ambassadorial posting to Madrid, from 1561, made it difficult to find and legally marry a bride according to Protestant rites. However, Thomas1 had an illegitimate son Thomas2 (1559-1615). Thomas1 returned to England in poor health in the following spring and effectively legitimated this son by marrying the mother shortly before his death. It was Thomas2 who inherited the Guisborough estate. |
 Sir Thomas Chaloner1 |
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The third son of Thomas2, another Thomas3 (1595-1661) was an English politician, commissioner at the trial of Charles I and signatory to his death warrant.
[Note : he signed it Challoner]. The eldest son of Thomas2, Sir William Chaloner (1587-1641) inherited Guisborough Hall and was awarded the title Baronet of Chaloner of Guisborough on 20 June 1620. He was childless, so the title became extinct on his death in Turkey in 1641 and the Guisborough estate passed to his nephew Edward, whose father was Edward, a younger brother of William. The title Baron Gisborough was created in 1917 for the Conservative politician Richard Chaloner. Born Richard Godolphin Walmesley Long, he had assumed by Royal licence the surname of Chaloner in lieu of Long in 1888, as a condition of inheriting the Guisborough estate and Gisborough Hall from his maternal great-uncle, Admiral Thomas Chaloner (1815-1884). |
 Thomas Chaloner3 |
| Richard Godolphin Walmesley Long (1856-1938) was a founder member of what is now the Masonic Chaloner Lodge in Melksham.
In the notes on him as a founder member, it states that the Chaloner family can be traced back to Mayloc Kryme (Maelawg Crwm), 1135-1180. According to J. Y. W. Lloyd's History of Powys Fadog, his son Maydoc was in France in 1199 with Richard I, who was returning from the Holy Land, and while he was there, "he took the Lord of Chaloner prisoner, seized his lands and assumed his armorial bearings" |
| Trahayrne, c1214, son of Gwilym, son of Maydoc Kryme, assumed the name of Chaloner to commemorate the exploits of his grandfather.
Thus was the start of the Chaloner dynasty. The family still have the same arms and they are now depicted on the banner of the Chaloner Lodge. |
The aforementioned John1 was the first Secretary of State for Ireland, appointed by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1560. John1 must not be confused with his contemporary, Alderman John Challoner2 (pedigree unknown), who was Mayor of Dublin in 1556-7. John1 had a son John2 who was also Secretary of State for Ireland. John2 had a son, yet another Thomas4 who was a noted naturalist.
Luke Chaloner, the son of the aforementioned Francis, was one of the three founding fellows of Trinity College, Dublin in 1592.
It is believed that the sons of Thomas3 (whom Oliver Cromwell had called a drunkard) adopted the alias of Chawner. Seemingly, the Chawner name had long been a variation of the Chaloner name throughout the 17th and 18th centuries and was used interchangeably and may have been used to distance themselves from their Roundhead connections.
In the Warwickshire Visitation 1619, the line of Thickness includes the marriage of Agnes Thickness to Thomas Chaloner¥ of Denbigh, his son Roger, Thomas1 and Thomas2. There is also a marriage between Robert Thickness and Margaret, dau. of Richard Chaloner of Denbigh. Richard must be the one listed by Reynolds as father of Rhys in the table above, so maybe his research was not quite as imperfect as Philip Yorke suggested.
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an extract from Volume 40 of
Y CYMMRODOR ("The Welshman"), the magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (1900-1951)
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - National Library of Wales [see Links]
Two Welsh Heraldic Pedigrees, with Notes on Thomas Chaloner of Denbigh and Chester, Ulster King of Arms
By W. J. HEMP, F.S.A.,
Secretary to the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments (Wales)
THE two Elizabethan pedigrees which form the subject of this paper are cast in a somewhat unusual form, technically called a "target". Both deal with families dwelling on the border land of North Wales, and, although written and painted by different hands, it is likely that both represent the work of Thomas Chaloner of Chester, whose immediate ancestry one of them records.
This Thomas Chaloner (?-1598) was the fourth son of Robert Chaloner of Denbigh by Dowce, his wife, daughter of Richard Mathew of Lleweni Green. The family had long been settled in North Wales, although it probably took its origin and name from some Cheshire maker of or dealer in linen quilts or coverlets, known as "shalloons"; "Roger the Chaloner" of Chester occurs in 1288.
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In Elizabethan times, however, the claim was made that this family descended from Madoc Crwm, who was said to have flourished in the thirteenth century and to have been called "Chaloner" as a result of residence at Chalons in France; although his descent was Welsh, he being the great-grandson of the founder of the seventh tribe of North Wales, Maelog Crwm of Nanteonway, "Lord of Llechwedd Isaf and Creuddyn", who himself is described as "4th son of Greddyf ap Kwnnws ddu ap Killingad the 13th son in lineal descent from Kynedda Wledic King of North Wales".1
1 Nat. Lib. Wales, Kimmel MS. No. 5.
Among Maelog Crwm's ancestors was Helig ap Glannog, the foundations of whose long submerged home are said to be still traceable in the sea between the mouth of the Conway and Ynys Lannog (Puffin Island).
Improbable as this tale of the Welsh sojourner in France may be, in view of the frequency of the name Chaloner at that period, it is a fact that in 1301 the Public Records tell of "William de Chalons, burgess of Conway who bought land at Conway from the King and subsequently lent money to the King's workmen employed at Conway",
The name of Chaloner often occurs among the early records connected with Cheshire and the adjoining parts of Lancashire.
Several members of the family were students of heraldry and genealogy, and our Thomas Chaloner was employed as an agent by the College of Heralds for some years under the designation of "Deputy to the Office of Arms", before he was created Ulster King of Arms. This appointment he only received on the day of his death, 14th May 1598, as recorded on his monument in St. Michael's Church, Chester (fig. 3)2. He also took advantage of his visitations and travels in North Wales and Cheshire to make antiquarian and heraldic notes, which are now of great value3. He became a Freeman of Chester on October 6th 1584, and, as noted by Mr. J. P. Earwaker4, was a painter, poet and antiquary, as well as a member of Lord Derby's company of players.
| 2 See Appendix. He is described on the monument in St. Mary's Church, Chester, commemorating Randle Holme the Second, as "de eadom civitate quandoque Ulster regis armorum pro Hiberniæ regno". There is considerable mystery about Chaloner's appointment. as Haydn's Book of Dignities records the appointment of Christopher Ussher as Ulster, by Letters Patent dated 30 June 1588, and Mr. T. U. Sadleir, Registrar of the Office of Arms, Dublin Castle (Ulster's office) tells me that Ussher " was buried 2 June 1597. According to our records Daniel Molyneux was then appointed and continued in office till 1633". According to Haydn Molyneux's patent was dated 28 June 1597. As Chaloner died 14 May 1599, it, would seem that there were two claimants for the post, since the statement on Randle Holme II's monument would not have been made without some warranty. |
| 3 According to Mr. Earwaker, MS. Harley 2151 contains notes on monuments and windows in churches made by Thomas Chaloner and others and arranged by the third Randle Holme. |
| 4 The four Randle Holmes of Chester; Journ. Chester Arch. and Hist. Soc., n.s., iv. (1892). |
On Nov. 8th 1584, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Alcock, of Chester, and on Jan. 10th 1687, he took as his apprentice one Randle Holme. After Chaloner's death, in 1598, Holme married his master's widow, and in 1602 apprenticed his stepson, Jacob Chaloner, to himself. Jacob became a well-known heraldic agent, painter and collector of pedigrees, and eventually moved to London, where he died in 1631. Randle Holme remained in Chester and built up the heraldic business which was to be carried on by his son, grandson and great-grandson, all bearing the same name, on the foundations laid by Chaloner's work. Randle III was the author of the well-known "Academy of Armory".
Ulster's great nephew, Captain Robert Chaloner, of Lloran, co. Denbigh, and Roundway, co. Wilts (1612-1675), was also a herald, being appointed Bluemantle Pursuivant in 1660, and Lancaster Herald in 1665. But the members of the family best known to history were Ulster's second cousin, Sir Thomas Chaloner, the Elizabethan diplomatist and man of affairs, son of Roger of Denbigh and London, together with his son, another Sir Thomas, Chamberlain to Henry, Prince of Wales, and his grandson, a third Thomas, the regicide, whose brother James also sat in judgment on the King and was a noted antiquary and one of the earliest English topographers.
To balance the political record of these last, there was, in addition to their own Royalist brothers, the headmaster of Shrewsbury School, another Thomas Chuloner, a descendant of Ulster's brother John, who was expelled from his post on account of his Royalist sympathies, and after a long period of exile, during which he was a sucessful headmaster of Ruthin and other schools, was restored to his post at Shrewsbury when the King came to his own again. His diary still bears witness to the recording instincts of his family1.
| 1 One of his descendants is responsible for these notes, as he also was for an account of Denbigh Castle, published in the Cymmrodor in 1926, the last recorded survey of the castle having been made by John Chaloner, Ulster's brother, and his own ancestor. |
A brief reference may be made to the possible connection of Thomas Chaloner with Freemasonry. Mr. Earwaker, in the article already mentioned, refers to evidence proving that the Holmes were masons and quotes the third Randle's description of himself in 1688 as "a Member of that Society, called Free-Masons", pointing out that he was one of the earliest Freemasons whose name has come down to us. Thomas Chaloner's son Daniel is called "Freemason" - whatever that may connote in the case of a professional sculptor - and at the end of the Chaloner monumental inscription in St. Michael's is a symbol, a triangle point downwards surmounted by a ring, which also appears in sonic of the Harleian MSS., and may perhaps have been Chaloner's private mark (fig. 3)2.
2 For further information on this subject see "A Short History of Freemasonry in Chester" by Henry Taylor and P. H. Lawson.
I - THE CHALONER PEDIGREE
This is an ingenious attempt to record in a compact form five generations of the ancestors of Thomas Chaloner, together with the arms they bore or which were attributed to them. The names appear in circles which arc connected by lines indicating the descents, and the appropriate shield accompanies the name of each of the thirty-two great-great-great-grand parents on the outside circle. In addition, four impaled shields display the arms of Thomas Chaloner and those of his parents and grand-parents. Nine of the shields are blank and one is in trick only, the rest are in their proper colours.
The design measures about 12¾ inches in diameter. The drawing is poor, and the execution in general somewhat careless - in fact the document has the appearance of having been intended as a rough draft. The parchment has suffered from age and dirt and also from being folded. It is now preserved at Oxford in the Bodleian Library, its reference being MS. Jesus Coll. R.130. The date is about 1590 to judge from the fact, that four only of Thomas Chaloner's children are named, including Daniel who was born in 1589, but excluding Mary who was born in 1594 and survived until 1613, and her sister Elizabeth who married in 1613.
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For convenience of identification and reference the circles containing names have been treated as four rings, lettered A, B, C and D (E being the central circle) and numbered clockwise. The outer ring of shields corresponds with ring A, but the four inmost shields are lettered a, b, c, d; the clockwise system has been departed from in this case only.
The following are the inscriptions in the circles with the corresponding coats of arms. Additions are indicated by square brackets. In the case of both the Chaloner and the Broughton pedigrees no attempt has been made to expand or annotate the entries except by the addition to the blazons of the arms in each case the family name or that of the best known ancestor.
RING A
| 1 | - | Howell Chaloner of Ritholand Sa. a chav,. between three cherubs or. [Chaloner] |
| 2 | - | Ales daughter to Rice ap Dauid ap Kendrick of Weper Vert a stag pass. regard. arg [Cynwrig Fychan] |
| 3 | - | Ithell Anwell ap Day ap Ithell of [blank, recte Northop] Per pale or and gu. a hymmock arg. between two lions ramp. addorsed, counterchanged. [Ithel Anwyl) |
| 4 | - | Gwenlyan daughtr to Jem1 ap Lin ap Kendrick Se. a chev. between three goat's heads erased or. [Ithel Felyn] |
| 5 | - | Thomas Peake of Lluney greene Checky or and gu. a salt. erm. [Peake] |
| 6 | - | Jane daughter and heire of Wltr Clare als Clark Arg. a lion pass. gu. [Clare or Clark] |
| 7 | - | Sr John Donne of Vtkington knight Barry of five az. and arg. on a bend gu. three arrows silver. [Done] |
| 8 | - | Elizabeth daughter to Sr pears dutton of dutton Quarterly arg. and gu., in the second and third quarters a fret or. [Dutton] |
| 9 | - | Jem 3 sonne to Eigniõ ap Griff ap lln up Kendk ap Osbourn Erm. a saltaire gu. charged with a crescent or. [Osborne Fitzgerald (Wyddel)] |
| 10 | - | Angharat dar to dd ap Gwillim ILoyd (In trick) [Arg.] a chev. between three boar's heads couped [sa.]. [Ednowain Bendew (?)] |
| 11 | - | Ithell ap Kendrick ap BIethen ap Ithell anwell Arms as No. 3. [Ithel Anwyl] |
| 12 | - | Llueke daughter & heire of Jem ap Grono Vert a chev. between three wolf's heads crased arg.[Rhiryd Flaidd] |
| 13-16 | - | [Blank] |
| 17 | - | Lewis Mathew of Llandaffe Sa. a lion ramp. between three crosses croslet arg. [Mathew] |
| 18-20 | - | [Blank] |
| 21 | - | Thomas Byrchenshaw of Denbighe2 Arg. semy of estoiles a pegasus gu. [Birchenshaw] |
| 22 | - | [Blank] |
| 23 | - | Richard Pigott ap Jenkyn ap Howell Pigott Erm. three fusils conjoined in fess and a border engrailed sa. [Pigott] |
| 24 | - | Nest daughter to Townas. [Shield blank] |
| 25 | - | Ririd ap Dauid ap Pothan Vlayd Arg. on a bend vert three wolf's heads crased silver. [Middleton (Pothan Flaidd)] |
| 26 | - | Cecily daughter and heire of Sr. Alexandr Midelton Gu. on a bend or three lions pass. sa. [Middleton] |
| 27 | - | Gruffith ap Jenkyn ap gwalltr of Broughton Sa. a chev. betw. three owls arg. [Broughton] |
| 28 | - | Gwenhwver daughtr and heir of dauid vychan ap Jem Gu. three snakes nowed together arg. [Ednowain ap Bradwen] |
| 29 | - | Sr John Donne of Vtkington knight Arms as No. 7 [Done] |
| 30 | - | Elizabeth daughter to Sr pears dutton of dutton Arms as No. 8 [Dutton] |
| 31 | - | Tho Weaver of Weaver als Weawer esq Arg. two bars sa. on a canton of the last a garb or. [Weaver] |
| 32 | - | Margaret daughter to Thomas Venables of Pownall Az. two bars arg. [Venables] |
| 1 This name is clearly wntten Jem throughout, but Is apparently intended for Jeuan (Ryan), as in MS. Harley 1157, f. 61 b, this same man appears as "Juan ap Llewelin ap Kendrick". |
| 2 Thomas Bwrchinshaw-Katrin v. ag aeres y Richard Pigot vichan (Dwnn, II. 346 sub Llansannan). |
RING B
| 1 | - | Dauid Chaloner sonne of Howell |
| 2 | - | Rose daughtr and heire of Ithwell Anwell |
| 3 | - | Richard Peake of LLuney greene |
| 4 | - | Margaret daughter to Sr John Donne knight |
| 5 | - | Tonna sonne of Jem of Rithlãd in fflintsh |
| 6 | - | Agnes daughter to Ithell ap Kendrick |
| 7-8 | - | [Blank] |
| 9 | - | John Mathew of Lluney greene |
| 10 | - | [Blank] |
| 11 | - | Thomas Byrchenshaw of Arloyd |
| 12 | - | Kathren daughter & heire of Richard Pigott |
| 13 | - | Ririd Midelton sonne of Ririd ap Dauid |
| 14 | - | Mary daughter & heir of Gruffith |
| 15 | - | John Done of Vtkington esq |
| 16 | - | Margaret daughter and heir of Tho Weaver of Weaver |
RING C
| 1 | - | Rice Chaloner of Denbigh tonne of Dd |
| 2 | - | Urselaw daughter to Richard Peake of Llvny green |
| 3 | - | Jenkyn Tonna of Rithland |
| 4 | - | [Blank] |
| 5 | - | Thomas Mathew of Livney greene |
| 6 | - | Margaret daughter to Thomas Byrchenshaw |
| 7 | - | Dauid Midelton sonne of Ririd |
| 8 | - | Ellen daughter of John done esq |
RING D
| 1 | - | Robart Chaloner of Denbigh sonn of dd |
| 2 | - | Dauid Chaloner of Denbigh sonne of Rice |
| 3 | - | Agnnes daughter and heir of Jenky |
| 4 | - | Urselaw Chaloner Elizabeth Chaloner 2 daughts |
| 5 | - | Jacob Chaloner Daniell Chaloner 2 sons |
| 6 | - | Richard Mathew of Llvney green |
| 7 | - | Jane daughter of Dauid Midelton esq |
| 8 | - | Dowce daughter of Richard Mathew |
CENTRE, E.
| Thomas Chaloner of Chester mared Elizabeth da to William Al!cock of Chester. |
SHIELDS, INMOST RING.
| a. | Arg. on a chev. sa. three cherubs or. [Chaloner], imp. arg. a fess gu. betwn. three scythes sa.; the fess charged with an escallop or for diff. [Alcock]. (Corresponds with central circle.) |
| b. | Chaloner, as above (a), imp. Sa. a lion ramp. betw. three crosses croslet arg. [Mathew]. (Corresponds with D.1 and D.8.) |
| c. | Chaloner, as above (a), imp. Erm. a saltire gu. charged with a crescent or. [Osborne Fitzgerald (Wyddel)]. (Corresponds with D.2 and D.3.) |
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ABOVE SHIELDS.
N.B. Except where noted all the coats are recorded by Papworth.
THE ARMS OF CHALONER
Four different coats are assigned to the Denbighshire Chaloners. No. 1 is Arg. a cross flory raguly between four choughs or crows sa. This appears to be a variant of the Flintshire coat assigned to the descendants of Edwin of Tegeingle. It was used on occasion by several members of the clan, including Sir Thomas the elder, but eventually seems to have been abandoned for the other coats, No. 2, Arg. on a chev. sa. three kneeling angels or ; 3, Arg. on a chev. sa. three cherubs. faces ppr. wings or ; and 4, Sa. a chev. betw. three cherubs or.
No. 2 is assigned to Maelog Crwm, Lord of Llechwedd isaf and Creuddyn, founder of the seventh tribe of North Wales, and Nos. 3 and 4 were used by various descendants of the Denbigh family ; No. 4 is first attributed to Madoc Crwm, the first to take the name of Chaloner in the thirteenth century, the three previous generations being given Arg. a chev. betw. three cranes sa.
Thomas Chaloner in this pedigree gives No. 4 to his earliest ancestor recorded on it (shield A1), but adopts No. 3 in the case of himself and his father and grandfather (shields a, b and c). This coat also appears on his monument at Chester (fig. 3).
What must be intended for another variety of the arms appears on a monument in Ruthin Church, dated 1713, commemorating Thomas Roberts of "Bryne y neuadd in comitatu Arvonitæ Armiger" and his wife Katharine daughter of John Owen of "Varchwell in eodem comitatu Gen.". An inescutcheon bears the coat Az. a chev. betw. three kneeling angels or. The only explanation given of the origin of the arms is to be found in B.M. Add. MS. 9864, where it is stated that "Trahairn de Chaloner . . . took the Lord of Chaloner prisoner in the wars in France and took possession of his lands and assumed his armorial bearings, viz., Argent on a chevron sable there angels adoring or ", also that "Trahairn was the son of Gwilim ap Madog ap Maelawg Crwm Lord of Llechwedd Isaf and Creuddyn in the time of David ap Owen, Prince of North Wales, 1175".
Sir Thomas Chaloner the younger, Ulster's contemporary, used the cross raguly between four birds, as did his father, and he also need the crest confirmed to his great uncle, David Chaloner of Denbigh, Ulster's grandfather ; but on his monument in Chiswick church his quartered shield has the chevron between three cherubs in the first quarter and the cross and birds in the second.
A3 - The object between the two lions is a very rare charge ; "hymmock" is the Welsh "humog" meaning a bat or racket. According to Kinmel MS. 4, in the National Library of Wales, it also figured in the arms of "Trahayarn Brenin Peter Aûr" Vert a hymmocke arg. betw. three bezants. The hymmock in this coat is recorded in Papworth as "a Greek phi" and elsewhere it is described as a "Roman P" (Genealogist, n.s. xix, 118). Yet another and probably more correct description is given by Mr. E. A. Ebblewhite in "Flintshire Genealogical Notes", p. 85, where he says that "a hummock" was a sort of sling shaped like a P, or rather an instrument for the propulsion of a missile which was fixed in the loop at one end of it.
| The two sketches illustrate two methods of drawing the object; A is from a drawing in Add. MS. 129 c (p. 18) in the National Library of Wales, a book of arms formerly in the possession of Sir William Betham, Ulster ; and B from Peniarth MS. 128 (p. 357) in the same collection.2
2 See Arch Camb. 1895, p. 321. |
 |
A17 - Papworth has Or a lion ramp. sa. betw. three crosses croslet of the second for "Mathew, Llewenny Green co. Denbigh ; descended from Llandaff". Mathew of Llandaff bore Or a lion ramp. sa.. The entry here is altered and there is an illegible word struck out below.
A21 - The estoiles are omitted by Papworth, but Dwnn (II 316) has "Argent so many molets Gules about the Pegus Gwles pasant".
A23 - Papworth omits the border.
A26 - Not in Papworth.
A31 - Papworth gives the garb as argent.
|
APPENDIX The inscription on Thomas Chaloner's monument on the wall of the N. aisle in St. Michael's church, Chester runs thus : HIC IACET CORPVS THOMÆ CHALONERI NVPER DE HAC VRBE CIVIS, QVEM PATER PATRATVS A TRENTA IN BOREAM, SIBI AD DIEM OBITVS 14° MAIJ A° 1598 SVRROGARAT QVO MAGNO SVI DESIDERIO EXPIRAVIT which may be translated : Here lies the body of Thomas Chaloner late citizen of this town, whom the chief herald from the Trent northwards1 had appointed as his deputy on the day of his death 14 May 1598 [On attaining] this his great ambition he breathed his last. 1 i.e., "Norroy Kinge of Armes, of the East, West, and North partes of ye realm of England from the river of Trent northwards", as Flower describes himself in a grant of arms dated 1575, printed in the Yorkshire Archæological Journal xviii, 121. |
Fig 3. The Chaloner Monument St Michael's Church, Chester |