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Early Belchers of England

 First Belchers on Record
     In collections for a "History of Staffordshire", edited by the William Galt Archeological Society,
 1880, Vol. I, Page 291, in a chapter headed "Some Account of The Manor & Parish of Blymill in
The County of Stafford" we find the earliest known record of the surname Belcher, as it is commonly spelled,
where Ralph DeBelcher and six others signed their names as witnesses to a deed. We quote the following
 passage from the above mentioned publication. Mr. Eyton preserves the following deed of William,
son of John Bagot, of Blymhill, being a grant to the Abbey of Buildwas in Shropshire as follows:

      "I, William, son of John Bagoth, have coceded to the Abbot and Convent of Builwas, the whole convention
which was made between them and my father about the land (which is beyond the riverlet, from the boundaries of
 Westune (Weston under Dizard) to the boundaries of Broctune (Brocton), and to observe all these things firmly
 for the (specified) term and have made affidavit to the County Court of Stafford, viz., my mother and my brothers
Roger, John, & Thomas. And of these things are witnesses, Harvey deStratton, sheriff, Geoffrey Savage,
Adam deWroteslag, Nicholas deMutton, Ralph DeBelcher, Adam deBildewas, William Crosset.
This last convention was made in the year from the Lord's Incarnation, 1176."

     As the date of this deed was but 110 years from the time when Duke William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings
 and became William I of England, we may assume that the grandfather of Ralph DeBelcher was a member of the
 conqueroring host that came in the train of the Conqueror, if not his grandfather, then some other contemporary
 relative. His name would hardly admit any other conclusion.

Other Belcher Records

     Among family names which strongly suggest their relationship to Belcher are the following, which,
with their coats of arms, may be found in the "Armorial General of Reitstap", Vol. II, Page 1196; and in
 "Armoiries desFamililles", contenues dans L'Armorial Genral de J.B. Teitsap, publiees par L'Institut
 Heraldique Universal, Paris, 1903:

Bellechere: Norm. De gu. a'un rabot demenuisier d'or.
                                                                   Bellechire: (de). Utrecht, Amsterdam. D'azur au chev.
                                                                                         d'or, acc. detrois coquilles du meme.
                                                                   Belcier: Perigord. D'azur a'labande ondee d'or, acc.en
                                                                                  chef, d'une comete d'arg.

     In the publication of the Huguenot Society in London, referring principally to church and town records of
 Colchester, co. Essex, England, there is indisputable evidence of the continental origin of our family surname.
 In the "Monday Book" of Colchester Corporation Archives, occurs the following passage: "The view of all such
straungers, menne, women, and children, as are in the towne of Colchester, the xxvi daie of April, 1573, in the
tyme of Robert Lamb'te and Thomas Lawrence, Bailiffs, which fled owt of the Papists there, and permitted to
remaine in Colchester by license from the Queen's Mag' Privie Council."

Most frequently named are Abraham Belcher, whose name is variously entered as Belsier, Belzier, Beelsier,
 Beillsure, Bellsere, and Gyles Belcher, who appears as Belshire, Belshier, Bellshere; other individual entries
are Mathew Beelsier, Jacob Bellecher, Fillebart Bellsare, Isaac Beelsier, Peter Belshire.

Rev. S. Baring-Gould in his "Family Names & Their Story" & Rev. Henry Barber in his "British Family Names",
are of the opinion that Belcher came from Bellecourt, a local name, in Normandy, near Perrone, and in Belgium.
Baring-Gould says:"By far the most numerous French names taken into our family nomenclature came from
 places in Normandy or other portions of the possessions of the Anjou dynasty."

The reader will see for himself that Belcher is the commonly-accepted spelling of a surname that had its origin
 on the Continent and was transplanted to England by the Norman invasion


The Belchers In England

The name Belcher is of great antiquity in England, being found as early as 1176, when Ralph deBelcher
was witness to a deed granting land to the Abbey of Builwas, in Shropshire, adjoining the county of Staffordhshire
on the west. We have already given a detailed reference to the authority for this statement.

Throughout the records of the College of Arms, it appears that Hugh Belcher was in Staffordshire as early as 1450.
It is to be presumed that Ralph deBelcher, who was in that county in 1176, laid the foundation for the family
 from which Hugh Belcher was descended. This presumption becomes stronger when we find that these
Belchers of Staffordshire were the only ones whose spelling of the family name coincides with that which
 we have been taught to believe is correct. Berdsley's "Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames" gives the
 following instances, which are similar to the names of immigrants to Colchester who had come there from
 Flanders to escape religious persecution: Richard Belechere, co. Glouci, 1275, Hundred Rolls;
John Blesire, co. Kent, Ibid.; Leonard Belshyre, Squire Bedell, Oxford, 1553,
Reg. Univ. Oxf., Vol. I, Prt.1, Page 585.

The name is uncommon, however, and is found mostly in the county of Warwickshire and its surrounding
counties of Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire & Northamptonshire.
One line of the family was seated in Guilsborough in Northamptonshire for several generations, and
 was lineally descended from Hugh Belcher of Needwood, Staffordshire, who was living in the reign
 of Edward IV about 1470. This branch of the family held landed estates, and bore for arms, Paly of six or & gules,
a chief vair & their pedigree was entered in the Visitation of Warwickshire.[4]

Interesting particulars regarding the Belcher family of Staffordshire, later of Guilsborough in Northamptonshire,
 may be found in the "History & Antiquities of Northamptonshire" compiled from the manuscript collections
 of the late and learned antiquary, John Bridges, Esq., by the Rev. Peter Whalley, late Fellow of St. John's
College, Oxford, published in 1791. This history furnishes us with certain data relating to the
 Belchers of Guilsborough by which they are definitely placed in the calendar, both as to their acquisition
of the so-called Manor House of Nortoft and the dates of various important family events.
 We quote from Vol. I, in the chapter headed, Guilsborough, Page 566: "Mr. Ward, Lord of the Manor,
 hath a good house in which he lives, formerly the residence of the family of Belcher, and called the parsonage
 house of Guilsborough or Manor House of Nortoft." The story continues on pages 570 & 571.                                                             


The Manor Of Nortoft & Guilsborough

     At some little distance from Hallowell in Nortoft, in Domesday Book named Nortot, and in later records Northtoft,
another hamlet of nineteen houses in Guilsborough parish. By the Norman survey, the Earl of Morton was certified
to hold of the Crown two hides (a measure of land) in Nortort. The arable land was four carucates;
  (a measure of land based on the area that could be plowed in a year by a team of oxen) in demenes
 was one acrucate and one servant, and four villianes with three cottages had one carucate.
There were eight acres of meadow, and a mill of the yearly rent of viid.

     The whole, formerly valued at iis, was now rated at xxxs. By the same survey, William Peverel held in
 Nortot half a hide pertaining to the Manor of Cote. The arable land was one cacurate, which with three
acres of meadow was possessed by one foreman. In the reign of Henry II (1133-1189) this half hide of the fee
of Peverel was in the lands of one Coleman, and the Earl of Leicester, who succeeded to part of the
Lordship of Morton's possessions, had here two hides and one large virgate. This part of the lordship was
held by the family of Dive, and was given by Hugh deDive to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.

     In the 12th year of King John (1211) a fine was levied of a third part of ten marks rent in Nortoft,
 between Anes, relict of the said Hugh deDive demandant, and the Prior of the Hospital of Jerusalem deforciant,
 claimed by the said Agnes as a part of her dower for the use of the said Prior and his successors. In the 3rd year
of Edward III (1330), the Prior was questioned on what authority he claimed to have view of frank-pledge of his
 tenants in Nortoft & Holewell, and pleaded prescription for the same. After the dissolution of the monastaries,
 the Manor of Nortoft, with the tithes of corn & hay, was granted in the 33red year of Henry VIII (1542) to
 Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (1484-1545). Soon after, it was in the possession of Alexander Belchier,
Gentleman, to whom Sir Thomas Andrews, Lord of the Manor of Guilsborough, in the 1st year of Queen Mary
(1553), sold a certain piece of waste ground with the wood and trees thereon, between the church-wall of
 Guilsborough Parsonage, otherwise called The Manor House of Nortoft. This gentleman, descended from
 Hugh Belchier of Staffordshire, in the same county, and dying without issue in the 1st year of Queen
 Elizabeth (1558) left this Manor of Nortoft, together with the parsonage or Manor-house to William Belcheir,
 his brother, who transmitted it to his posterity as follows:

Edmund Belcheir, of Guilsborough, m. Emme, dau. of Cornelius Wyrley.
William Belcheir,  in the 22nd year of reign of Elizabeth(1580) m. Elizabeth, dau. & heiress of Thomas Randes,
 of Granfley. William Belcheir, in 1609, m. Christian, dau. & heiress of Thomas Dabridgcourt.
                               1. Dabridgecourt Belchier, c. 1622, m. Elizabeth, dau. & heiress of Richard Fisher of Warwick.
                                    Children:                                
                                    i     William Belcheir, b. c. 1618.
                                    ii    Richard Belcheir.
                                    iii   John Belcheir.
                                    iv   Thomas Belcheir.
                                    v    Edmund Belcheir.
                               2. John Belcheir.
                               3. Edward Belchier.
                               4. William Belchier.
                               5. Margaret Belchier, wid. of Thomas Goldesburg.
                               6. Mabell Belchier.
                               7. Alice Belchier.

     The grandfather of this William Belchier was person of curious learning, and is commended in
Guillim's Heraldry as: "very complete in all gentlemanlike qualities, a lover of arts, and a diligent searcher
after matters pertaining to honour and antiquity." He collected inscriptions and coats of arms in most of the
churches in this country, which are preserved amongst Vincent's MSS, in the College of Arms.

     In 1627, the Manors of Nortoft & Guilsborough were conveyed  by William Belchier, Esq., to Sergeant
Clarke, from whom they came through several immediate possessors to John Ward Esq., the present lord of them,
 who purchased in 1710, and resides in the family seat at Guilsborough.

 William Belchier married Christiana Dabridgcourt, whose surname he gave as a christian name to his son,
who was born about 1580, having been admitted, according to the "Biographica Dramatica" at Corpus Christi College,
 Cambridge, 2 Mar 1597, and being afterwards, according to Wood, of Christ Church, Oxford, where he took the
degree of B.A. in 1600. Very soon after this date he must have married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Fisher, of Warwick,
his eldest son, being 17, at the time of his father's death. He apparently went abroad and lived for a time in Utecht,
 Amsterdam, where he wrote several poems and articles which were published in 1618.
 He died in the Low Countries in 1621.

    In summing up the information contained in the foregoing excerpts from the "History & Antiquities of Northamtonshire"
published in 1791, we find:
            1. That by the Norman Survey (1066-1086), the land later known as Manor of Guilsborough was owned
                by the Earl of Morton  &  William Peverel.
            2. That during the period 1133-1189, the Earl of Leicester and "one Coleman" were the owners,
                and that the property was  transferred to the following persons about the times specified:
                3. Hugh deDive, 1211.
                4. Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, 1330.
                5. Sir Charles, Duke of Suffolk, 1542.
                6. Sit Thomas Andrews, 1553.
                7. Alexander Belcher, 1574.
                8. William Belcher, of Guilsborough, 1580.
                9. William Belcher, of Guilsborough, 1609.
              10. Dabridgecourt Belcher, 1622.
              11. William Belcher, of Guilsborough, 1622-1627.
              12. Serjeant Clarke, of Watford, 1627-1669.
              13. Edmund Bateman, 1669-1710.
              14. John Wards, Esq., 1710-1791.

The earliest Belcher disclosed by the Herald Visitations of the 17th century is Hugh Belcher of Staffordshire,
whose ancestors do not appear. We are indebted to the Warwickshire records taken by William Camden in
1619 for his coat of arms, only the first & fourth quarters of which, as well as the rest, were claimed by
 his descendants:
                                                        Quarterly of four.
                                                        1 & 4. Paly of six or & gules, a chief vair.
                                                        2 & 3. Sable, a chevron between 3 crosslets fitche's argent.
                                                        Crest: A greyhound's head erased ermine, collared or.

     The visitations of Northamptonshire give a detailed pedigree in some respects. While the author omits mention
of the rank of Hugh Belcher, he tells us that he was of the time of Edward IV, who wasa born in 1442.
 This monarch was sustained at a critical period in his fortunes by Warwick, the king-maker, with whom he
 afterwards quarreled and Warwick was defeated and slain by the forces of the King at Barnet in 1471.
Edward IV died in 1483. This Northamtonshire pedigree, then, pretty definitely determines the birth of Hugh Belcher,
 to have accurred not later than 1450. As the records of Warwickshire & Northamptonshire disagree in various
 particulars, the later is given below:

                 HUGH BELCHER, of the forest of Needwood, co. Stafford, m. HAVIS, dau. & heiress of THOMAS BELSON,
of Brewood, co. Stafford. Their son;  JOHN BELCHER, m. ELIZABETH, dau. of (--?--) SAUNDERS, of Beworth,
co. Warwick. Their son; EDMUND BELCHER, of Guilborough, co. Northampton, m. (1) Alice, dau. of (--?--) Spencer,
 of Overton, co. Northampton; m. (2) EMMA, dau. of CORNELIOUS WYRLEY, of Hampstead, co. Stafford.
                                        Children by Alice:
                                        i     Humphrey Belcher, d.s.p.
                                        ii    John Belcher, d.s.p
                                        Children by Emma:
                                        iii  ALEXANDER BELCHER; bur. at Wenlock; m. JANE,
                                             dau. & heiress of JOHN BEDELL & wid. of Thomas Randes.
                                             They had a dau., Mary, who d. in infancy. Alexander dying without
                                             a son caused the estate at Guilsborough to be inherited by his brother,
                                             WILLIAM BELCHER of Guilsborough, co. Northampton.

 WILLIAM BELCHER, of Guilsborough, co. Northampton, m. (1) Margaret, dau. of (--?--) kinersley,
                           of co. Salop; m. (2) ELIZABETH, dau. of THOMAS RANDES.
                                        Children by Elizabeth:
                                        i     WILLIAM BELCHER, of Guilsborough, co. Northampton,
                                              b. c.9 Apr 1609. He m. CHRISTIAN, dau. & Heiress of
                                             THOMAS DABRIDGCOURT, of Langdon. Her mother was
                                             Alice, sis. of the heiress of Richard Griswold, of Langford Hall.
                                             They had;
DABRIDGCOURT BELCHER, late of Guilsborough, d. in the Low Countries, 1621.
JOHN BELCHER. THOMAS, ob. infans. EDWARD.
MARGARET BELCHER, ux.THOMAS GOLDESBURGH, of co. Cambridge.
MABEL BELCHER, ux. WILLIAM AVERY, of Filongley, co. Warwick.
ALICE BELCHER.
DABRIDGCOURT BELCHER, m.  ELIZABETH, dau. of RICHARD FISHER, of Warwick. They had;
                                         i    WILLIAM BELCHER, aet. 15, 1618 (b. 1603)
                                         ii   Richard Belcher.
                                         iii  John Belcher.
                                         iv  Thomas Belcher.
                                         v   Edmund Belcher.
                                         vi  Christian Belcher.
                                         vii  Anne Belcher.
                                         viii Frances Belcher.

 [4] "Visitations of Warwickshire" (Harleian Publications) Vol. XII, Pages 64, 65.

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