Change of name for the male line

[Peter_uk_can]

I came across this whilst researching the Cresswell family of Cresswell Hall, Morpeth. Northumberland. It is the first time I have seen this kind of thing.


http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/phlawford/CresswellChangeofnamea1.jpg

[ChristineR]

Apparently it happened quite a bit when there was not a surviving male heir to carry on the bride's family surname.

Losing one's own surname is a small price to pay to marry into money ;)

ChristineR

[busyglen]

So possibly, this is why the `double-barrelled' started? I hadn't thought about there not being male issue surviving...so that makes sense in a way doesn't it?

Glenys

[Peter_uk_can]

It was the bit that mentions "assume by Royal licence" that has now got me curious. It is like a lot of things, I always want to know why.

[ChristineR]

Google brought this up
http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/About/13.htm

"A surname may also be altered or changed by Royal Licence. Arms granted to one family can only be transferred to another person not in legitimate male line of descent from the original grantee by means of a Royal Licence, followed by an exemplification of the arms. A Royal Licence is usually granted, on the advice of the Home Secretary, where the petitioner is required by a clause in a will to assume the name and arms of the testator, in order to inherit a legacy, but voluntary applications are also entertained.

A petition for such a Royal Licence is drafted by an officer of arms for signature by the petitioner. It is then submitted on his or her behalf by the officer of arms to the Home Office. A resulting Royal Licence and any subsequent exemplification of arms must be recorded in the official registers of the College of Arms to be valid."

ChristineR :)

[Peter_uk_can]

Hi Christine. Many thanks for taking the time to progress this. It is something that I had not come across before and found it very interesting.

I have no connection with the Baker-Cresswell family in question, but they hold the key to a riddle about what my grandfather was doing at around the turn of the 19th century.

1997 saw the passing of Joe Baker-Cresswell, who was the Captain of HMS Bulldog during WWII. It was the Bulldog and her crew who captured not only the German submarine U-110 but also the Enigma machine aboard.

This accomplishment was completely re-written in a film that portrayed the crew as American and the location as the Mediterranean. This movie so incensed some people that it was even discussed by Mr Blair's government.

I continue to search for the link between my Grandfather, a schooner named "Charmian", the Atkinson family and Cresswell Hall, it seems that I learn something new at every turn, but then my father always said that the more one knows the more one sees.

Peter_uk_can