Le Gallais

Le Gallais family page

Alice Le Gallais, c1872

Record Search

Direct links to lists of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Le Gallais family can be found under Family Records opposite. If you want to search for records for a spelling variant of Le Gallais, or for any other family name, just click below on the first letter of the
family name you are interested in. This will open a new tab in your browser giving you a list of family names beginning with that letter,
for which there are baptism records in our database of half a million church and public registry records.

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and when the list of records is displayed you can easily refine the search, choosing a single parish, given name(s) and/or start and end dates.

The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.

New records

From August 2020 we have started adding records from non-Anglican churches, and this process will continue as more records, held by Jersey Archive, are digitised and indexed. Our database now includes buttons enabling a search within registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These records will automatically appear within the results of any search made from this page.

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Pre-1500 arms, as researched by Julian Wilson

Origin of Surname

The origins of this very common Jersey surname of long standing are strongly disputed. Jersey sources generally support the view that it means 'the Welshman' (Pays de Galles is the French for Wales), but sources in France, where the name is found in many areas, particularly in Brittany and Normandy, offer a variety of other derivations.

The most widely held belief, particularly in Brittany, is that the name is a a corruption of gaullois, 'Gaul' being the historic name for France, and that it was used to distinguish French speakers from Breton speakers in the far west of the country.

But there are other suggested derivations. Noms de familles de Normandie says that in Normandy, where Gallais is fairly common to this day, it comes from a Medieval personal name 'Galeis'.

Otherwise the French authority Dauzat supports the view that it refers to a welshman, Deshayes' Dictionnaire des noms de famille bretons believes it to be derived from 'Galès', a name given to a tall man. Another authority, Morlet, traces the origins to galois, meaning, in ancient French, a bon vivant (he who enjoyed the good things in life).

Then there is the question of which names are true variants of Le Gallais. In Jersey one of the most common early spellings of what was undoubtedly the same family was Le Gallez, and Galet has been viewed as a variant. However, Noms de familles de Normandie treats 'Gallet' and 'Galet' as entirely separate, with a meaning derived from old words for a stranger. However, other French sources lump 'Gallet', 'Galet' and 'Gallez' into the same set of variants.

The name is found as Gallais rather than Le Gallais in Normandy, but in Brittany the names 'Le Gall' and 'Le Gal' are common and they are said to refer to a French speaker among the Bretons

Charles Stevens' Comprehensive list of Jersey surnames, apart from supporting the Welsh theory, separates 'Le Gal', 'Le Gall' and 'Le Galle' from other variants.

For what it is worth, given the absence of any evidence that there was immigration, direct or indirect, from Wales to Jersey as early as the 15th century, we think the name is far more likely to have Gaul as its source.

All that seems certain is that the similar sounding Gallie is definitely a different family with a different derivation.

Early records

It will be seen from the list of variants below that the spelling in use in Jersey today - 'Le Gallais' - can only be traced back to the early 17th century, but other variants go back much further, 'de Galeis' being found in a 1226 record.

The family appears in the Assize Roll of 1309. Charles Le Gallais is listed in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550.

Although this is primarily a St Helier family, particularly well-known in the 19th century, it was, from the 1840s, also found in St Brelade, where Jurat Philippe Le Gallais owned La Moye House. The majority of Le Gallais entries in church registers are to be found from 1597 onwards in the baptism records of St Helier (403 of 575 total baptisms).

Variants

• Gallais, found in Normandy
• Le Gallais, 1607
• Le Gallez, 1490
• Le Gallet, possibly separate
• Le Galet, possibly separate
• Le Galays
• Galles 1515
• Le Galles l479
• Galays
• Galeys 1255
• de Galeis 1226
• Gallie (probably not a variant - see family page for derivation

Payne's Armorial of Jersey

This family, which is supposed to have migrated hither from Brittany, has been naturalized in the island from a very remote period. It is divided into several branches, which, although the connection between them is not precisely ascertained, are universally allowed to derive from one common source.

One of these is represented by Matthew Le Gallais, Seigneur of Surville. Another, now settled at La Moye, in the parish of St Brelade, formerly possessed an estate at Rouge Bouillon, in the parish of St Helier; an estate which, as stated by the two Extentes, or Royal Rent Rolls of the 17th century, owed to the Crown the somewhat fanciful dues of two cabots of wheat rent, two capons, two hens, and fourteen eggs. This branch is represented by Philip Le Gallais, Jurat of the Royal Court, and Stipendiary Magistrate of the Police Court.

A third is represented by Mr John Le Gallais, son of Nicholas Le Gallais, who, through his mother, Elizabeth, daughter and eventual heiress of Thomas de Gruchy, of Trinity, represents also a branch of that family.

Arms

As borne by Matthew Le Gallais: Gules, a crescent, between six roses, or, three in chief and three in base.

Quartering : Argent, three trefoils, sable, for Payn

Gules, four fusils, conjoined, in fesso, argent ; a crescent, in base, for difference, for De Carteret

Per fesse, argent and or; in chief, a dexter hand, clenched, ppr, cuffed of the second; in base, a mullet of the first, for Poingdestre

Impaling : Azure, three crescents, or, for Nicolle.

Crest : A cock, statant, ppr., the dexter foot uplifted.

Motto : Jamais chancelant.

As borne by Philip Le Gallais: Same Arms, Crest, and Motto. Impaling or, on a chief, embattled, sable, three mullets, argent, a crescent for difference, for Amy.

As borne by John Le Gallais: Same Arms and Crest. Quartering: Or, fretty azure, for De Gruchy. Motto : Semper Fidelis

Family records

Family trees

• Descendants of Symon Le Gallais, of Surville
• Descendants of Edmond Le Gallais, of Surville
• Descendants of Edmond Le Gallais, of Rouge Bouillon Added 2021
• Descendants of Francis Le Gallais, of La Moye
• Descendants of Jean Le Gallais
• Descendants of Jean Le Gallais (1720)
• Descendants of Richard Le Gallais
• Descendants of Richard Le Gallais 2
• Descendants of Francois Le Gallais Added 2016
• Descendants of Jean Le Gallais and Francoise Boivin Added 2018

Church records

Tips for using these links

• Le Gallais baptisms in Jersey
• Le Gallais marriages in Jersey (groom)
• Le Gallais marriages in Jersey (bride)
• Le Gallais burials in Jersey

Memorial in the Town Church to Lt-Col Philip Le Gallais, who died in the Boer War

Le Gallais biographies and other family matters

• Philip Walter Jules Le Gallais, cavalry leader
• Carlyle Le Gallais, politician and businessman
• Albert George Le Gallais, a prisoner of war in World War One and winner of the Military Cross
• Postcards sent to a collector in Luxembourg by a Le Gallais family in 1901

Newspaper records

• Philip Le Gallais appointed to reservoir planning committee in 1848
• Charles Le Gallais appointed St Helier Roads Inspector in 1848
  
  

Jean Le Gallais and his family photographed by Ernest Baudoux outside La Ferriere, St Saviour

Great War service

• Le Gallais family members who served in World War 1
• NZ Le Gallais siblings in Great War: The story of nurse Lottie Le Gallais and her brothers

Family wills

• Le Gallais family wills from 1663 to 1980 held by Jersey Archive

Family homes

• Fernhill, St Helier
• Broadlands, Grouville
• La Ferriere, St Saviour
• La Moye, St Brelade
• Surville, St Helier

• Le Gallais burial records 1820-1978

Family businesses

A banknote issued by George Le Gallais as Jersey Bank

• F Le Gallais and Sons
• R Le Gallais was a cabinet maker at 37 Broad Street in the 1830s

Family album

Jersey's version of Trooping the Colour in August 1935, watched by the Lieut-Governor, Sir Francis Bingham (centre) and Lt Col Le Gallais, commanding the Royal Militia Island of Jersey, and their wives

Advocate Theodore Le Gallais, Deputy of St Saviour (1881-86), Constable of St Saviour (1886–92), HM Receiver General. This portrait by John St Helier Lander hangs in the parish hall

Family gravestones

Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs

Tips

The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.

We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling

The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.

New records

Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form