Origin of Surname
Balleine, the French word for 'whalebelly', may have been an insulting nickname, reported Jersey historian the Rev George Balleine (see below) in his booklet on the origin of Jersey surnames. The derivation may have been from a man who played Jonah in a miracle play; or perhaps in local terms it was more simply a man from La Baleine south of Coutances
Early records
This family settled in Jersey at a very early period, probably from Normandy.
As recorded in the Extente of 1331, Philippe Balein was a member of the jury empanelled to ascertain the King's dues in the parish of St John, as was Maurice Balein in St Brelade.
John de la Balleine, possibly born in Jersey in 1310, was a crossbowman at Mont Orgueil Castle in 1337. Some researchers claim that he was the founder of the family in Jersey, but, if so, he cannot have been born there, and he would not have been French. The truth is that there is no documentary evidence surrounding the arrival of the Balleines in Jersey, and although John de la Balleine is shown at the head of the group of trees below, with a birth date of c1425, it is doubtful that he was the father of Thomyn at Generation 2 in the main tree.
Arms : Argent, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules.
Variants
- Bolen
- Baleyne
- Balene
- Balleine
- Balaine
- Ballaine, 1749
- Balaynne, 1528
- de la Ballayne, 1479
- de la Baleyn, 1340
Family records
Church records
- Balleine baptisms in Jersey
- Balleine marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Balleine marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Balleine burials in Jersey
Family trees
These two trees follow essentially the same lineage, but there are unresolved differences at the top and each contains details not found in the other. These and the set of trees below cover various branches of the same family, and there are many inconsistencies. We are working on a revised parent tree which will hopefully overcome these problems, but in the meantime we recommend that Balleine researchers study all the trees and draw their own conclusions
The set of trees below starts with a common source in the first tree, and links from one tree to another are included. There is some overlap with the two trees above, which are from a separate source. An error has been identified in the last tree in this set, which has now been corrected, but this has caused us to institute further checks on other trees in the set.
- Descendants of John de la Balleine
- Descendants of Michel Balleine
- Descendants of Pierre Balleine
- Descendants of Jean Balleine (1608)
- Descendants of Jean Balleine (1703)
- Descendants of Elie Balleine
- Descendants of Josue Balleine
The following two trees follow essentially the same lineage. The second tree starts a generation earlier and includes more branches
Family histories and biographies
- The Balleine family of St Peter, a family history by Roland de Caen
- A history of the Balleine family
- Among the more distinguished members of this family was George Orange Balleine, of Pembroke College, Oxford. He was inducted in 1812 to the living of St Ouen, which he exchanged in 1815, with the Rev Francis Ricard, of St Peter, where he remained until 1829, when he transferred to St Martin. He died in 1856. His sons were the Rev John James Balleine, MA, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Chaplain and Naval Instructor of HMS Tribune, Austin Humphrey Balleine, Cuthbert Francis Balleine and the Rev Le Couteur Balleine, MA of Trinity College, Cambridge, Rector of Saint Mary, Jersey.
- Arthur Edwin Balleine
- Austin Humphrey Balleine
- Cuthbert Francis Balleine
- George Reginald Balleine
- John Arthur Balleine
- George Orange Balleine
- Robert Wilfred Balleine MC
- Hilda Catherine Mary Balleine
- Balleine family members mentioned in a major history of privateering
Great War service
Occupation records
World War 2 casualties
Ships' captains
Family wills
Burial records
Family homes
Emigrant to Canada
Family album
John Alfred Balleine
Allan Cyril Balleine, killed in action in the Great War
George Balleine by Ouless
Mary Ann Balleine
A postcard sent to Marie Balleine in 1905
Nevil Balleine
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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. Images of gravestones in other cemeteries will be added progressively
Almorah cemetery
St Mary’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Peter parish cemetery
St Brelade parish cemetery
St Brelade parish cemetery
St Brelade parish cemetery
St Brelade parish cemetery
St Brelade parish cemetery
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
Cuthbert Balleine,Bedford House Cemetery
Allan Cyril Balleine,Nine Elms Military Cemetery, Thelus
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
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
Notes and references
- ↑ To access this tree you need an Ancestry subscription
