Mourant

From Jerripedia
Jump to: navigation, search





Mourant family page


2045863.png


WalterPhilipMourant1898.jpg

Walter Philip Mourant in 1898


Record Search


Direct links to lists of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Mourant family can be found under Family Records opposite. If you want to search for records for a spelling variant of Mourant, 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.

You can also select marriages or burials. Select the name you want
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.

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


If you can help with information about the Mourant family, please contact editorial@jerripedia.org, using Jerripedia as the subject of your email. We are particularly interested in information which will help create further family trees, family histories and photographs


A blue link anywhere in the text will lead you to another page with more information on this family

Origin of Surname

Pre-1500 arms researched by Julian Wilson
Pre-1500 arms researched by Julian Wilson

The name is of Norman-French origin. It derives from a personal name 'Moran', meaning steadfast, from the verb demorer, meaning to remain. This may also have been used as a residential name for a stranger. One who having come to a town or village, for whatever reason, stayed on permanently.

This name was probably introduced into England by followers of Duke William of Normandy in his successful invasion of England in 1066. Certainly it is one of the earliest surnames on record with early examples including Richard Morant of Devonshire in 1199, William Morand of Sussex in 1211, John le Moraunt in Suffolk in 1297 and Margery Demoraunt in the Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire in 1379. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo le Demurant, which was dated 1182, in the pipe rolls of the county of Kent, during the reign of King Henry 11.

Early records

It appears in the Assize Roll of 1309, which would tend to conflict with Payne's assertion (below) that the first Mourant came to Jersey from England in the 15th Century. Janin and Johan are listed in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550.

Baptism records can be found from 1540 in St Saviour.

Drouet Mourant, who was born in Jersey about 1500, was the father of Helier and grandfather of Susanne, who married Pierre Renouf.

Mourant and Picot families

Payne's Armorial of Jersey

The Marquis de Magny, in his Livre d'or de la Noblesse de France, says "la famille de Morant, de tres ancienne noblesse de Normandie, s'est repandue et a formee plusieurs branches dans les provinces voisines. In England its antiquity and possessions were equally famous. Hasted, in his History of Kent. records that William, Jordan and Henry de Morant were possessed of the manor and lands of Morant's Court, near Sevenoaks, in 1293.

A member, it is supposed, of the English branch of the family migrated to Jersey in the 15th century, probably at the period of the Wars of the Roses, which then disturbed the realm of England. The earlier registers of the parish of St Saviour in the time of Henry VIII show that the family was then numerous and influential in the island.

Jannyn Morant, who was Denunciator of the Royal Court from 1526 to 1543, married Marion, the sister and sole heir of Sire Richard Mabon, Dean of Jersey. This line became extinct in the person of their son John.

From Helier Morant, son of Drouet, was directly descended the Rev Philip Morant, whose portrait is now possessed by George Collas, of Pigueaux House, to whose grandmother it was presented by that learned ecclesiastic on the occasion of his last visit to Jersey. He was the son of Stephen Mourant, and was born at St Saviour on 6 October 1700. He is well and deservedly known in England as a scholar and a careful antiquary; he was educated at Abingdon, and then entered Pembroke College, Oxford. In August 1722 he was nominated, at the recommendation of Queen Caroline, to the office of preacher in the English Church at Amsterdam, a post he retained until 1734. He held successively the several benefices of Schellon-Bowels; Broomfield; Chicknel-Smeeley; St Mary, Colchester; Wickham-Bishops, and Aldham, all in the county of Essex; which were presented to him by Dr Gibson, Bishop of London, his particular friend and patron. He resided chiefly at Colchester, of which place he wrote a history, a work still esteemed for its deep antiquarian research; a class of study to which Mr Morant was peculiarly attached.

As a native of Jersey, he was well-versed in Norman-French, which, in conjunction with his considerable antiquarian attainments, led to his employment in preparing for the press a copy of the "Rolls of Parliament". This task was necessarily an arduous one, but he persevered in it till his death. His connection with the Channel Islands led him to examine the arguments employed by Selden in his "Mare Clausum" to prove that England always had the possession of these islands, because she has always maintained the dominion of the narrow seas. Mr Morant, admitting the former, denies the latter proposition, and states truly that they were part and parcel of the Duchy of Normandy, and were incorporated in that Duchy under the Norman Dukes. This tractate was published in the form of a letter to his early patron and firm friend Mr Falle, and is prefixed to the last edition of that divine's "History of Jersey".

It seems curious that two such extensive explorers of books as Mr Morant and Mr Falle should have overlooked the frequent mention of the name of Morant in the histories of England and France. In Jersey, the name is invariably spelled Mourant, and Mr Philip Morant omitted the superfluous 'u', evidently without knowing the history of the family whence he descended.

In a letter written by the historian Falle to Mr Morant, dated 23 October 1733, speaking of the title page of his history of that year's edition, he says: "You'll see I have erased the 'u' in your name, which indeed I believe to have crept in without reason. Many names in the island I find disfigured in like manner, by adding or subtracting a letter or two. And as to yours, I have a confused remembrance to have read Morant in fome hisftory. I think it was the name of a chancellor of France. Perhaps I may meet with the place again." In another communication of 24 November the same year, Falle says: "Looking into the 27th volume of Fleury, I meet with this passage: A Amiens, Jean Morand, Docteur en Theologie et Chanoine de la ditte ville, etc This is certainly your name, though wrote with a 'd'; for, whether with a 't' or a 'd', the pronunciation is the same."


Variants

  • Mourant, 1461-78
  • Morant, 1461
  • Mourand 1461
  • Moraunt 1309
  • Moran
  • Morrant
  • Morand
  • Murrant
  • Maurand
  • Le Demurant
  • Le Moraunt
  • Demoraunt

Family records

Treeicon.jpg


Mourant family trees in Jersey



Web15BaptismIcon.jpg
This 1891 portrait of Lieut-Colonel Peter Mourant, by Julian Maguire, is part of the Jersey Heritage collection. We believe that he was Pierre Barbenson Mourant, born in 1831 and died the year after the portrait was painted. He is wearing a Militia uniform

Church records

Tips for using these links



Historyicon.png


Biographies




NewsIcon.png

Newspaper records

A Mrs Mourant photographed by Ernest Baudoux
CenotaphIcon.jpg


Great War service



W16WillIcon.jpg


Family wills



Graveicon.png

Burial records


Family homes


Businessicon.png

Family businesses


PhotoAlbumIcon.png

Family album

Walter Mourant and his brother at Croix es Mottes, St Saviour

Occupation curfew cards

Curfew pass issued to Walter Mourant during the Occupation as a member of the St Saviour Honorary Police [1]


Gravestoneicon.png

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

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

  1. These cards are held by Jersey Archive. Visit The Archive online catalogue for more information. A subscription may be needed to view some of the site's content
Personal tools
other Channel Islands
contact and contributions
Donate

Please support Jerripedia with a donation to our hosting costs