The Balfry Name

Observations about the Name and its possible origins

Balfry, This is the spelling preferred by my mother and her relations. It is also the earliest recorded, having been found on a tombstone of 1787. It was also the spelling defined by John Balfry (1877-1957) of Caherconlish, Limerick, the area where my branch has its origins. However, in the Limerick church and official records can be found the following variants, due in all probability to the whim of whatever clerk or priest recorded them. Balfrey, Balfery, Balphry, Bakery, Balphery, Bolfry, Bolfrey, Balery, and Bawlfry.

Balfrey, spelling preferred by some branches of the family. It is old and is found in early church registers.

Balfré, spelling deliberately adopted by Alfred (1854-1932) as he believed it improved his commercial prospects as a watchmaker.

Belfry, a misspelling found on William’s (1819-1885) death notice and record, but adopted by Bridget (1833-1891) on emigration to Australia in 1853.

Origins

Several hypotheses have been proposed as to the origins of the name. It has been said that there was a knight in William the Conqueror’s army called Sir Balafré (Fr. Scarface). It has been suggested that the name could have been a corruption of Valfre, (eg. Sebastian Valfré (1629-1710) a Saint whose family name still persists in Italy). Another possibility is that it is a variant of Palfry or Palfryman, a servant who looked after a ladies’ horse (palfry). The earliest definite record that I can find dates from the muster rolls of the Hundred Year’s War (1337-1453) where there is listed in 1432 a William Balf, archer [medievalsoldier.org] and in 1439 a William Ballfrey, archer, in the standing force in Aquitaine, commanded by John Holland, Duke of Huntingdon [forces-war-records.co.uk], both possibly the same person. As an archer he was probably English or possibly Welsh, unlikely to have been Irish.

In Ireland.

The problem with Ireland is that so many of the official records are missing. However in spite of that it has been possible to locate in church and civil baptism and marriage records about 90 Balfry individuals living in the Limerick and West Cork area between 1790 and 1850. Here it was a relatively common name and must have meant that there were some 15 to 20 families there. After 1850 the name all but vanished due to emigration and by 1930 only one family remained.