Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
Braddock Coat of Arms / Braddock Family CrestThe ancient English surname of BRADDOCK was of the locational group of surnames meaning 'the dweller at the broad-oak'. The name was originally rendered in the Old English form BRADAC. The earliest of the name on record appears to be Thomas del BRADOCK, who was documented in 1282 in Staffordshire. Hereditary surnames were originally imported from France into England during the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the two centuries or so after the Conquest surnames were acquired by most families of major landholders, and many landed families of lesser importance. There appears to have been a constant trickle of migration into Britain between about the years 1200 and 150O, mostly from France and the Low Countries, with a small number of migrants from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and the Iberian peninsular, and occasional individuals from further afield. During this period groups of aliens settled in this country as for example, the Germans who from the late 15th century onwards settled in Cumbria to work the metal mines. Immigration during this time had only a small effect on the body of surnames used in Britain. In many cases, the surnames of immigrants were thoroughly Anglicised. The late sixteenth century saw the arrival, mostly in London and the south-coast ports of large numbers of people fleeing from the war regions of France. A notable member of the name was Edward BRADDOCK (1695-1755) the Scottish soldier, born in Perthshire. He was commissioned in the Coldstream Guards in 1710, saw service in France (1746) and the Netherlands (1746). In the American War of Independence, he was appointed to command against the French in America. He was mortally wounded when ambushed on his way to attack Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) on 9th July 1755. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. |
