Surname Origins

The Bolstridge surname is relatively new and apart from a burial in 1609 at Adderbury, near Banbury Oxfordshire, of one Marget Boulesdtridg, (This entry was found in the recently published National Burial Index and further examination of the local registers may turn up more information), the earliest records found so far are those at Bedworth near Coventry Warwickshire in 1669.

There is a large amount of circumstantial information to assert that the Bulstrode family of Sole End were the source of the Bolstridge name in this area. The earliest registers to survive at Bedworth are from 1640, (virtually unreadable from microfilm until 1653), and from 1670 at Astley, the two most likely places that the Bulstrodes would baptise their children. Edward, Richard, Henry and John, sons of Edward and Margaret are well documented but we have to assume that the earliest Bulstrodes mentioned in the Bedworth registers, (Thomas & Rebecca and Francis & Jane), are also Edward's sons. I have searched both the PCC and Lichfield probate calendars but Edward Bulstrode's will cannot be found. His death, being before 1660, probate should have been granted by the PCC but it could be that probate was delayed and could have been proved in some obscure court which was common practice for lawyers, the search goes on!

Norman Dudley in his book "The Bolstridges Alias Bulstrode of Warwickshire" relies  the assumption that the origin of the Bolstridge/Boulstridge name is due to local dialect, an assumption I personally have great difficulty with.
Usual procedures for this period are that the parish clerk would copy entries to the official parchment register from the Rector or Curate's paper copy. The minister officiating at the ceremony would write down what he heard or knew of the parents names. Thomas Bulstrode was assumedly the son of Edward and therefore likely to be both literate and speak without local dialect, after all, his father was the a local Justice. A local would therefore attempt to write phonetically what he heard. This raises the prospect that the correct pronunciation of Bulstrode in formal English at the time was in fact Boulstridge. This raises the prospect that the "new" name could have arisen anywhere. Locally Baddesley is still pronounced Badgersley and Upton Uopton and as recent as 1835 Piggot's directory of Staffordshire states "Wednesfield pronounced locally as Wedgefield".

The Significance of Bedworth Register Entries.

Examining the Bedworth registers we find the following :

William Bulstrode born 12 May, bapt. 5 June 1655
Thomas Bulstrode bapt. 14 July 1657 (this was written in at a later stage )
1659-1661 no register entries at all
Francis Bolstrod bapt. 1 July 1661(squeezed in at top of page out of order and in different hand)
1662 - April 1663 few entries at all register quite disorganised.
1663 Register in new hand and back to normal.
James Bolstridge Bapt. 2 May 1669
Samuel Bulstrodg Bapt. 5 May 1672
Jone Bulstrog Bapt. 21 Jan 1676
From 1678 - 1681 there are 4 entries of Bulstrod until Thomas son of Thomas junior reverts to Bolstridge on March 19th 1681.

All further entries at Bedworth then are either Bulstrodg(e) Bolstrig(e) or Boulstridg(e)

The first two entries in 1655 and 1657 were made during the incumbency of the Presbyterian minister Ryder. Bedworth was a Parliamentarian town and Bulstrodes by and large appear to have been parliamentarians. Ryder was more than likely acquainted with the Bulstrodes and therefore would almost certainly get the name correct. It is significant that William, the first child baptised had his date of birth entered. This was unusual for the Bedworth register and could signify the first born of someone of importance. In 1672 Ryder was ejected from his living for failing to accept the Catholic Prayer book and was replaced by John Symcocks and, in 1673, Nicholas Chamberlaine from Wooten was invested and remained there until his death in 1715. Ryder was granted a licence to preach at his house in 1672 but no doubt had been enjoying a congregation there before. Although at this stage these unlicensed preachers were not supposed to carry out baptisms many did. The added entries to the register may well be the work of a sympathetic clerk making sure the record was right.

In Appendix II of his book Norman states that he believes the Bolstridges of Binfield are an offshoot of the Bedworth Family that returned to Berkshire. There really is no evidence of this. He states "Henry's (Bulstrode) son, Henry, who was baptised at Warfield in 1675, was buried at Binfield in Berkshire on 15th October 1730, as Henry Boulstridge" He then goes on to say "The first occurrence of the name in the Binfield parish registers was on the occasion of the baptism of Hannah Boulstridge, the daughter of Henry, junior, and his wife Hannah, on 21st May 1711" An examination of the IGI entries for Berkshire shows these observations in a different light. There is, for at least 100years confusion in the spelling of the name. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries a consolidation of replacing the "de" with "dge". This leads me to believe that the pronunciation of the name "Bulstrode" in the 17th/18th centuries was in fact Boulstrodge the degeneration to Boulstridge/Bolstridge was a natural progression from this. Henry Bulstrode of Binfield was almost certainly a descendant of the original family from Horton Park further evidence that the name could have arrived independently elsewhere. Click here for the relevant IGI extracts I have yet to fully explore this connection.