History of the
Blore / Bloor / Bloore etc... name
Origins
Most
research points to the Midlands in central England as being the earliest
beginnings of Blore, Bloor, Bloore names and any close derivative which
seems to be mispelt names such as Blower, Bloare, Blewer....
1.
The International Genealogical Index set up by the Church of Latter
Day Saints, where they have photographed and put on microfiche and microfilm
early church records in England of Christenings, Marriages and Deaths,
shows that the earliest Blores on these records date back to their beginnings
or point of origin.
* the earliest recorded
name is Robi. Blore, a male Christening, 29th October 1559, in the
township of Betley, in the County of Staffordshire. Many of these
early names where actually recorded in Latin, possibly as a result
of Roman invasions of England.
*Staffordshire has the
most entries with 246, the next is the neighbouring County of Derbyshire
with 212+. This area is known as the Midlands. Most of these recordings
are within a distance of 30 or 40 miles of each other.
- Lancashire
on the Irish Sea to the North, has 104.
- London, 98
- Leichester,
41 etc
*Devonshire only has I
(one) recording. It has to be said that some of these county records
are not yet complete, but most are.
2.1 have 1850's maps or have seen maps
of Staffordshire showing ~ "Blore" township,”Blore's Moor”,
“Blore's Pipes" etc
3.
"Blore Ray” parish was incorporated in 1558 in Staffordshire, 4
miles NW Ashbourne, comprising township Blore with Swainscoe, part or
chapelry Carlton pop 354 archd Stafford dioc Lichfield.
4.
The 1993 edition of the Halbert's Family Heritage listings for Blores
in the U.K. shows 267.The County with the most listings is Nottingham,
along with Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It appears that many Blores
are still located in the Midlands.
5.
According to a letter from Mr Greg Blore of Maffra (1973) when he wrote
seeking contact with other Blore families, stated that;
"Trevor
Blore (a great grandson of Thomas and Mary Blore) lives in London
(Reuters Newagency) and has made some study of the background of the
name- [I stayed with the daughter of Trevor Blore, Tessa, in Chelsea,
London in June 1999. Trevor died some years ago and Greg died in the
late 1970's]]
--' meaning - a
bleak spot on a hillside: varients - Blore, Blora, Bloore, Blower, Bloor,
Blore Ayr:
-- Blore Church,
established 1002 under control of Burton Abbey:
-- Robert Blora,
Staffordshire, listed in Doomsday Book 1086.
6. An old large Websters
Dictionary in 1973 at boarding school stated that the name
"Blore~ was from the word "blower” and that they could have
lived in a windy place, e.g. lighthouse keepers~
....................and this found on the
web February 2003
"Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary (1913)
Blore \Blore\, n. [Perh. a variant of blare, v. i.; or cf. Gael.
& Ir. blor a loud noise.]
The act of blowing; a roaring wind; a blast. [Obs.]
A most tempestuous blore. --Chapman.
1 definition found
Dictionary info@word.sytes.net "
7.1 have found no connection with
France as this suggestion was given by some as the possible beginnings
of "Blore". There has been only one reference made to the
word Blore in France. A "val de Blore" a valley including
a ski field on the border with Italy.
8. In the course of research instances of the
spelling "Bloare" and "Blower" and (even "Bore"!)
have appeared as writing errors whilst spelling the name for official
documents.
9. Harold William John Blore of South Africa
in his "Annals of
the Blore Family -1944" has the following to
say about the origins of the name...
"(in) The Halliwell's Dictionary of
Archaic and Profincial Words the meaning of the word "bloo"
is given as to blow and the meaning of the word "blore"
is a breeze or a blast. It is probably akin to the Scots "blair"
meaning the blast of a trumpet. Blore Heath, where one of the battles
of the War of the Roses was fought and of which the meaning must
be a breezy heath, lies just upon the border of Shropshire and Staffordshire."
"The name Blore and Bloor (pronounced
to rhyme with floor) is threfore evidently a territorial one, and
those who bear it must have come originally from the neighbour of
Blore Heath. In this connection it is interesting to observe how
plentiful the name, in its several varieties, is sprinkled over
the adjoining countries (sic) Shropshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire."
"The early orthography of the name is
uncertain. it seems to be spelt indifferently Bloor, Blore or Bloore,
as well as being found in the records of the counties of Staffordshire
and Derbyshire."
Collated by Leo Blore from 1973 - 2007....
10. Link to map of Blore 'township' http://www.aboutbritain.com/maps/blore-map.asp
11. Link to Blore Pastures near Blore in the
Peak District http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/index/visiting/accessibilit/access4all/access4all-sites/blore.htm
The
following information was part of a forum discussion at the Blo(o)r(e)
Society Web site.. this from
an email to the Society by Hans Bloor, Dubbo, NSW.........
"I
believe from the past that Blore means small hillock in old french
- maybe the Blores moved to England after the Norman invasion ??"
Information from Ian
Keith Bloor via email from egroups site............
"Blore
/ Bloor / Bloore locations in Europe, 2001 Never
one to sit passively waiting for news of Blo(o)r(e)s I ventured onto
the www.infobel.com site in search of Belgian Blo(o)r(e)s.
This
infobel site gives addresses and telephone numbers for several countries
It
lists 2 (two) OORs and 5 (five) OREs but no OOREs in Belgium.
Four
out of the five OREs look like a small tribe based in Charleroi.
For the UK this site listed 871 OORs, 93 OOREs
and 138 OREs. These numbers are, I think, a little lower than the
numbers I got from a complete search of the BT directories a couple
of years ago, but they are not far out. So it looks as though infobel
are fairly effective in locating Blo(o)r(e)s -
and
that there are not very many in Belgium
Infobel
also revealed:-
France One OOR and one
ORE
Spain Three OOR
Denmark One OOR and one ORE
After
which I gave up. Maybe I'll try to make contact with some of them
- when I get a spare moment.
ikb"
[Dr Ian Keith Bloor -founder of the Blo(o)r(e) Society]
Blore
Origins according to Ian Keith Bloor, 2001 as a result of the following
email to the Blo(o)r(e) Group
From
Hans Bloor, Australia July 2001
"Dear
Bloors
Can
someone please provide the definitive origin of the name Bloor - I
only know little snippets
My
father told me as a child that it was from the name Blower, yet the
"oo" appears to be very Dutch
Can a knowledgeable Bloor clan member assist!
Thank you!
Hans
Bloor
Dubbo
NSW Australia"
Ian's reply........
"Perhaps
we should start taking this seriously.
It
doesn't really help the course of 'scientific' investigation to provide
unsubstantiated suggestions based on 'what your grandmother told you.'
There
are, undoubtedly, multiple origins for the WORD 'blo(o)r(e)' in all
its many possible spellings.
Indeed,
it might be considered odd to find a language in which this particular
combination of letters or sounds did NOT occur.
Perhaps
someone might have time to search through the dictionaries of all
the known languages and discover just how many times it does occur
and what various meanings it may have.
Perhaps
someone else (maybe all of us) should try searching through the telephone
directories of all the countries that we visit for Blo(o)r(e)s or
their local equivalents (Bloer perhaps)
Perhaps
those of us who do have grandparental anecdotes to tell could spend
a little time researching them - finding some corroborating evidence
- before sharing them in their raw form with everybody else.
I
can speak only from my own experience of the responses we have had
to the presence on the Internet of The Blo(o)r(e0 Society.
We
have not had any response from Flemish Blo(o)(e)r(e)s!
Nothing
from French Blo(i)r(e)s.
Nothing
from Dutch or Armenian Blo(o)r(e)s.
Nothing
but links that we can trace back to England and, in most cases, to
Staffordshire or Derbyshire.
If
there are other Blo(o)r(e)s out there who can trace their ancestors
to Flanders, France, Holland, Armenia - or wherever - maybe they would
like to contact me.
Dr
Ian K Bloor
Chairman
of The Blo(o)r(e) Society"
And...
more from Ian..............
"Dutch?
Naah!
On
the other hand, I have found a place called Val de Blore north of
Nice (France) - so maybe we are all French.
Although
there are archaeological excavations and digs in sites such as Shresh
Bloor and Mokhra Bloor, in the vicinity of modern day City of St Etchmiadzin
[in Armenia] that have revealed layers of early prehistoric settlements,
the oldest of which dates back to the Stone Age - so maybe we are
all Armenian."
Shall
keep you posted.......... on new updates as they occur..... but me thinks
Ian may have had the last say on this one.....