Welcome to the OSBORNE Genealogy
Various Osborne Coat of Arms - NO claim is made to any. Images are (c) respective copyright holders.

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Osborne Information
Variations include: Osborn, Osborne, Osbourn, Osbourne, Osburn, Osburne, Osbern, Osberne, Osbron, Orsborn, Orsborne & Osbon

First found in Kent where the name was already established before Duke William of Normandy triumphed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Early records of Osbornes incude:

A family called Osbern lived in Derbyshire.

A man called Osbernus was registered as a presbyter in Scotland in 1097.

Gerard fil Oseberne lived in Huntingdonshire in 1273.

Robert Oseberne live in Oxford in 1273.

(source: http://www.heritagestores.com/)
(source: http://www.writing.com/main/images/item_id/324205)

Our oldest known progenitor (ancestor/forefather) on the OSBORNE patriline is John OSBORNE (buried 19/02/1728 in Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, England). John OSBORNE married Elizabeth (surname unknown) (buried 20/10/1698 in Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, England). John and Elizabeth OSBORNE had 4 children, including our direct ancestor, William OSBORNE (christened 26/07/1673 and buried 22/04/1749). However, there is some evidence of a William Osborne in Castlethorpe as far back as 1642. The Castlethorpe Village website contains a wealth of information about the Osborne family since those times. Click HERE for a location map.

The English surname is derived from the Old Norse (Danish/Viking) personal name Ásbjörn or Asbjørn, pronounced "awsbyern", and composed of the elements Ás (God/Holy) + björn (Bear) - most likely a reference to the colossal Ursus spelaeus, an ancient bear that roamed the plains of Europe and died out about 10,000 years ago after the end of the last ice age. The name was established in England before the Conquest, in the late Old English form Osbern, and was later reinforced by Norman Osbern. It was a very common name in Normandy in the Middle Ages, and many Normans who came to England after the conquest brought the name with them. The ancient family motto was "Pax in Bello" (latin), meaning "Peace in War".
(source: http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Osborne-name-meaning.ashx)
(source: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4)
(source: http://www.writing.com/main/images/item_id/324205)
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne)


Famous (and infamous) Osbornes in History
No known nobility or notoriety - but any information will be more than welcome!

Within the family tree - the following relatives have served in armed conflict:

Frank Stephens - Several campaigns in WWI, incl. Battle of Marne & Battle of Somme

Edwin Charles Brown (Killed in Action) - WWI, Pernios (France)

Frank Compton Osborne (Killed in Action) - WWI, Third Battle of Ypres Salient (Belgium), aka Passendale

Morris Owen Osborne - WWII, Siege of Malta

Anecdotal information of links to:

William Fitz-Osbern (11th century)

Osborne House (Isle of Wight)

William Fitz-Osbern was born in Poitiers cir. 1020/1030, the illegitimate son of Osbern Sieward of Normandy (Osbern the Seneschal) and brother of Osbern (later Bishop of Exeter). He married Adeline, sister of Ralph de Tosny. He assisted William the Conqueuer by leading the right wing of the forces at the Battle of Hastings, defeating King Harold at The Battle of Hastings (14 Oct 1066). After King William I's coronation (25th Dec 1066), he claimed all the land in England and distributed the land between himself and those men who had helped him at the Battle of Hastings. King William installed William Fitz-Osbern as one of the few leading Norman landowners and was given vast estates, notably in the Welsh Marshes and the Isle of Wight (Osborne House?) - together with the titles 1st Earl of Hereford in 1067 and Lord of Breteuil (in ?). While King William was away (1067), disturbances broke out in Kent, Herefordshire, and in the north of the country and Fitz Osbern played a leading role in putting down these rebellions. To maintain control over his own land Fitz Osbern built several castles including Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight and then in South Wales Chepstow (Striguil), Wigmore, Clifford Castle and Monmouth, as well as creating or improving the fortifications of the towns of Hereford and Shrewsbury. William Fitz Osbern was killed in Bavinchove, near Cassel, Ravenchoven in Flanders on 20-22/02/1071. The death-blow dealt by one of his own knights, named Gerbodon, who had previously unhorsed him, but we are left in doubt as to the motive of the felon. The Earl's body was carried by his men-at-arms to the Abbey of Cormeilles, in Normandy and buried there "amid much sorrow". His son Roger Fitz-Osbern inherited his title and estates, led an uprising against the King (1075), was quickly suppressed - and forfeited his estates and imprisoned for life. Ordericus Vitalis, the norman chronicler wrote in 1141 of the family being lost without trace "Truly the world's glory droops and withers like the flowers of grass; it is spent and scattered like smoke".
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/NORosbern.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_fitzOsbern
http://www.geneal.net/4772.htm
http://www.usbornefamilytree.com/williamfitzosbern.htm
http://www.packrat-pro.com/stevens/fin.htm
http://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/hprf.htm
The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy By Ordericus Vitalis, Léopold Delisle, Guizot (François)

For an excellent account of the establishment and rise to power of Fitz-Osbern's family, see D. C. Douglas, "The Ancestors of William Fitz Osbern," The English Historical Review, LIX (1944), 62-79. The account is more than genealogical; it is an investigation into early Norman history.

http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/nelson/ (esp. chapter 2)

Dukes of Leeds

John Osborne (playwright - 'Look Back in Anger')

Mountbatten family

are all presently under investigation, but as yet unverified, and most likely fanciful.



Useful Genealogical Links

UK National Archives	http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Ancestry.co.uk	Ancestry.co.uk
RootWeb.com	http://www.rootsweb.com/
Latter Day Saints	http://www.familysearch.org/
UK & Ireland Genealogy	http://www.genuki.org.uk/
Passenger Lists	http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/
Cyndi's List	http://www.cyndislist.com/

Technical
The Osborne Genealogy is maintained on a Brothers Keeper v6.2 btrieve database (http://www.bkwin.net/) by Chris Osborne (osborne.genealogy@gmail.com). This data is exported into the GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) file format (v5.5 standard), which is then converted into HTML (v4.01 standard) using GED-GEN v1.7 (http://www.ged-gen.com/) and uploaded to/published on our homepage, which is hosted on an Apache 2.0 Web Server. This website is optomised for Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5/6.0 and Netscape Navigator 6.0. Individual and Group Images have been re-sized at 75x100 and 400x300 pixels respectively, but you can email a request for the source image files (at higher/full resolution).


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Privacy is your Constitutional Right, which we understand and respect. We have taken reasonable steps to remove particular information about living persons from our webpages. This includes fullname, birthdate, educational data, financial transaction(s), medical history, criminal history and employment history. If you find that we have included any of the above for a living person in our webpages, please inform us and we will remove this. Notwithstanding this, there may be other information in our webpages that you may find embarrassing or think is a violation of your privacy. If so, please let us know.


SURNAMES | INDEX

A family tree is not just a collection of names, dates and places, so if you have any anecdotes or interesting stories about any of your (our) ancestors I would love to hear them. It's always so much better to know about their characters!! I have heard it said that the dates and places are the branches of the tree but the stories are the leaves... More than anything, we value your input. Corrections, additions, photos, comments/anecdotes and suggestions are more than welcome!! Please email Chris Osborne


© 2007-2008 Chris & Jenny Osborne. All rights reserved.