1066 to 1500
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"Waller
Family" page
Generation 1, Alured de Valer, a Norman knight who came over to England
with William
the Conqueror, fought at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, was
granted land in
England for his military services and whose name is in The Domesday Book.
Generation 2 and 3, Unknown de Valers. Statements have appeared in print
that Alured
de Valer fought with William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings, 14
Oct. 1066; was
given land in England for his military service; that his name is recorded in
The Domesday
Book (published in 1086) and that he died in 1183. Now, since there is a
spread of 117
years from the Battle of Hastings to the year 1183, it seems clear that the
same person
could not have taken part in that battle and lived until 1183. It has been
decided, at
least to our satisfaction, that two generations of Valers must have existed
between the
veteran of Hastings and the recorded death of an Alured in 1183.
Generation 4, Alured de Valer, who died in 1183, was a great grandson of
The Hero of
Hastings. He is mentioned on the mural tablet erected by Sir Jonathan Wathen
Waller (b.
1769) at Speldhurst Church, near Tonbridge Wells, in County Kent. He lived
at Newark,
Nottinghamshire and married Adelina de Hockerton.
Generation 5, John de Valer, born about 1165. We would appreciate any
documented
information we can get on this individual.
Generation 6, Henry de Valer, born about 1200. We would appreciate any
documented
information we can get on this individual.
Generation 7, Vilhelm de Valer, (ca. 1230-1278). We would appreciate any
documented
information we can get on this individual.
Generation 8, Valer de Valer, (ca. 1260-1316). We would appreciate any
documented
information we can get on this individual.
Generation 9, Henry de Valer (ca. 1295-1371), of Hockerton, who married
Alicia de
Mortimer. From this union sprang the Wallers of Groombridge Hall.
Generation 10, Thomas Waller (1330-1390), oldest son and heir. He
married Christina
Chalfunt, daughter of Henry Chalfunt. We do not know when the family left
the estate in
Nottinghamshire, given them by William the Conqueror, but it was this Thomas
Waller, of
Lamberthurst, who in 1360 purchased from Lord Clinton the estate known as
"Groombridge" (also spelled Gromebridge and Groomsbridge) to begin
a 244 year
tenure there by the Waller family. Records show License of Land, (Title) at
Billingston in
1407. Much earlier in Saxony times Groombridge had been a moated
castle.
This was the time of the Renaissance (1300-1550), a time of learning.
Thomas was a
contemporary of the great English writer, Geoffry Chaucer (1340-1400).
Modern English was
beginning to take shape as Normans began to use more of the Anglo-Saxon
language and
Saxons took up some of the Latin. Thomas changed the spelling of the family
name to
"Waller" and dropped the "de".
Generation 11, John Waller (1363-1420), married Margaret Lansdall,
daughter of Thomas
Lansdall of County Sussex.
Generation 12, Sir Richard Waller (1395-1462), Hero of Agincourt.
Knighted in the
field by King Henry V for capturing Prince Charles, the Duke of Orleans who
was commanding
the French forces. Sir Richard married Margaret Gulby and we have records of
two sons.
(see "A Very Interesting Waller" on the Home Page)
Generation 13e, Sir William Waller, born around 1420, oldest son and
heir, who
inherited Groombridge Castle and the title of Baronet, to become a part of a
line of
Baronets which was still going in 1975 in England.
Generation 13a, John Waller (ca.1420-1490), a younger brother of Sir
William Waller,
from whom sprang the Wallers of Beaconsfield, most, if not all, of the
Wallers in Virginia
and Tennessee, and Edmund Waller, Poet Laureate of England. John was settled
in Leigh,
County Kent, when he purchased Beaconsfield Castle in Buckinghamshire,
somewhere around
1450, and moved his family there to become the first of the Bucks Wallers
and to begin a
200 year tenure for the Waller Family. Beaconsfield is located about 25
miles northeast of
London on the main road to Oxford. He married Elizabeth Farinfold, daughter
of William of
Leigh, Kent.
At this point we are departing from the Baronet branch of the family.
American Waller
researchers can pick up the thread on John in Buckinghamshire County,
England.