‘Atcherley’ (and variants Atcherly and Acherley) has been handed down as a surname or family name, from one generation to another, over a period of several hundred years. But it has also been passed on as a forename (usually, though not always, the second or third forename). My research into those who were given Atcherley as a first name or a ‘middle’ name has helped with my wider interests in the genealogy and family history of this ancient Shropshire lineage. It has also, inevitably, thrown up more than a few mysteries.
Surnames: A – C | D – F | G – J | K – N | O – S | T – W
In total I have found records relating to 109 people with Atcherley, Atcherly or Acherley shown as a forename. Most of these (80) are descendants of female Atcherleys who married, as follows:
33 children (Benbow, Bradshaw x 2, Corbett, Crowell, Edwards, Evans, Garcia, Hebson, Hemsted x 2, Holt, Jebb – including John Atcherley Jebb, pictured right, Jones, Key, Matthews x 6, McClymont, Perkins, Pugh x 3, Rose, Ryley, Shakeshaft, Skellorn, Taylor, Thomas, Vosper)
29 grandchildren (Benbow, Crowell, Davies, Dickin x 2, Downes, Edwards, ffolliott-Foster, Fouts, Garcia, Jebb x 3, Jones x 4, Juckes, Lee, Needham, Parsons, Patterson, Phillips, Robinson x 3, Skellorn, Spark, Tilley)
9 great grandchildren (Dew, Dobell, Downes, Davies, Fouts, Jones, Juckes, Rider, Tetlow)
6 great great grandchildren (Benbow, Bryson, Bussell, Cope, Dew, Downes)
3 great great great grandchildren: (Downes x2, Rider)
There were a few who gained their Atcherley forename in honour of uncles/aunts or grand/great uncles/aunts:
1 niece (Elesmere/Elsmore)
1 nephew (Lavers)
1 grandniece / great niece (Ashley)
1 grandnephew / great nephew (Ashley)
Others were connected to members of the Atcherley family not by blood but in other ways:
1 grandchild of an Atcherley spouse (Symes)
2 great grandchildren of an Atcherley spouse (Wright x 2)
1 first cousin of an Atcherley spouse (Gordon)
3 others (Massy, Nicholls, Wiggin)
Of the remaining 18 people:
1, descended from the spouse of an Atcherley, changed his name and gave himself an Atcherley forename (and, in part, an Atcherley surname) (Atcherley-Symes)
4 appear in records where the forename Atcherley (or a variant) was attributed in error (Bagnall, Edwards, Kirkland, Wallis)
13 were given Atcherley (or a variant) as a forename for reasons which are as yet unknown (Buxey x 3, Crosbie, Evans, Hawkins, Holmes, Mills, Moore, Nixon, Thomas, Tippett, Whatham)
