Origin of surname
We have been unable to find any information specifically relating to the derivation of Battam, but Battams is a much more common English name, of Anglo-Saxon origin, and denoting someone living in a dell, hollow or broad valley, deriving from the old English "bothm, botm". In some instances the name may also be specifically locational from any of the various places in the north of England named with the above word, for example, Bottom (o'the Moor), Lancashire; and Bottoms in South Nottinghamshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Early records
The earliest Battam records are the burial of Mathieu, a soldier, in 1667, and the baptisms of William and Richard, sons of William and Catherine Yong (Jong?) in 1689 and 1691 respectively, but this line appears to have died out. Richard was buried in the same year that he was born. William and Catherine were married in St Clement in 1687.
It is believed that brothers William and John Battam moved from Kent to Jersey where they married Blampied sisters (see tree below). Some sources show their father John born in St Clement, and his father John dying in Jersey, but there are no church records to support this.
Variations
- Battam
- Battams
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Battam baptisms in Jersey
- Battam marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Battam marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Battam burials in Jersey
Biographies
Great War service
- Battam family members who served in World War 1
- Presentation to Lance-Corporal Harold Battam, MM, at the Town Hall
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Battam family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Battam : Christine Lydia Amelia , widow of Herbert Coombs, of Sandybrook Hospital, St Peter - 07/May/1970 , 07/May/1970 , D/Y/B1/145/10
- Battam : Georgina Mary , widow of Frederick Richard Crumpton, of St Helier House, St Helier and formerly of Casa-Loma, Langley Avenue, St Saviour - 07/May/1959 , 09/Feb/1971 , D/Y/B1/155/26
- Battam : Harold William , of 6, Cottage, 24, Seaton Place, St Helier - 22/Jul/1971 , 31/Dec/1971 , D/Y/B1/168/41
- Battam : Jane , of St Clement - 12/Feb/1868 , 14/Mar/1868 , D/Y/A/34/22
- Battam : Marie , nee Disquet, widow of Francis Philip Charles Bertram, of Zephyr Cottage, Dicq Road - 23/Jun/1947 , 06/Jul/1956 , D/Y/B1/36/31
Burial records
Family album
Harold Battam with colleague Charles Risbridger

By an extraordinary coincidence, the same week that the family picture above was sent to us by a Battam descendant, the postcard below was spotted on an online auction site. Our suspicion that it was sent by Harold Battam MM was confirmed by a handwriting comparison. Written perhaps to his former teacher, the card shows the theatre at Le Havre, which has been crudely scribbled over in an attempt to disguise the location and comply with wartime censorship requirements.
Unfortunately the card bears no postmark - just the censor's stamp - so it is impossible to know whether it was sent before or after the act of heroism which led to Harold being awarded the Military Medal. We suspect, however, that it was sent in 1915 when he must have passed through Le Havre with his regiment, on the way to the front
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs. Images of gravestones in other cemeteries will be added progressively
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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