Origin of Surname
Various possibilities exist for the origin of this surname. Busnel is a common name in Normandy and Brittany and is believed to have been derived from Burnel, another common name in the area, known also in Guernsey. In that Island, the 1309 Assizes Roll mentions Ralph Burnel, Chaplain, together with Philip and Colin, his brothers and Raulina and Alice, his sisters, as being landowners. A member of this family may well have migrated in the late 15th century from Guernsey to Jersey, as did several other families at that particular epoch.
Although less likely, the surname might also be connected with that of Brunel, and brun, the French for brown. Alternatively it is suggested that it could come from the diminutive of the the Nordic 'Bjorn' (the bear), or the Scandinavian name Burnouf.
Another argument has the name as a diminutive form of the French buse, a bird of prey of the falcon family. A coat of arms granted to the Busnel family of Brittany is recorded in Riestap's Armorial General and depicts a black buzzard on a silver shield.
Early records
Although it is quite often wrongly suggested that the name arrived in Jersey with 17th century Huguenot refugees, it was actually present in the Island at least a century earlier, making it more likely that the first Huguenot Buesnels, if there were any, arrived with the first wave of refugees, following the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. However, there are no Buesnels listed in the 17th century Abjurations.
It is also now known that the Buesnel family was established in the Island well before the first Huguenots arrived. Geoffrey Buesnel of St Clement is mentioned in the Extente of 1528, whilst there was baptised in St Saviour in 1540 Perronelle, daughter of Collas Buesnel and Collette, his wife. Collas Buesnel, her father, would have been born circa 1500, making him, in all probability, a younger contemporary of Geoffrey. It therefore seems likely, if not certain, that the Buesnels were established in Jersey in the 15th century, and perhaps before then. A Buesnel genealogy at the Société Jersiaise mentions the death of a Nicolas (or Collas) Buesnel in 1543, perhaps that of the same man.
Variants
- Busnel
- Buesnel
- Busnell
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of Nicolas Buesnel Tree expanded in 2023
- Descendants of Clement Buesnel - this tree has been absorbed into the tree above
Church records
- Buesnel baptisms in Jersey
- Buesnel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Buesnel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Buesnel burials in Jersey
Great War service
Occupation records
Family wills
Burial records
Two different Buesnel arms
researched by Julian Wilson
Family album
Lucille Buesnel and family members on Jersey's north coast
Lucille Lister, nee Buesnel, with her son and Celia Neal
Reuben James Buesnel with his wife Eva Grace, nee Angus. Eva died aged 36, and Reuben, aged 52
Reuben James Buesnel on his farm in New South Wales
Kathleen and Cyril Buesnel
Kathleen Buesnel and her sister in the 1940s
Clement Buesnel's barn in Canada
Eunice Buesnel
Winifred Norah Buesnel (1904-1969). She married Albert Enslin Kempster (1902-1986) in 1927 and they emigrated to Canada
Twins Harold and Evelyn Buesnel [1]
Twins Harold and Evelyn Buesnel
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A card sent to Mabel Buesnel in 1909
Probably the same Mabel, moved to St Saviour by 1911
Christmas greetings in 1911 to Master Buesnel. This was Philip George Buesnel, aged two at the time, the son of Philip and Georgina Bertram, nee Jeune. The couple were married in Grouville in 1904 and had a daughter Georgina, baptised in 1912. There is no baptism record for Philip George
Occupation curfew passes
Curfew passes issued to brothers Edwin Henry and Charles William Buesnel during the Occupation as members of the Honorary Police [2]
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
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
St Mary’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
St Peter’s Church cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
St Saviour
St Saviour
St Saviour
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
Memorial plaque in Australia
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
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
Notes and references
- ↑ We have not been able to place the twins in our Buesnel tree
- ↑ These cards are held by Jersey Archive. Visit The Archive online catalogue for more information. A subscription may be needed to view some of the site's content
