Origin of Surname
This is a name from the Vienne and Deux-Sèvres departments of western France, indicating an inhabitant of La Garde or someone who originated there. It is derived from the French for a small fortress.
Early records
The name can be traced back to the late 16th century in Jersey, but is probably older than that.
Jean de La Garde, born in St Martin about 1556 and buried in 1598, is possibly the earliest recorded member of the family and is the Jean at the head of the family tree below
Payne's Armorial of Jersey
For a very long period, the family of De La Garde has been of consequence in Jersey. The French Barons of that name have repeatedly claimed it as a branch of their house — a house distinguished for its courage, ability, and Huguenot principles. Concurrent dates, with various other circumstances, combine to render the common origin of these two families highly probable; but the connexion has not been indubitably established, owing to the loss of early documents relating to the history of the Jersey branch.
The family formerly possessed an estate at Gorey, in the parish of Grouville, and is represented by Colonel Charles De La Garde, who married Mary, daughter of Brun Benest, by whom he has issue six daughters. A branch settled in England in the person of the Rev Philip De La Garde, sometime Rector of St Martin, Jersey, who married Sarah, second surviving daughter and co-heiress of Jonathan Chilwell, of Westerham, and Hadlow, Kent (who was the son of William Chilwell, of Vauxhall, by Mary, only daughter and heiress of John Calling, of Westerham, and who was allied to the families of Barstone, Pratt, and Mawbey, of Surrey, and that of Daulinge or Balling, of Kent, Surrey, and Suffolk), by Maria, only surviving daughter and heiress of John Balling, of London, merchant.
Another member of this family, Mary, daughter of the Rev Charles De La Garde, Rector of Grouville, was of considerable literary attainments. She wrote The Candid Friend and other works of no small merit, but was chiefly engaged as a contributor to the English Reviews of her time.
Martin De La Garde, the author of a poem of considerable beauty, entitled An Essay on Real Felicity, to which is prefixed a complimentary epistle, in verse, by John Hill, was probably of this family, but nothing is known of him save that he published his essay in 1736.
Variants
- De La Garde
- Delagarde
- Delgarde
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- De La Garde baptisms in Jersey
- De La Garde marriages in Jersey (groom)
- De La Garde marriages in Jersey (bride)
- De La Garde burials in Jersey
Family wills
This will created by a member of the de La Garde family is now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, date and reference number 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 1948, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- George de La Garde 5 February 1687 - D/Y/A/3
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
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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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