Origins of surname
The family which came to Jersey was from Somerset, where the name can be traced back through several generations, and there are also records, possibly earlier, in Yorkshire. We have not found anything which would explain the origin of the name, but it appears to be a corruption of Downyll, which was present in Crewkerne, Somerset in the early 17th century.
There is a suggestion that the family name was originally d'Ouville and that it arrived in England with William the Conqueror. If this is true, the family would either have come from Douville in Calvados, or one of the communes called d'Ouville, in Manche, Calvados or Seine-Maritime.
A further suggestion is that the name is a corruption of Dunhill, from the Irish Dun and Aill, meaning 'Fort of the Rock'.
Yet another suggestion is that the name does come from Dunhill, but is of English origin, meaning 'dark rock'.
Early records
The Dunells appear to have arrived in Jersey from Somerset in the 1820s, and the first baptisms on record are those of Mary Louisa, Ann Elizabeth, Thomas Westear and William John, children of Thomas and Mary Ann, in St Helier between 1827 and 1834. Thomas was a master plasterer when he came to Jersey and was later shown in census returns as a master builder. His wife is variously shown as Ann, in baptism records, and Mary or Mary Ann in census returns. There is no sign that his son had children and this family line appears to have died out in Jersey.
The Dunell family which founded a business at Beaumont, which is still in the extended family today, also came from Somerset in the 1860s. Brothers Elias, who became a farmer, and George (see tree below) both settled in Jersey and raised families.
Variants
- Dunell
- Downyll
- Dunnell, apparently a different family, with its origins in Norfolk
- Dunhill, possibly a variant
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Dunell baptisms in Jersey
- Dunell marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Dunell marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Dunell burials in Jersey
Great War service
Notes on our list, abbreviations used etc
- Clifford Dunell (1883-1932) (St B) son of George and Mary Le Bas, husband of Mary Louise Dunell, Private, RJGB
- William Frederick Dunell (1893-1948)(St B) son of William Thomas and Elizabeth Giles, Corporal, RFA, wounded
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Dunell 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
- Dunell : Alice Maud Mary , widow of Thomas George Carver, of 15, Windsor Road, St Helier - 25/Sep/1928 , 01/Feb/1952 , D/Y/B1/13/9
- Dunell : Annie Louisa Harriet , nee Fox, wife of John Bacter Dunell of Toohar, St Aubin, St Brelade - 11/Feb/1933 , 23/May/1950 , D/Y/B1/5/34
- Dunell : Clifford , Forest View, Beaumont, St Brelade 23/09/1924 Bequeaths to Ivy Marie Dunell the property Forest View; to Guy the property Somerset House, St Aubin, St Brelade - Unknown date , 30/Jan/1932 , D/Y/A/92/69
- Dunell : Edmund , Bel Royal, St Lawrence 4/02/1932 Bequeaths to The Sunday School of St Aubin's Wesleyan Chapel £100; to Dr Barnados Homes, London £100; to the Salvation Army £100 - Unknown date , 05/Nov/1943 , D/Y/A/111/90
- Dunell : Elias , 12 La Motte Street, St Helier - 30/Oct/1907 , 26/May/1913 , D/Y/A/72/41
- Dunell : George , St Aubin, St Brelade 7/10/1904 Bequeaths to Edmund Dunell and Clifford Dunell his shophouse and bakehouse at St Aubins - Unknown date , 05/Jan/1920 , D/Y/A/80/2
- Dunell : Gladys Emily , of 2, Excelsior Villas, St Brelade - 31/Oct/1966 , 07/Feb/1968 , D/Y/B1/116/23
- Dunell : Gwendoline Annie , widow of Stanley Morris Carver, of Calcutta House, Bellozanne Road, St Helier 25/03/1968 Note added - 01/Sep/1969 , 04/Feb/1970 , D/Y/B1/141/34
- Dunell : Thomas Westear , St Saviour - 13/Apr/1920 , 30/Apr/1920 , D/Y/A/80/58
Burial records
Family album
Family businesses
Thomas Dunell, coal merchant in 1859 (see family tree)
1873
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
St Brelade parish cemetery
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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