Origin of Surname
This is a name found frequently in Brittany and may be a variant of the personal name 'Raoul', or of Germanic origin derived from 'rad' (advice) and 'wald' (who governs). Alternatively it could come from the Germanic 'Radwulf', translating as 'wise wolf'.
Early records
The name, which is still found in Jersey today, did not make its first appearance until the late 19th century, when it is found in baptism records in St Saviour, St John, St Lawrence and St Helier, suggesting that either several members of the same family moved to the island at the same time, or the family rapidly spread between the parishes.
By the time of the 1891 census there were 75 Raults living in Jersey and, as can be seen from extracts from census records below, there were a number of different households spread throughout the island. The men were largely agricultural workers or farmers in their own right, although several were employed as servants. The total number of Raults had only grown to 79 by 1911.
The family/families almost certainly originated in Brittany and the little town of Erquy between St Malo and St Brieuc is one likely place where they originated.
It is noticeable that many of the children listed in the census returns as born in St Helier, Jersey, were not baptised in the parish.
We have been sent an outline family tree which we have attempted to expand using census returns and baptism records, but we have not been able to add very much detail. The tree is apparently confirmed by several versions on Ancestry and French genealogy sites, but close inspection suggests that they have all been copied from each other or one original source.
Because the details of the various Rault families and the rapid growth in numbers from 1861 to 1891 show the typical arrival in Jersey and establishment of a largely agricultural family from neighbouring Brittany in the second half of the 19th century, we have provided considerably more census information than is common for our other family pages. A study of the actual census records will yield information on even more Raults in 1881 and 1891.
The known variant Raux is found earlier in Jersey records and comes from Normandy, rather than Brittany. There is a Champs Raux in Trinity which may be of even earlier origin than the 1770s church records for Raux baptisms in neighbouring St John.
Variants
- Rault
- Raux
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Rault baptisms in Jersey
- Rault marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Rault marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Rault burials in Jersey
Great War service
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Rault 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
- Jacques Rault, 44 Dorset Street, St Helier - 11 August 1924, D/Y/A/84
- Jacques Rault, St Ouen - 12 November 1924, D/Y/A/84
- Louis Rault, Carrefour au Clerc, Grouville - 11 February 1922, D/Y/A/82
- Marie Rault, Gorey Village, Grouville, widow of Pierre Marie Mehaute - 24 January 1929, D/Y/A/89
- Mathurin Rault of Hennon, Côtes du Nord, France, now of St Lawrence - 2 July 1892, D/Y/A/51
- May Rault - 23 January 1935, D/Y/A/97
- Pierre Rault of St Martin - 7 December 1901, D/Y/A/60
- Pierre Rault, St Saviour - 17 January 1927, D/Y/A/87
- Yves Rault, Trinity - 18 November 1938, D/Y/A/103
Burial records
Family members
- The story of Nellie Rault, murdered in England after the Great War
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
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
Trinity Church cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
St Matthew’s, St Lawrence
St Matthew’s, St Lawrence
St Matthew’s, St Lawrence
St Matthew’s, St Lawrence
St Lawrence
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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