Treffry is a
Cornish surname. The first record of the name Treffry is found in Cornwall, where they lived at Treffry near
Lanhydrock
Lanhydrock ( kw, Lannhedrek, meaning "church enclosure of St Hydrock") is a civil parish centred on a country estate and mansion in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The parish lies south of the town of Bodmin and is bounded to the north by Bodmin pa ...
. A Roger Treffry was born about 1260 and his descendant John Treffry was living in 1658.
History
In 1457 French marauders besieged the family's home at
Place House
Place House is a Grade I listed building located in Fowey, Cornwall, England. Home of the Treffry family since the thirteenth century, the original structure was a fifteenth-century tower, which was defended against the French in 1475 by Elizabet ...
in
Fowey
Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...
, to be repulsed by Elizabeth Treffry who gathered men together and allegedly poured melted lead, stripped from the roof, upon the invaders. Later, her husband Thomas Treffry is said to have built a tower to protect the building from further French attacks. A possible branch of the family lived at Rooke in the parish of
.
Joseph Austen Treffry
Joseph Thomas Austen's mother was born Susanna Ann Treffry and married Joseph Austen, hence Joseph Thomas Austen changed his name to Treffry when his father died. He became
High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1838 and is known to have been one of the first mine owners to provide sick pay to his miners and medical attention to not only the miner but also his family. Their present family seat is still at Place.
David Treffry of Place was
High Sheriff of Cornwall
Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:
The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriffs of all other English counties, ot ...
in 1991.
Variations
Many variations of the name Treffry are found in the archives: Trefry, Treffrey, Treffray, Trefrey, Trefry, Trefray, Trefary, Trevry, Trevney, Trevray, Trevers.
Heraldry
The most ancient known grant of a
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
to this family was:
*
Sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
, a
Chevron
Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to:
Science and technology
* Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines
* Chevron (anatomy), a bone
* '' Eulithis testata'', a moth
* Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...
between three Trees
Argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...
.
The crest was:
*A
Cornish chough
The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the w ...
's head
erased in the beak a sprig of laurel vert.
Other versions include:
*the tinctures "Tennée and Vert" for the trees
*sable a chevron between three trees erased (or "three hawthorns", or "three trefoils slipped") argent.
[Pascoe, W. H. (1979) ''A Cornish Armory''. Padstow: Lodenek Press; p. 104]
Notes
References
*Adelaide Rideout (1984) ''The Treffry Family''. Chichester: Phillimore {{ISBN, 0-85033-545-0
Treffry
Treffry is a Cornish surname. The first record of the name Treffry is found in Cornwall, where they lived at Treffry near Lanhydrock. A Roger Treffry was born about 1260 and his descendant John Treffry was living in 1658.
History
In 1457 French ...
People from Cornwall
Cornish-language surnames