Blindell
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Blindell One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• DNA project
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Blindell One-Name Study

The Blindell One Name Study was started in 2007. This study started as an extension to my own family tree project and is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Margaret Eileen Green (nee Blindell, formerly Nolte / Franklin), and my very special maternal grandparents. This is a rare surname and no descendants of my 3x Great Grandfather, Benjamin Blindell (~1820-1860), carrying the Blindell surname survive today.

Variants

Primarily collecting data for the BLINDELL name but also its variants BLINDLE. BLINDEL, BLONDEL.

Origin of the surname

Blindell as a surname is not commonly in surname dictionaries. However, 12th century references state BLINDELL as a variant of the surname BLONDEL (source: Reaney, P.H., A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed. rev., Oxford University Press, 1997). Blondel, is a diminutive of blond, 'fair', of hair or complexion. References in 17th and 18th century Bedfordshire Parish Registers give variations from Blendell, Blondel, Blondell, Bloundel, Bloundell, Blundel, Blundell, Blundil, Blundle.

Historical occurrences

Sir James Blindell (1884-1937) knight, MP and businessman. Sir James Blindell was a UK Liberal Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland and Boston from 1929 until his death.

Ronald J. R. Blindell, businessman and Chairman of Brentford Football Club 1967 until his death in 1969. Regarded as the man who saved Brentford Football Club when in 1967 it was in danger of being taken over by Queens Park Rangers by personally granting an interest free loan of 104,000 GBP.

John Blindell, owner of Blindell's (John) Black Vein Steam Colliery Co., Pontypool in 1901.

Frequency of the name

From the index of the 1881 census produced by the Church of the Later Day Saints there were 59 recorded. This generates a frequency of 1 in 500,000 or 0.00015. According to the ONS database there are 101 instances of Blindell as of September 2002. This is a ranking of the 32,945th most popular surname.

Distribution of the name

In the 1881 census only 59 individuals have the Blindell surname. Of this the most populous counties are Hertfordshire (22 individuals), Bedfordshire (21 individuals) and Middlesex (11 individuals). Then very small numbers in Glamorgan, Kent and Northumberland.

Data

All of the Blindell entries in the General Register Offices for England and Wales (from 1837 to 2006) totalling over 600 entries have been indexed (260 births, 209 marrages and 202 deaths). The 39 National Burial Index entries have also been added. A single Blindell individual has been identified in the available BMD Scottish records this being the marriage entry in 1882 for Robert Blindell, a seaman. Blindell's from the 1841 to 1901 Census in England and Wales are now being catalogued to produce fragments of individual family pedigrees.

National Burial Index entries for Blindell and variants have now been indexed

Ongoing projects include:

• recording and linking individuals into families using the English and Welsh census records from 1841 to 1901;
• addition of Blindell / Blundell variants from the Bedfordshire Parish records due to the high incidence of the Luton registration entries post-1837 (20%);
• Parish register searches for Hertfordshire due to known concerntrations of the Blindell surname in this county and the most promising links to my branch of the family.
• linking of other Blindell family trees recently passed to me by other genealogists

Future projects include records pre-civil registration using parish records the Vital Index and IGI, USA and overseas records although initial online investigations in this area have only identified a small number of records.

This One Name Study also includes pedigrees submitted to me by other Blindell researchers all helping to build a picture of the family migration patterns across time. Further information and photographs would be much appreciated. If you can help or have Blindell's that need tracing then please contact me.

DNA project

A Blindell and variants Y-chromosome DNA project has been registered with one of the main test companies. More information can be found here.

Would any Blindell man who is interested in contributing please contact me for details of the project.

Links

• DNA Project - http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Blindell/

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Caroline Smith
3 Swallow Close,
Shefford,
Beds
SG17 5YR
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 30 April 2008.

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Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.
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