Firby

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Firby is a toponym and family name found throughout the Anglosphere. It is from the Old English personal name Friði + býr 'farm', its Middle English spelling was Fritheby, since Gallicised into Early Modern English as Firby, although numerous spellings (Furby, Furbee, Ferby and Furbay) have existed since Modern English. Related English families are Fitzhugh of Ravensworth and Randolph of Middleham, both of whom also descend from Bretons since the Harrying of the North and were Lancastrian partisans in the Wars of the Roses.

1 United Kingdom
2 Canada
3 Australia
4 United States
5 Unknown
6 External links

[edit] United Kingdom

Firby is 685 acres and a Liberty of Richmondshire, in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, also part to the Diocese of Middlesbrough. Some places within Firby are: Firby Hall, Firby or Christ's Hospital, John Clapham House, Firby Grange (see Jervaulx Abbey), Low Ash Bank and High Ash Bank, Mile House Farm and Manley Farm. There is also a chapel and Bedale Beck is adjacent to the north. The worth of Firby at the time of Domesday Book's compilation was 13 shillings, compared to its earlier worth under Edwin, Earl of Mercia as 10 shillings. Fritheby was part of Alain Le Roux's Honour of Richmond that was divided to the Middleham estate of Ribald, before becoming the residence of Reynald Fitz Alan (Reginaldo filius Alano). Reynald was a younger brother of Brian Fitz Alan, Lord of Bedale. Both men were younger brothers of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany and illegitimate sons of Alan de Bretagne, 1st Earl of Richmond. Although Reynald's descendents assumed the surname Fritheby, they were tenants of Miles Stapleton, whose family invited their Scargill relatives to live there [1]. It is unclear how Firby passed to the paternal family of Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron, whom owned the manor of Well. Harry Rouse, Esq. lived at Firby Hall, being J.P. and Deputy-Lieutenant for the North Riding of Yorkshire. From Milbanks, the estate passed onto Ropners.

There is a Firby Road at Gallowfield's Trading Estate in Richmond, North Riding of Yorkshire.

There is a Firby Lane in Ripon. (c.f. Richmond, West Riding of Yorkshire)

There is a hamlet named Firby in Fawkham. (c.f. Richmond)

As can easily be surmised, English toponymy regarding Richmond and Firby have rather close parallels; both are settlements in the North and West Ridings of York, as well as having a presence in the London area.

Firbys in the 20th century relocated to Firby Close in Stockton-on-Tees and Firby Close in Hartlepool, within what was known as Cleveland, England. Two S.S. Firby ships were built in Stockton-on-Tees. One of the ships was a casualty of a Nazi-Germany U-boat under commander Herman Schultz, while the second ship was scrapped in the latter half of that century. Their shipping association in West Hartlepool was promoted by the Ropner family[2] of Thorpe Perrow[3], which lies about a mile SW from Firby in the parish of Well. Bill Firby was an early 21st Century Labour Party (UK) Councillor for Deerness Valley in County Durham.

[edit] Canada

Bayham, Ontario in Canada has a Firby Cemetery now allotted to the local Methodist congregation and the family came with Thomas Talbot (Upper Canada). Captain William Firby commanded the Landsdowne on the Great Lakes border. There is a Furby House Books in Port Hope, Ontario. Furby Street Community Garden is in Winnipeg, Manitoba upon Red River Colony. Firby Court in Coquitlam, British Columbia is due to Fort Vancouver.

[edit] Australia

Firby Street in Cloverdale, Western Australia dates back to the Swan River Colony.

[edit] United States

Darby-Firby Neighborhood Corporation is in Yorktown, Virginia. Firby Road was founded by a gentleman associated with Sir William Berkeley's tenure as governor for the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. Furbee School and Furbee Cemetery in Marion County, West Virginia; Furbee Ridge and Furbee Run in Wetzel County, West Virginia; Furbay Cemetery in Harrison County, Ohio were all once part of York County, Virginia and may have been settled because of the Ohio Company.

[edit] Unknown

Another and less important township of Firby is west of Westow civil parish, Buckrose wapentake, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Today, this place is administered within Ryedale in the North York Moors. The Yorkshire footpath, Centenary Way, passes through from south to north in the pasture. The North Eastern Railway (UK) parallels the River Derwent, Yorkshire along the north. Huttons Ambo (named after the township northeast of here) Angling Club is hosted at the hall. Some names of places within Firby include: Firby Hall, Firby Wood, Firby Beck Fields, Coldwell Plantation, Jeffery Bog Plantation and St. Mary's Vicar House.

Census studies of the surname do not indicate that anyone bearing it had ever lived there.

There are two Newfoundland outports on the Grand Banks, called Furby's Cove in Hermitage and Furby's Harbour in Burgeo. They have probably been there since the Georgian era.

There is no internet source connecting these places to any other similarly named place.