Origins of surname
There are three possible origins of this surname given by the Internet Surname Database. The first is from an early medieval English nickname for a cheerful, pleasant or roisterous person. This is derived from the Olde English gal, meaning jovial, rowdy or merry. The second source is from a personal name, introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 as 'Geil', and having the same meaning. The third possible source is from the Old Norman-French gaiole, meaning a jail, and thus a occupational surname for a jailer.
Early records
The name first appeared in Jersey records in 1766.
Variants
- Gale
- Gail
- Geil
- Geill
- Gayle
- Gails
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of George Gale
- Descendants of George Gale (Originating From Wiltshire)
- Descendants of John Gale
- Descendants of John Gale - 2 Added 2018
- Descendants of Charles Gale Added 2018
- Descendants of Richard Gale Added 2018
Church records
- Gale baptisms in Jersey
- Gale marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Gale marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Gale burials in Jersey
Great War service
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Gale 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
- Albert Gale, 17 Southlands, St Clement - 18 September 1937, D/Y/A/101
- Alice Gale, La Chasse, St Helier - 26 January 1933, D/Y/A/94
- Frederick Gale, 21 Windsor Road, St Helier - 17 April 1931, D/Y/A/91
- Ida Gale, 5 Broad Street, St Helier - 19 January 1944, D/Y/A/112
- Joseph Gale, St Brelade - 8 March 1923, D/Y/A/83
Family album
A postcard sent to Mrs Gale, at Rose Vale, St Brelade's Bay, in 1911. That year's census reveals that this was Ellen Gale, aged 47 at the time, and wife of Joseph, a fisherman. Joseph George, as he was baptised, was born in 1857, the son of another Joseph, and Esther de Ste Croix, and grandson of John Gale. He married Ellen Esther Huelin in St Saviour in 1889. Ellen was the daughter of Clement and Esther Huelin, also of St Brelade. Ellen and Joseph had no children.
Family businesses
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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
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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