Origin of surname
We have been unable to find any information about the origin of this name, which has been present in Jersey either as Slous or Selous since the first half of the 17th century. It is not a name found in Normandy, although there are some mentions with either spelling in nearby Brittany, although we have found none as early as those in Jersey.
Historian and genealogist the Rev J A Messervy suggests that it is a corruption of the English Slow or Slowe, a family he said settled in Jersey in 1651.
Early records
But it would appear that the first member of the family to arrive in Jersey, some years earlier was Thomas, whose son was baptised Thomas Selous in St Brelade in 1637. At more or less the same time a Philippe - possibly a younger brother - must also have arrived. His three children Philippe, Jacques and Elizabeth were also baptised in St Brelade between 1655 and 1664. The first recorded marriage was that of Jean Selous and Jeanne Laurier, also in St Brelade, in 1664.
Indeed, the great majority of the 128 members of the family baptised in Jersey lived in St Brelade, although the family was present in St Lawrence in smaller numbers, and in the mid-19th century in St John.
Messervy, however, refers to the baptisms in 1653 in St Mary of Philippe, son of Philippe Slow, an English soldier, and his wife Marie Le Couteur.
George Balleine includes three members of the family in his Biographical Dictionary of Jersey, but it is unlikely that any of them, nor their parents, were born in Jersey.
They appear in the family tree below. It is most likely that Philippe Slous, at the head of the tree, was the Philippe who married Susanne Balleine at St Brelade in 1720, and appears in the earlier tree, but that has not been proved.
Variants
- Slous
- Selous
- Slow
Family records
Family trees
Family histories
Church records
- Slous baptisms in Jersey
- Slous marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Slous marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Slous burials in Jersey
Great War service
- John Garnet Malzard Selous (St B), Lieutenant RNVR, HMS Princess Margaret
Newspaper records
Family wills
Burial records
Family businesses
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
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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