Origins of surname
This name is derived from the personal name Brian, and ultimately from the Celtic brigh, meaning strong
Early records
The first appearance of this surname in Jersey records was the baptism of Benjamin, son of John and Ann Bryant, in St Helier in 1836
Variations
- Bryant
- Bryan
- Brian
- Brien
- Brient
- Briant
Family records
Church records
- Bryant baptisms in Jersey
- Bryant marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Bryant marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Bryant burials in Jersey
Family trees
Great War service
- Alfred Henry Bryant (1895-1917) (Plymouth) son of Alfred Henry and Eliza Ann Bryant, of Jersey, Private, Devonshire Regiment, killed in action
- Henry William Bryant (1873-1918) (Aldershot) son of John and Mary Ann Bryant of St Helier, Private, Australian Infantry, died of wounds
- George Reginald Bryant (1894- ) (Lancashire) son of Walter Charles and Elizabeth, of St Lawrence (St H), Second-Lieutenant Royal Berkshire Regiment
- Robert Bryant (1892- ) (St H) son of Charles Francis and Matilda Mary Ann Isherwood, Private, RASC
- Walter Bryant (1871- ) (St H), son of Jane, Private, Labour Corps
Occupation records
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the 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
- Charles Bryant of 15 Cheapside - 27 November 1893, D/Y/A/52
- Emily Bryan, St Helier, widow of James Gregory - 9 April 1947, D/Y/A/117
- Jane Bryant, 5 Elizabeth Place, Parade, St Helier - 8 December 1915, D/Y/A/74
- Jane Bryant, 9 Belmont Road, St Helier, widow of Louis Bremner Romeril - 2 June 1931, D/Y/A/91
- Joseph Bryan of Ardwick, Manchester, - 11 June 1873, D/Y/A/37
- William Bryant of St Helier - 5 February 1869, D/Y/A/34
Burial records
Family album
Family businesses
William Bryant
As these advertisements show, William Bryant had very diverse business interests. They were actually even more diverse than shown here because at the age of 40 he was not only running St Helier's public baths, but was also a coal merchant, a dealer in china and glass, and a shipowner.
William was born in Crediton, Devon, in 1822, the son of farmer John Bryant, and moved to Jersey some time before 1842, when he married Elizabeth de Ste Croix, daughter of carpenter James, at St Helier Parish Church. After spending some time trying to decipher William's trade, as shown on his marriage certificate, we decided that it was probably 'sett maker' - making the setts with which cobbled streets were surfaced.
William is listed among the principal Jersey shipowners of the 19th century, from 1846 to 1863, so he must have acquired his first ship at the age of 24. She was the 220-ton brig Elizabeth, built in County Durham. He was the owner from 1846 to 1853. Although the list of shipowners shows him among them for another ten years, we have not been able to discover which other ship(s) he owned.
William died, aged only 47, on 6 October 1868, leaving his widow to carry on his businesses. In his will he left her a third of his estate, with the remainign third to be divided between his surviving children.
William and Elizabeth had 12 children - William John (1843-1860), James Philip (1845- ), George Thomas (1848-1852), Eliza Ann (1850-1854), Elizabeth Jane (1847-1865), Julia Maria (1852-1853), Clara Matilda (1854- ), Alfred Henry (1855- ), Louisa Mary (1857- ), Emma Isabel (1858- ), Helene Lucy (1860-1861) and Walter Charles (1862- ).
Alfred Henry married Eliza Ann Voivenel in 1886, and they had a son, also Alfred Henry, who was killed in the Great War. Walter Charles married Elizabeth Haworth in Lancashire and they had four children. We have not been able to trace any further grandchildren of William Bryant, but as all his children were baptised in Methodist Churches, it is quite possible that any others who reached adulthood were also married by Methodist ministers.
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
Leslie Bryan, who was killed in the air raid on 28 June 1940, which signalled the start of the German Occupation of Jersey, was buried in Almorah Cemetery
The grave of Great War casualty Alfred Henry Bryant at H A C Cemetery, Ecoust St Mein
The grave of Great War casualty Henry William Bryant at St Pierre Cemetery, Amiens
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.
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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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