5 Feb 2025

I’ve been looking at William Amory and on FamilySearch I came across a William Ambry who had many of the same records attached.

For a while I believed that there were two families, the Ambry’s and the Amory’s both with a father of William. However, the addition of census records that all consistently give the name as Amory/Emery then I am now 96% convinced that this is a single family. I could find no instances of overlapping births for two families and it seems that William and Jane lived first in Ulgham and then moved to Felton after the birth of their first child.

Supporting the idea that there is one family with two name spellings is the baptism of a William Amory, son of William, in 1779 followed by a burial of William Ambry, son of William and Jane, in 1787. This seems likely to be the same person recorded with the two name spellings.

The only fact that leaves a lingering doubt is the burial of a William Amory aged 78 in 1815 which would place his birth at 1737, just 11 years before William Ambry which means they can’t be brothers. It seems odd that in a sea of Ambry records at that time a lone Amory burial turns up and it happens to have the name of the father of the earlier Amory baptisms.

William and his children were variously recorded in parish records as Amory or Ambry. This seemed to occur mostly in Felton and the neighbouring parish of Ulgham, It’s not obvious why Ambry was used as an alternate spelling but it is clear that the family pronounced their name as Amory. In later parish records and the census the name is recorded as Amory, Emmery, Emery or Amery.

All of the following were in the parish of Felton unless noted otherwise.

1772 Marriage of William Ambry and Jane Halliwel, in Ulgham
1773 Baptism of Margaret Ambry, dau of William, in Ulgham
1774 Baptism of Ann Amory, dau of William
1776 Baptism of Mary Amory, dau of William
1778 Marriage of John Coxon and Jane Ambrey, in Ulgham
1779 Baptism of William Amory, son of William
1781 Baptism of John Amory, son of William
1783 Baptism of Elizabeth Ambry, dau of William
1783 Baptism of William, Ambry, son of John
1786 Baptism of Jane Ambry, dau of William and Jane
1789 Baptism of Thomas Ambry, son of William and Jane
1791 Baptism of Charles Ambry, son of William and Jane
1794 Marriage of Ralph Thomson and Margaret Ambry
1796 Baptism of James Halliwell Ambry, son of William and Jane
1797 Burial of William Ambry son of William and Jane
1801 Marriage of Ann Emmery and John Peak, in Newcastle
1801 Baptism of Adam Ambry, son of Elizabeth
1806 Burial of Jane Ambry, wife of William, age 56 (born 1750)
1811 Baptism of James Ambry, son of John and Isabel
1812 Baptism of Jane Ambry, dau of Jane
1812 Baptism of Robert Gledston Ambry, son of Charles and Mary
1813 Baptism of Jane Ambry, dau of Charles and Mary
1814 Baptism of Jane Ambry, dau of John and Isabella
1815 Burial of William Amory, age 78 (born 1737)
1815 Baptism of Isabel Ambry, dau of Charles and Mary
1819 Baptism of Catharine Ambry, dau of John and Isbella
1822 Marriage of Thomas Ambry and Alice Tate
1823 Baptism of Ann Ambry, dau of John and Isabella
1823 Burial of William Ambry, age 75 (born 1748)
1828 Baptism of James Emery, son of Charles and Mary
1841 Census entry for John Amory, Warkworth, born 1783-1787 in county
1841 Census entry for James Emery, Yorkshire, born 1793-1797 out of county
1841 Census entry for Jane Amery, Felton, born 1782-1786 in county
1841 Census entry for Charles Amery, Felton, born 1791-1794 in county
1841 Census entry for Thomas Amery, Felton, born 1787-1791 in county
1851 Census entry for John Amery, Warkworth, born 1782 in Felton
1851 Census entry for James Emery, Yorkshire, born 1797 in Felton
1851 Census entry for Jane Emery, Felton, born 1786 in Felton
1851 Census entry for Charles Amery, Felton, born 1791 in Felton
1853 Burial of John Amory, in Warkworth
1861 Census entry for James Emery, Durham, born 1797 in Felton
1861 Census entry for Charles Amery, Felton, born 1789 in Felton

I have a theory that the recording of the name Ambry was a quirk by the curate, Angus Hutton. He started signing the Bishop’s Transcripts in June 1785, taking over from James Wilkinson, and stopped in December 1825, being succeeeded by George Dobson. This closely fits the period in which Ambry was first recorded in Felton (1783) and the last time (1823). Outside of those dates it was recorded as Amory or Emery. The name was consistently recorded as Ambry in the Parish of Ulgam though. (The stray burial of William Amory in 1815 is the sole exception to this!)

It could be that the curate of the parish was not local and had trouble understanding the accent. I found a good YouTube video with examples of speakers from Northumberland, which is similar but different to the more urban Geordie accent. Another, more recent video, gives an example of the Northumbrian language.