Digby Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Digby Family History

Digby Family History

The Digby ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Digby has a number of origins but is most often of Anglo-Saxon descent of locational origin from a place in County Lincolnshire that took its name from the old words 'diche' and 'byr', describing a dyke or farm settlement. In the ancient Domesday Book the name is recorded as 'Dicbi' in the year 1086. An early record of the name refers to a Geoffrey de Dyggeby who was recorded in the Fines List in Lincolnshire in the year 1250. Sir Everard Digby (1578-1606) was one of the planners of the Gunpowder Plot, the failed assassination attempt against King James I of England in the year 1605, for which he was hanged.

Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by the method of creating and updating these old reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.

The name Digby in Ireland is usually of immigrant origin having been introduced into the Province of Ulster by settlers from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. The Digby family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Digby descendants.