Family > Dingley

This page is work-in-progress. Last changed October 2003.

DINGLEY & DYNELEY families

My Dingley ancestors originated in the Isle of Wight (IoW): Mabel DINGLEY (-1638) who married Barnaby LEIGH (1560-1626). In trying to work out her ancestors and their descendants I have come across lots of references to the name over many counties. In order to help me understand their possible relationships and also to let other people, who might be interested, share what I have found (and hopefully correct and add to it) I have summarised some things on this web site.

Dingley, Dyneley, Dinelay, ... At first I thought that Dingley was probably a distinct surname from Dyneley as it had a "g" in it. However, in many of the early records that I have looked at I have found clear evidence that the same people had their surname spelt both with and without the "g", as well as more obvious variations between "y" and "i", "e" and "a" etc.

Neverthless, I believe that some broad conclusions can be drawn despite the vagaries of spelling:

• The Lancashire Dyneleys took their name from a Lancashire place called Dyneley, and called themselves "de Dyneley".
• As these Dyneleys spread south to places like Worcestershire and Hampshire, the Dingley variants occurred. For example, I believe that the IoW Dingleys most likely originated in Lancashire.
• On the other hand, the Dingleys from a place in Northamptonshire called Dingley probably did not get called Dyneley.

It looks like Oliver DE DYNELAY, the king's clerk, was the first of the Lancashire de Dyneleys to travel significantly. He presented to many churches over England in the 1340s. However, it is not until about the 1360s that Robert DE DYNELEY and his brother Richard from Lancashire started to spread their wings and make their presence appear in records outside Lancashire and Yorkshire. The earliest record of a DE DYNELEY using the name DINGLEY (with a 'g'), that I have found, is 1374. Conversely, DINGLEYs (with a 'g') in the earlier records are not likely to be from the Lancashire family.

Some later authors have adopted particular spelling convention, as have I, choosing "DINGLEY" as the default. However, if I am quoting from a source I try to use the spelling from that source. The end result, I am afraid, is that these pages use quite a mixture of spellings.

The "Dingley Pedigree" by Gavin Taylor has been of great help to me. In trying to understand this Pedigree I have obtained information from alternative sources which, ideally, are contemporary with the events. Assessment of sources has led me to propose some variations from the Pedigree.

There are very few modern Dingleys on this web site - most are pre-19th century and go back to the 14th century.

This web site was started in September 2003 having been collecting information over the preceding few years. It is very much work in progress and liable to change. Information is not guaranteed to be correct. Comments, questions, corrections, etc. are welcome to: ptcutmore@cix.co.uk