Introduction to the Banisters name

The Banister family ancestry has spread over many centuries, almost reaching a millennium, and this web-site attempts to chronicle that family history and lineage. Of course the spelling of the name has changed a few times throughout this period due to phonetically interpreted mis-spelt ‘scribes’ and also the influence of the return to ‘English’ spelling preferences post the French ‘court’ influences.

The content of this web site has been assembled from many sources.

• The ‘Chronicles of Finchampstead’ in the County of Berkshire, by William Lyon, published in 1895
• Various personal documents, photographs, and verbal family discussions over the years
• Local informal surveying of the monuments and graves in;
• St James Churchyard at Finchampstead, Berkshire
• Church at Eversley, Hampshire (just over the river from Finchampstead)
• St James Parish records
• Browsing various Web sites that contain articles, references or descriptions of a ‘Banister’ in connection with an event associated with their profession or other family activities.
• References to various family based information taken from the ‘Berkshire Censuses’, viz; 1841, 186, etc.
• Other reference information gathered from sources such as;
• The ‘Garter Knights’
• The Reading Abbey
• Non local Parish records of Births, deaths, Marriage, Etc
• Books that refer to a Banister or two within the context of the content or story-line of those tomes.

Where it has been useful, reference has been made to other external information sources and, again where relevant, URL links have been inserted to link to these other web-sites (rather than simply replicate the information here) and also URL links are used to ‘transport’ you locally to other related pages within this web-site.