Hollebone Family Worldwide
Origins of the Hollebone Surname
The surname Hollebone is initially found only in East Sussex primalilary in the southern parishes of East Blatchington and South Heighton. There are a number of spelling variants of the name, Hollebon(e), Hollobon(e), Hollibon(e) and Hollybon(e). These without doubt arose in the times of illiteracy when family members relied on paish clerks or vicars to record family events.
My research has shown that regardless of the spelling the majority can be shown to descend from the same source. The Hollebones can be shown to to have migrated from East Blatchington up the River Ouse valley to Lewes and West Firle, then east to Hailsham and then south to Willingdon and Eastbourne. In the early 1800’s there was also migration into London and a number of members emigrated to Australia. As a result there are as many Hollebones in Australia as remain in Sussex.
I have also traced the surname Hallybone or Halleybone which occurs in the east London dockland parishes both north and south of the river. The earliest records can be traced to 1804. It is possible that these Halleybones originated from Hollebones who moved into the eastend of London from Sussex, but to date I have been unable to prove the link and to-date they are not included in this study.
I have seached all books on Surname origins for an entry for Hollebone and I have found ony one source as follows;
English Surname Series – The Surnames of Sussex by Richard McKinley Leopards Head Press Ltd 1988 (ISBN ) 904920 14 3
Page 114 In section dealing with locative surnames from place names outside Sussex within the Rape of Lewes
There are a small number of surnames in the rape from place names in adjoining counties which do not appear before 1524, but which have not been found there before the 15th Century, such as Holibone, from Holybourne (Hants) or Hollingbourne (Kent). Source Feudal Aids vol v p 152 Sussex Fines vol iii p 286, Sussex Archaeology Collections vol xviii p 29 vol cvi p 100
Notwithstanding this information I can find no record of the surname Hollebone outside of Sussex before 1542 NEXT