Starting over 40 years ago as a study of my own family history with the surname Bardsley it proceeded quite well until I reached back to a James Bardsley born around 1775. James being one of the most common forenames at that time unfortunately led to there being a number of James Bardsleys born around that time and I couldn't easily identify which was my ancestor. Perhaps naively, I thought if I spent a little time researching the family history of all the James Bardsleys at that time I could prove them all and mine would drop out as the odd one.

It was naive, and so accidentally began a study that has never found a solution for me. It has however led to many friends around the world and has developed into the Bardsley One Name Study supported by membership of the Guild.

There are an estimated 25,000 Bardsleys of all time, with some 8,000 alive today. Many of those today reflect the building of the Empire in the 1800s emigrating to Australia, New Zealand and of course the USA.

Some 7,000 Bardsley related family structures have been built up so far and you can study those in  http://bardsley.one-name.net/

More later as time allows.