Origin of Surname
The family is thought to be of 15th century Breton origin and linked to the old spellings de Ryeulx, de Rieulx and de Rieux, which suggest that it is not as simple a derivation as a direct translation of the modern French "from the street" would suggest.
Rieux is a town and former lordship thirty kilometres to the north-west of Nantes, in Brittany, which gave its name to a most distinguished Breton family. Members of this family included Jean de Rieux (1342-1417), Sire de Rieux and Rochefort, a Breton commander, who from 1382 espoused the French cause, becoming a Marshal of France in 1397. Pierre de Rieux, Sire de Rochefort, was a Marshal of France in 1418, and a contemporary of his was Michel de Rieux, Sire du Fougeré. The political and military instability that led eventually to the fall of Brittany as an independent state in 1488, after the Battle of St Aubin-du-Cormier, gave to Jersey the families of Collas and Lerrier. They were apparently preceded by their countrymen, de Ryeulx, or de Rieux. Two early members of the Jersey branch of this family were Philippe de Rue, who was mentioned with his wife, the daughter of Guillaume Labey of St Saviour, in a contract dated 1444, [1] and Pasquerel de Rues, who was buried in St Saviour, 8th January 1470, and described as, (translated), "father of Jean". The choice of Christian name for his son, Jean de Rues, is interesting, as the head of the parent family during the 15th century was usually so named. Indeed, the Marshal commanding the Breton forces in 1488 was Jean IV de Rieux, Regent of Brittany. That kinsmen of his should have fled abroad during this and the previous generation in Breton history, is quite understandable. The evident affluence of the early generations of de Rieux in Jersey, would well support the likelihood.
Not to be confused with de Rieux, or de Rue, as it became spelt in Jersey, is de La Rue an essentially Guernsey name, although it has been present in Jersey since the 19th century, and is found in much older records. We show it as a separate family.
Early records
The name first appears in Jersey in the mid-15th century, above.
Island Officials
The de Rue family has given to the Island four Constables of St Mary, a Jurat and two priests.
Variants
- de Ryeulx
- de Rieulx
- La Rue
- Le Rue
- de Rue, 1461
- Derues 1461-7
- de La Rue, 1309
- de La Ruwe 1274
- de Rua 1227
- de Rues 1617
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of Jean de Rues
- Descendants of Lucas de Rue 2017
- Descendants of Andre Philippe La Rue Added 2018
- Descendants of Philippe de Rue Added 2022
Family histories
- De Rue family history, by the Rev J A Messervy
Church records
- De Rue baptisms in Jersey
- De Rue marriages in Jersey (groom)
- De Rue marriages in Jersey (bride)
- De Rue burials in Jersey
Great War service
Sons of George John de Rue and Elize Ann Payn
- George Payn de Rue (1884- ) (St C) Private, Hampshire Regiment
- Philip de Gruchy de Rue (1885- ) (St C), Private, Dorsetshire Regiment
- Arthur Godfray de Rue MM (1896- ) (St C), Corporal, Yorkshire Regiment - Presentation to Corporal de Rue at the Town Hall
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the de Rue family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1948, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Catherine de Rue of St Clement, bequeaths to the poor of St Clement, £16 of the order of the King 24 December 1808 - D/Y/A/17
- Catherine de Rue of St Clement, now of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Clement, £1 8 February 1837 - D/Y/A/24
- Ester de Ruë, widow of Jean du Pré 6 May 1743 - D/Y/A/7
- Esther de Rue of St Clement, now of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Clement, £1 18 April 1840 - D/Y/A/24
- Josué de Rue of St Clement, desires to be buried in St Clement's Cemetery, bequeaths to the poor of St Clement, 5s 29 November 1849 - D/Y/A/27
- Philippe de Rue 6 March 1719 - D/Y/A/5
Burial records
Family album
Annie Catherine Beckett, nee de Rue, and Arthur
%26Arthur.png)
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
Notes and references
- ↑ He and his wife were the parents of Sire Guillaume de Rues, priest, who witnessed several Wills in 1466. Philippe de Rues died within five weeks of his contemporary, Pasquerel de Rues, and was buried, as he had been, in St Saviour, 3rd February 1470: De la Croix, Jersey, ses Antiquités, etc., Vol. 2, 105, cited by the Rev. J. A. Messervy in Notices sur Quelques Anciennes Familles Jersiaises; DE RUE in ABSJ, IV, 250
