There are approximately 3,619 people named Banner in the UK. Approximately 57 out of every million people in the UK are named Banner.
Bannar - Old French baniere meaning "banner", ultimately of Germanic origin. William Baner was assessed more than anyone else in the Hundred of Ham in the Lay Subsidy of 1334.
The first references I have to what may be my Bannar family come from the notebook of Baron Edward Hales.
A John Banner rented a house and lands in 1619-21, for which he paid £3 and 11 days labour per year.
The religious wars that embroiled most of Europe also created tension in England, which was concerned about Catholic France's persecution of its' Protestant minority. This led to an undeclared war in 1627 and Robert Banner was one of the 40 men Baron Hales and Francis Barnham mustered on May 25. They sent off to Southhampton with orders to obey their new captains.
It is not known if they were on any of the 42 ships of war, or 34 transports that the Duke of Buckingham led to the Protestant city of La Rochelle, in the Poitou region of France, the following month. After being refused entrance, Buckingham decided to besiege the fortress of Saint-Martin-de-Ré instead. A three month siege ensued. The climax came on October 7-8, when 29 out of 35 French ships eluded the English naval blockade to supply the garrison. This was followed by the arrival of 4,000 French troops. Buckingham sailed home in defeat.
The brief episode was to have tragic consequences for La Rochelle, which rose in rebellion against France during the siege. The English organized two naval expeditions to go to its' aid, but neither amounted to anything. La Rochelle surrender to the French in 1628. England's brief participation in the Thirty Years War (1618-48) ended in treaties with France in 1629 and Spain in 1630.