Originating from Huguenot settlers in the 16th century

The noble Huguenot glass making families, de Hennezel, de Thietry and du Thisac (anglicised to Henzel, Henzey or Henzy, Tyttery and Tyzack) came from France to avoid persecution as Protestants in the European religious wars of the 16/17th centuries to settle in the Stourbridge and Newcastle areas where they could carry on their trade of glass making; the raw materials for glass making being readily available in these areas. A scholarly book by Sydney Grazebrook FRHS entitled Collections for a Genealogy of the Noble Families of Henzey, Tyttery and Tyzack published in 1877 gives a great deal of detail of these families and their involvement in the development of the Stourbridge glass trade. What does that have to do with Brettle? Well, the important event seems to have been the marriage of Joshua Henzey to Joan Brettell in 1619, the Brettells were an important family in Kingswinford and took their name from the Brettle township in which they lived according to John Hemingway, Archaeological Officer for Dudley Metropolitan Borough. For an expert review of the history and heraldry of the Henzey and the Brettell families see a journal The Herald and Genealogist Vol 1 by John Gough Nichols. Pages 421-438 refer to the Henzeys and Brettells and their interrelationship, I have reproduced some of the most relevant part of the document (page 423) below:

.... The eldest son, Joshua Henzell, or Henzey, was born 1600, and buried at Oldswinford, f 14 April 1660. By his wife, Joan Brettell (whose tombstone, still existing, states that she died 19 Feb. 1671, aged 82), he had issue:

1 . Thomas Henzey, of Hungary Hill and Amblecote, born 1640; died 3 May, 1712; buried at Oldswinford, of whom presently.

2. Edward Henzey, Henzel, or Ensell, of Mill Lane, Stourbridge, married Dorothy Cooper^ and had: + 1. Thomas.

2. Sarah, wife of Moulton. 3. Edward, married Dorothy Spittle. 4. Benjamin, who married and had a son also named Benjamin. 5. Elizabeth, wife of John Hickman, " uncle to Kichard the Chandler." 6. William.

7. Dorothy, wife of Thomas Pool, of Knutsford. .....

A further piece of interesting information was contained in the footnote of this page which again is reproduced below:

..... I may here state that persons of the name of Brettell exist in all stations of life in this neighbourhood, the illustrious " Bob" himself (though his name is usually spelled Brettle) being a native .....

Although it is not made explicit by John Gough Nichols I believe the Bob Brettle referred to is the famous "Black Country" boxer (see here, although all the references I can find says he was born in Portobello Edinburgh and fought in Birmingham: therefore not quite "a Black Country native").

A great deal of information on "Family of Brettell" can be found in this journal on pages 426-438, much of it relating to heraldry but there is one section of particular relevance which again I have reproduced below:

..... This family would also appear to be of French descent. Indeed it is traditionally derived from the de Breteuils, of Normandy. But it was established in the neighbourhood of Stourbridge (where the name is now extremely common) at the commencement of the sixteenth century, if not earlier.(9) In 15 Henry VII. a Roger Brettyl, or Brethull, held a garden in Romsley under the Abbot of Hales Owen, as also le Heyes; for the former of which he paid sixteen shillings, and for the latter as many pence.* In the year 1617 John Brettell and Mary Henzeye were married at Oldswinford, and it has been seen that Joshua Henzey married a lady of the same name. These intermarriages would almost lead one to imagine that the Brettells were also refugees ; yet the year we find Roger at Romsley (where, as it will shortly be seen, Brettells resided two centuries afterwards,) was prior to any of the great persecutions, and in fact prior to the Reformation. There are two distinct families of Brettell in this neighbourhood, no doubt of common origin, but not known to be related: the Brettells of Dudley and Brettell Lane, and that of which I am about to treat .....

The author continues a little later with this second branch of the Brettells with:

........ The family of which I am about to treat have, since the match with the heiress of Henzey,(10) borne the arms of that family, with a martlet for difference. William Bkettell, of Romsley Hill, Hales Owen, had issue

1. William, " whose sons were William, Edward, and Samuel."

2. Richard.

3. Nathan, who had Joseph of Woodgate, " and others." ........

Much more fascinating information on the Huguenot families and their introduction of glass making into the Stourbridge area, can also be found in a work on "The Origins of the Stour Valley Glass Industry". Although it is nice, romantically, to claim that “my ancestors came over with the Huguenots” it seems fairly clear that the Brettells were a pre-existing family (which according to John Gough Nichols split into a Brettell Lane and Halesowen branch) who only became associated with the Huguenot glass makers through marriage. This leads me onto the source of the pre-existing Brettell name which is "Origin from a geographic location, originally Bredhill".

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