1 The Baileys originating (as a spelling corruption) from the de Balliols is disputed mainly by Balliol College at the University of Oxford. As is often the case, present day members of the gentry do not like to downplay the status associated with their surname (or to be precise their title that has been adopted as a Surname) by admitting that their Surname is shared by a significant amount of the population. No other explanation is proffered or hypthosised by the college or other Geniologists sharing this view.

2 There are some Geniologists who dispute that if you have the surname “Spencer” (or you are related to somebody with the Spencer Surname) that you are in any way related to the aristocratic Spencers of Althorpe or with the preceding de Spencers (to be accurate, also a title). Althorpe take a more pragmatic view, and, at the time of writing, are kindly researching the Spencers of Kingsbury, Warwickshire (and Kent) on our behalf. The views of those who advocate this view will say that the Surname “Spencer” simply comes from somebody who was considered to be too poor or of such insignificance, as Servants (despensers), that they historically were not worthy of a Surname. Where this theory completely falls apart is apparent when researching the history of the Aristocratic Spencers that is a fascinating story in its own right. In brief, the despencers assisted King William the Conqueror in about 1066 and were subseqently granted the right to bear arms and the despenser/despencer title. 

The Spencers (including Sir John of Wormleighton, Warwickshire who went on to purchase and develop Althorp) also became sheep farmers who became wealthy through exceptionally talented business networking skills and subsequently the marriage of Spencer children that had come of age into the monarchy. Prince Harry and William are not the first. There humble beginnings make me proud and inspire me. Where the modern day Spencer origins have been disputed, no other explanation is proffered by Geniologists sharing this view and there are very active studies of the Y-DNA haplogroups of those males with the Spencer Surname already connecting them back to Althorp through Bedfordshire, UK.

3 Given common corruptions of names, given poorer relations were often disregarded and given the lack of any other, even hypothesised, origin, as with a lot of geniology, the earlier records provided on the de Balliol family tree are educated best guesses, supported as far as possible by a mix of parish records, (including baptisms) and marriage bans between 1500 and 1800. As such, the views expressed on the de Balliol Society website are not fanciful and are reasonable conclusions to draw, particularly since everybody, by biology, is eventually related in any event.