Our lot (one family) arrived in Melbourne on board "Ferguson" in 1840. Many eventually settled in the Mallee of Victoria.
I am told there were quite a lot of Helyars in the Coker area and, some time after 1840, the people of the big house (Coker court) asked them to change the spelling to save confusion between the ordinary and the gentry. But spelling wasn't uniform until comparatively recently anyway. Maybe there is a relationship. Do you know any other information on Emily's family? We, too, had an Emily b.29/12/1832 Yeovil who married in 1852 Melbourne to George SWEETLAND b.26/7/1826 London d.24/6/1900? Fitzroy, Melb.
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The following from: "English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations" by Charles Wareing Bardsley, M.A. pp.247-8.
Helyar is an old West Country name. The old "Hellier" or "Helier" carries us back to a once well-known root. To "hill" or "hele" was to cover, and a "hilyer" was a roofer. The original Anglo-Saxon meaning is from "helar" to "heal over" - hence the extended meaning to roof a house.
Sir John Maundeville says with regard to the Tartars, "the helynge of their houses, and... The doors ben alle of woode", and John of Trevisa speaks of the English "Whyt cley and red" as useful "for to make crokkers and other vessels, and barned tyyl to hele with houses and churches." Gower, too, uses the word prettily, but perfectly naturally, when he says:
"She took up turves (turfs) of the lond,
withouten help of mannes hond,
all heled (covered) with the grene grass."
Amongst other of the many forms that still survive surnominally we have:
Hillyer... Hillier... Hellier... Hellyer...
Helman... and Hellman.
Earlier instances may be found in the Hundred Rolls. Such entries as Robert le Heliere or Will Heleman. Wat Tyler, the rebel of long ago was often called "Gualterus Helier" - the oldest form of his name. Thatcher, tiler and helier are all terms for the same kind of labour.
