FAQ
1. How is 'Aylett' pronounced.
Most Ayletts pronounce the name Ay-lett (rhyming with hay, say etc). Non Ayletts often guess at Eye-lett.
2. Is Aylett the same name as Ayloffe?
This often comes up in the US where a forged late 19thC document claimed the ancestor of the plantation slave-owning Ayletts of Virginia was actually a John Ayloffe, son of Sir Benjamin Ayloffe of Great Braxted. This is demonstrably false: Sir Benjamin existed but there is good evidence he never had a son John. The idea seems to be motivated by a desire to have aristocratic ancestors and ones that were strongly royalist during the Civil War. 17thC Essex Ayletts never made it higher up the social scale than small gentry. Their civil war positions varied and more were actively Parliamentary in sympathy.
3. Are there any famous Ayletts?
No Ayletts were really famous, but some made it into historical footnotes. Here are some, with references to their biographies where these exist on wikitree.
- John Aylett of Magdalen Laver - fought for Charles II (and seems to be the man the Virginian document would like as an ancestor, but provably never left Essex). See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aylett-72
- Dr Robert Aylett of Great Braxted - a senior judge, first for Charles II and then Parliament. Also a (minor) published poet. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aylett-540
- Colonel William Aylett of Fairfield, Virgina. The first definitely documented of the Ayletts of Virginia, though there is evidence that his probable father, another William, was a cousin of Dr Robert Aylett. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aylett-26
- Sir William Aylett (1760-1834) is the only Aylett knight, though this was not a British knighthood. He fought as a British Army officer (and was wounded) in the 1798 Napoleonic wars battle of Villiers-en-Couché in which the Austrian Emperor narrowly avoided capture. As a result he was made a Knight of the Imperial Order of Maria Thèresa in 1800. There is no record of any marriage and his 1834 will mentions no children.
4. Is there an Aylett coat of arms?
Two coats of arms are associated with the 17thC Essex small gentry families.
One is associated with William Aylett of Rivenall - see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aylett-41 for an illustration. No evidence of how and why this was awarded has been found.
The second is associated with John Aylett of Magdalen Laver and seems to have been awarded by Charles II as a result of his participation in many battles on the royalist side. Speculatively he may have wanted to distinguish himself from William's family, who at that point included some fervent Parliamentarions.