About us

The Barnett family descended from a culture which shaped England more than any other. Coming to England in the 5th century, the Angles and Saxons dominated the countryside by force and pushed the native Britons into Wales. Angles and Saxons were independent tribes, but their common Germanic heritage meant that their language and customs were similar.
Early Germanic society was made up of groups of families uniting around a chieftain or king. This social unit tended to remain small unless bands grouped together to accomplish a certain task, such as a war with another group. These groups would then break up after the task was complete. Anglo-Saxon Britain was divided into a bewildering number of kingdoms, some only short lived, until unification under Egbert in the 9th century. Even with the merging of Angle and Saxon kingdoms, true cohesion was not achieved until after the Norman conquest.

After the successful Norman invasion of 1066 Anglo-Saxon rule came to an end. Despite this, the culture of the common man was largely an Anglo-Saxon culture. However, politics and high society was to be dominated by the Norman French. William the Conqueror (c. 1028-1087) abolished the great earldoms which had existed under the Anglo-Saxon rulers, thus removing a major source of domestic turmoil. English society ceased to resemble the old tribal structure consisting of bands of families grouped around different leaders. England was slowly developing into a nation.

The Barnett family was also facing a period of development, and was found in Lancashire, where they had settled in the Barrow-in-Furness area at the southern end of the Lake District. By 1400 they had branched to Sussex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and had also moved north into Scotland. The most significant branch was the Barnetts of Stratton
Park in Bedfordshire. The family flourished on their estates for many centuries, intermarrying with other distinguished families of the area.

Notable members of the family include James Barnett (c. 1760-1836), an English banker and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons and a Member of Parliament for Rochester (1806-1807) and (1816-1820.) Thomas Barnett (1799-1890), born in Birmingham, England, moved to Canada in the 1820s to become a museum proprietor, collector and innkeeper who managed museums and other tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ontario. He is credited for having built the first
substantial building in the area now known as ‘The Front’ at Niagara Falls, Canada.

What We Do

PRIVATE BANKERS

Many people do not realize that private banking requires some knowledge and skill in law. This Trust ensures our performance by not being weak in that regard.

We specialize in Private Banking (Surety) and Law.

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The surname Barnett is a name whose history on English soil dates back to the wave of migration that followed the Norman Conquest of England of 1066.

The Barnett family lived on or near land cleared for cultivation by burning off the forest. The name may also have been patronymic as in "'the son of Bernard,' or 'Barnard.'

The Cistercian monk gave a wonderful impetus in the 13th century to this name, already popular. A large number of Bernards sprang up in Furness after the Abbey came under the Bernardino rule.