The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-08-17
CHANGING NAME IN ENGLAND.
Applications Are Granted by the
Crown Only for the hest
of ReasOnR.

NOW, the crown has the abSOiute
right to grant or withhold at it's pleas
ure it's license and authority for q
change of name, and if all one hears be
correct almost as many applications
are refused as are granted. Needless
10 say, the refusals are not the personal
refusals of her majesty, but emanate
from the home Office, through which
all petitions pass. and the home Office
has assumed to itself the decision as to
whether or not case shall be put for
ward for the personal consideration OF
her majesty. In no circumstances can
anyone compel either the home Office
to put forward petition, or her majes-
| ty to grant her license. But, Judging
from past experience, one is able to in
dicate generally the cases in which an
application is likely to be successful
To begin with, no case has ever been
known in which the crown has refused
its license for any change or assump-
ton which is in conformity with either
a will or settlement, SO that 1t may be
taken for granted that any application
| for royal license in pursuance OF either
| a will or settlement will be granted
without the least difficulty being raised.
Applicants desiring to assume q
name under other circumstances must
show what the crown can consider to be
| good and sufficient reason why the
change should be effected. The re-
| fusals as to which one hears occasions
| ally do not all seem to be dictated from
identical reasons, but it is difficult to
get exact particulars of such cases,
and though one would hesitate to say
that the granting of a royal license,
upon voluntary application was a
matter of the caprice of the crown or
it's officers, one cannot. however, def
nitely say that such-and-such case
would be invariably refused. Conse-
quently, one can only indicate the prob
| abilities of consent or refusal. These
will usually be found to be somewhat as
follows, though as each case has its spe-
| cial circumstances it is naturally diff
ficult to speak with any certainty.
An application to assume a name
where no descent can be shown from
| any family of such name, and where it
is mere matter of personal caprice, is
almost invariably refused. An applica-
ton to assume the name of family
from whom descent in the female line
exists is generally granted If it can be
shown that the female ancestor of that
name through whom descent is proved
was an heraldic heiress in blood, or
where the applicant can show that he is
an heir of line of any male of that fam
! lily. An application put forward In q
case of adoption to assume the name
of the guardian is usually granted it the
application is made by the guardian
and in his lifetime: but the matter is
on an entirely different footing If the
application is made merely at the ca
price of the ward, and after the death
of the guardian, when the latter has
left behind him no indication Of his
wish that his ward should adopt his
name An application to assume the
particle De- in front of a name is usal-
ally granted where unquestionable evi-
ience can be produced of descent from
some ancestor who so wrote his name.
The application of a husband to as
sumo his wife's name is usually gov
erned by the fact of the heirship OF
otherwise of the wife. IT she be an
; heiress in blood the application snsu-
ally granted, but it is not infrequently
refused in cases to the contrary. But
! the crown does not sanction the as
sumption of name by the wife while
her husband is alive. unless the hiis-
band joins in the petition to- assume
the same Genealogical Maga-
zine.