(Vol. vi., p. 510.)
ONE OF THE FLOCK asks for information relative to the antiquity of the name
and family of Gosling. The Norman name of Gosselin is evidently the same as
that of Jocelyn, the tendency of the Norman dialect being to substitute a
hard _g_ for the _j_ or soft _g_, as _gambe_ for _jambe_, _guerbe_ for
_gerbe_. As a family name it is far from uncommon in Normandy, and many of
your antiquarian readers may recognise it as the name of a publisher at
Caen of works on the antiquities of that province. A family of the name of
Gosselin has been established for many centuries in the island of Guernsey.
William Gocelyn was one of those sworn upon the inquest as to the services,
customs, and liberties of the island, and the laws established by King
John, which inquest was confirmed by King Henry III. in the year 1248. In
the year 1331 an extent of the crown revenues, &c. was made by order of
Edward III., and in this document the name of Richard Gosselin appears as
one of the jury of the parish of St. Peter-Port.
A genealogy of the Guernsey family of Gosselin is to be found in the
appendix to Berry's history of that island, and it is there stated that--
"The first on record in Jersey is Robert Gosselin, who greatly assisted
in rescuing the castle of Mont Orgueil from the French in the reign of
Edward III., and was, for his gallant services, not only appointed
governor of the castle by that monarch, but presented with the arms
since borne by that family (viz. Gules, a {83} chevron between three
crescents ermine), as appears by the original grant under the great
seal of England, supposed to be upon record in the Tower of London, or
among the archives at Winchester. This Robert Gosselin some time after
settled in Guernsey, where he married Magdelaine, daughter of William
Maltravers, his majesty's lieutenant in that island."
On referring to Burke's _Armory_, I find that families of the name of
Gosselin, Gosling, and Gooseling all bear arms similar to those described
above, or but slightly differing, which affords a strong presumption that
they are all descended from the same stock. The arms of Gosselin of
Normandy are quite different.