My main source of information has been the family pedigrees, of which I have copies, produced in 1904 in printed form by Lieut. Colonel Sir Alfred Welby K.B.E., the youngest son of Sir Glynne Earle Welby the 3rd Bart. In addition I have some manuscript pedigrees (origin unknown) which continue Alfred Welby's pedigree of the Multon and Gedney branches for a further hundred years into the 16th century. I have also had access to a book "Notices of the Family of Welby" printed in 1842 by "A member of the Family" who claims that all his information is authenticated by records he has traced; a copy of this book is held at Denton.

The Welbys appear to have taken their name from the village of Welby, near Grantham, the earliest records being of Rannulf de Wellebi, feudal tenant of Wido de Credun in Wellebi in 1086, John de Wellebi who held 1 Y2. Knight's fees in Wellebi in 1166 and Roger de Wellebi steward of Thomas de Multon in 1225.

Alfred Welby traces Kesteven branches in Welby, Ropsley and Harlaxton, as far as the end of the 15th Century, and the Multon (Moulton near Spalding) branch, which was founded by Roger de Wellebi, as far as Thomas Welby of Halstead who died in 1524 and Richard Welby of Gedney who died in 1527. Arms were borne by the Ropsley branch (John de Welby at Crecy in 1346) and also by the Multon branch but they were different.

We descend from a Denton branch originating with John Welby, Collector of Subsidy in Denton in 1523 but there has been doubt as to his forbears. Alfred Welby's researches led him to say "records do not confirm the belief that this family was a 15th or 16th Century offshoot of Welby of Multon or Gedney" and he suggests descent from the elder line of Welby or Ropsley. However the 1842 book states that a John Welby, son of Richard Welby of Gedney who died in 1527, bought a house and land in Denton in 1539 and was buried at Gedney in 1561. Although Alfred Welby's pedigree does not give Richard of Gedney's children the manuscript continuation includes a descendent John, buried in 1561, but in a different generation to the 1842 book. If the authenticity claimed for the 1842 book is accepted it seems fairly certain that we do descend from the Multon/Gedney branch and this view is supported by the List of Lincolnshire High Sheriffs. The first six Welbys to be High Sheriff, starting with Roger in 1397 and ending with Sir William K.B. in 1607 were all from the Multon/Gedney branch (Alfred Welby only records the first three) and the next was William of Denton in 1667 who used the Arms of the Multon branch as we do today.

To revert to the Denton branch, John's great-great-grandson William (b. 1604) bought Denton Manor and House from Sir William Thorold in 1648 and was succeeded in 1657 by his son William (b. 1639) who was High Sheriff in 1667 and bought the Manor of Welby in 1677 from William Everett; he died unmarried so that Denton passed to his younger brother Richard (b. 1656) whose grandson William Earle (b. 1734) was High Sheriff in 1796 and was created Baronet in 1801.

My grandfather Edward Montague Earle Welby (b. 1836) was fourth son of Sir Glynne Earle Welby the 3rd Bart.

[The name Earle was introduced as a family name because Ellinor, an elder sister of Richard (b. 1656), married Sir Richard Earle, Bart of Stragglethorpe and when their only son died unmarried he left Stragglethorpe to his uncle, Richard Welby. Sir William Earle Welby's first wife, Penelope, was the daughter of Sir John Glynne of Hawarden, Flint, and, starting with their grandson the 3rd Bart, Glynne has since been used as a christian name in the family from time to time.]