Brief Family Details

Tizzard - This family appears to originate in Dorset. The earliest records some far found are in Dorset at Bishops Caundle, Netherbury and Cattistock in the late 1500s. There is the odd occurrence in Sussex around Brighton at about 1590 so far unconnected and unexplained.
Origins of the name may be in France. The verb to weave is Tisser and a weaver is Tisserand in French. There may be also Hugenot connections but the instance of the early names above indicates that this may not be the whole story.
To date many variants of the name have been found including:-

Tazard, Tezard, Tezart, Tisard, Tiser, Tissar, Tissard, Tissarde, Tisser, Tisserd, Tiszard, Tiszer, Titsar, Titzar, Tizar, Tizard, Tizarde, Tizer, Tizerd, Tizzar, Tizzer, Tizzerd, Tuzor, Tysser, Tyzar, Tyzard, Tyzare, Tyzer.

Given regional and local dialects, combined with the literacy and penmanship of parish clerks, it seems that numerous combinations of double "ss" or "zz", "y" for "I", and "e" for "a" are possible.

Subsequently family groups have sprung up in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Notable Individuals

Thomas Henry Tizard (1839-1924) was an oceanographer and surveyor. His son Sir Henry Thomas (1885-1959) was a government scientist and during World War II was influencial in the development of radar and the involvement of the USA in technology affecting the war effort through his chairmanship of the Tizard Committee. More information on this aspect of his life can be found in Top Secret Exchange by David Zimmermann (ISBN 0-7735-1401-5).

The card index at present contains 1453 males, 1224 females and 1005 spouses and is growing daily.

Geographical Connections

There are at least two locations with Tizzard in the name. One is the community of Tizzard's Harbour in Newfoundland. Another is Tizard's Bank which is in the South China Sea. The latter may be associated with the Thomas Henry above but this has not been verified. Similarly the family connection with the first needs to be established. Also at least three universities in the UK have facilities named after a Tizard,these are Kent, Southampton and Imperial College.