Woulfe;
Variant Spellings; Wolfe, Wolff.
It may be said that the name Woulfe or Wolfe springs from three sources. There is the Name Ulf of Norse origin which is Wolfe in English and there is the old Gaelic name O Mactire; mactire being the Irish for wolf. However there is no doubt that the majority of the Woulfes are Norman in descent; the name is translated into Irish as de Bhulbh.
The Woulfes are to be found in County Kildare and Co Limerick, while the O Mactires are in East County Cork.
Although the Woulfes never formed septs in the Gaelic pattern they were thoroughly anti-English people. They lost much of their territory in Cork and Limerick as a result of their participation in the Geraldine War and they were also prominent in resisting Cromwell. General James Woulfe (1727-1759), the hero of Quebec is descended from the Limerick Woulfes.
Father James Woulfe was hanged after the Siege of Limerick in 1651; Peter Woulfe (1727-1803), mineralogist and inventor of Woulfe’s bottle and Father Patrick Woulfe, author of Irish Names and Surnames were all from the Limerick branch.
Arthur Woulfe (1739-1803), killed in the Emmet Rising and Rev. Charles Wolfe author of the poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore" were from Co. Kildare.
The motto of the Wolfe coat of arms is 'Coilean Uasal'.
Coat of Arms
Woulfe
Where the Family Lived (Blue Area)
Addresses for More Information
Ireland
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Local Studies, Carraig, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (Sean Murphy, MA, Director)
General Register Office, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 671 1000
Website http://www.doh.ie/manual/chap4/gere.htm
National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 478 3711
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 603 0200
Website www.heanet.ie/natlib
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Street, Belfast BT9 6NYY, Northern Ireland
Telephone (01232) 251319.
Website http://proni.nics.gov.uk/index.htm
University College Dublin, Adult Education Office, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Website http://www.ucd.ie/delltti
Britain
Family Records Centre, London, England.
Website http://pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm
Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey, England.
Website http://www.pro.gov.uk
General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Website http://www.open.gov.uk/index.html
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
Website http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.htm
North America
Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, Family History Information, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Website http://lds.org/en/ 2 how do I begin/0- how do I begin.html
Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site
Website http://www.familytreemaker.com/index.html
The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), P.O. Box 619 Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.
Website http://tiari.ie
Irish Genealogical Society International, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Website http://www.rootsweb.com irish/index.html
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston Massachusetts, USA.
Website http://nehgs.org/main-01.htm
Australasia
Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Website http://www.alphalink.com/au/esv
National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Website http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Home_Page.html
National Archives of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Website http://www.archives.dia.gov.nz
List of Links
Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet: Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Website http://www.cyndilist.com/ireland.htm
UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service.
Website http://www.genuki.org.uk
Copyright © 1998 by A. MacDarragh Burke, MD
All Rights Reserved.