Hi, my Family Tree building exercise has reached back to the Joseph White (mothers maiden surname) Jeffery, brother of John Jeffery, MP and Consul General in Portugal and relatives...
Jeffery’s family (said to be Quakers) were involved in the Newfoundland trade from Poole. His son was appointed to the lucrative collectorship of customs at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1802. They seem to have also been established at Trinity, Labrador & Newfoundland (then not part of Canada).
Now Joseph White Jeffery Born as Joseph White Jeffery in Newfoundland,
he changed his name to Joseph Jeffery Orchard in 1807.
Why? In my (limited) experience, surnames are usually changed due to a male line in a related family dying out and a stipulation in a Will that the benefactor change their surname to keep it in existence.
Joseph
Orchard (1790-1847) was born Joseph White Jeffery in Newfoundland,
and changed his name in 1807. In that year he was commissioned as an ensign in the Bengal European Regiment, rising to the rank of brevet colonel in 1846.
So, what happened in 1807 for the Jeffery family to change to Orchard?
I've tried as best I can to find any "Orchard" family that could be connected and gone back to 1665 in the Jeffery line but can't (yet) find any Orchard intermarrying...
Can any super brain find the connection for me?
What other reason (avoiding debt?

) could there be as I can't see that being successful in an Army career, especially with awards and promotions.
Thanks in advance while I cool my single grey brain cell down