Welcome to Clan Bailey The Irish Clan

 Céad Mile Fáilte

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!

Welcome to the home of Clan Bailey international (Clan Bailey Idirnáisiúnta ); officially recognized by the Clans of Ireland (Finte na hÉireann) in the year 2020.

Clan Bailey is dedicated to creating a community of people with ancestral ties to, or genealogical, cultural, or historical interests in the name of Bailey (or its many variants). Please feel free to browse our site and learn more about the Association. 

Clan Bailey started as the official Bailey Family Association around 1860, but is hundreds of years older. Bailey publications became the norm with stated meetings. By the early 1900s, the Family Association was a few hundred members strong, though there was a decline during the period of the great depression through World War II.  

Later, a publication on William Bailey and his descendants was published in three volumes.  By 2002, the historical family association, commonly referred to as the Clan Bailey at gatherings, officially adopted the moniker of the Clan Bailey as this was most appropriate.  Our Clan Chief, Douglas Buchanan Bailey, 26th of Bailey, was elected under the generally accepted conventions by an Ad Hoc Derbfine and sworn in by oath as Chief in 2003.  Our tartan was registered with the tartan authority in Scotland and officially accepted on 01/07/2005. 

Membership in the Clan Bailey bonds you through blood and friendship to individuals. To be Celtic, and to be part of a Clan means you were tightly woven together by one common thread, to help each other through times of famine and rejoice together in times of plenty. 

The Chief of Clan Bailey and the family members are actively engaged in bringing back these ideals that were so important for the survival of our ancestors. 

Today we as a whole are weathering the season that has proven to be hard for so many of us, a time when we require each other for support and help. It is a reminder that the Clan is as important today as it was at the beginning.  We at Clan Bailey feel that we can make a difference in our communities as more and more people come into the Clan. 

Spellings of Bailey; Bayley, Baelee, Baeleigh, Baeley, Baelie, Baelley, Baely, Bailie, Bailley, Baily, and others. Who either descend from a Bailey generations ago or, those who Identify with our Goals who are not Bailey’s All are welcome.

We believe this as strongly today as our ancestors did long ago. We leave our differences at the door and we unite as a family, friends, and supporters as a group for the betterment of the whole. We work hard to be a pan Celtic resource for our community. Join us, and become a member.  

The early 17th century was a watershed in Ireland. It marked the destruction of Ireland's ancient Gaelic aristocracy following the Tudor re-conquest and cleared the way for the Plantation of Ulster. In 1607 the senior Gaelic Chiefs of Ulster (Ó Neill, Ó Donnell, and Maguire) left Ireland to recruit support in Spain but they never reached their intended destination and instead remained exiled. The English authorities in Dublin established real control over all of Ireland for the first time. They brought a centralized government to the entire island and successfully disarmed the native clans and their Chiefs. Far too many including the chiefs were forced to leave their homeland.

The Irish and more widely Celtic diaspora "the dispersion of any people from their original homeland" has had a global effect on the Bailey clan.  After the Diaspora, Baileys met as a clan group or groups outside Ireland and the Celtic kingdoms. The largest and most organized Bailey group was in the American colonies, later to becoming independent of England.