A Genealogical Guide to Woodchester,  Selsley and the south Cotswolds Graham Thomas FRSA

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On this page is a comprehensive, although not exhaustive list of over five hundred family names recorded in both Selsley and Woodchester. (You will also find extensive references to names elsewhere in this history of Woodchester and Selsley, particularly within the history of the churches).
The links at the bottom of the page go to additional information for the two parishes plus those of Avening, Kings Stanley, Minchinhampton, Nimpsfield, Rodborough and Stroud among many. In total you can access over five thousand names in this area of Gloucestershire.

Page Contents

• Woodchester Manor Owners (740-1922)
• Woodchester Subsidy Roll 1327
• Woodchester Subsidy Roll c. 1580
• Church Wardens (1587-1607)
• Men and Armour, Woodchester 1608
• Family Surnames occurring in Selsley and Woodchester
• Mill owners
• Monuments in the old Woodchester Church
• Clothiers buried in Woodchester Church Yard
• Freeholders in 1776
• Selsley Voters 1867
• 1881 Census extracts
• Woodchester Council Members 1894
• Names on the Woodchester War Memorial
• Names on the Selsley War Memorial
• Names on a photograph from 1919
• Fire Wardens 1938
• Immigrants to the Stroud Area
• Emigrants to Australia
• Links

Woodchester Manor Owners (740 - 1922)
 

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Woodchester Subsidy Roll 1327
John Adam, Robert Adam, Robert Braunche, Robert Bronegare, Henry Caperon, Edith Cokes, John le Huware, Richard Jones, Nicholas Llot, John Mautravers, William le Shephurde, Galfrido le Stedman, Roger le Steer, Richard Thoms, Alexander West, Hugo Wymond.

Woodchester Subsidy Roll c.1580
John Awoode, Thomas Birde, Thomas Browning, James Chapman, Edward Clooterbook,
John Cole, Elizabeth Cook, George Hucknall, W. Kinge, John Merrett, William Shillam, William Wellstead, Thomas Wilkins.

Church Wardens (1587-1603) at Woodchester
Aparie, Awood, Birde, Brownings, Cale, Clarke, Clukerbooke, Cooke, Davies, Ducket, Dudbridge, Evans, Huchfall, Kinge, Mill, Rice, Robins, Shillam, Wellstead.
 
 

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Family Surnames in Selsley and Woodchester

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Thomas Playne, 1769
22nd May 1769 Thomas Playne of Avening and Woodchester, clothier, bound by
Thomas Clutterbuck and Jeremiah Day, Churchwardens and John Rodway and Thomas Pitt,
overseers of the poor of Avening for £40.  Martha Walkley of Avening lately delivered of
a male bastard child and Thomas Playne is the father.

Millowners
 

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Monuments in the old church
 

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Immigrants to the Stroud Area
The following is from the Stroud News and Journal, July 1972.
'The arrival of the expelled immigrants provides no new phenomenon as far as
Gloucestershire is concerned.  There was the influx of Huguenot immigrants in
the sixteenth century and, from them, came such prominent families as those of
Paul, Clutterbuck, Hague, Malpass, Marmont, Player, Webb, and Ridler.

The introduction to the Clutterbuck pedigree says it is untrue that the family
came to Gloucestershire in the sixteenth century because of the persecution
inflicted by the Duke of Silva, and it suggests that the reason was more
likely due to commercial rather than religious causes.  Kenneth Porting in his
book "The Woolen Industry in the South West of England" supports this
contention.  There is nothing to suggest that the West of England cloth trade
was helped by alien immigration during the sixteenth century.  He says "the
arrival in England of foreign immigrants fleeing from Silva’s persecution
certainly changed cloth making in East Anglia, but it is important to stress
that in all areas the old broadcloth industry was a native one."

However, A. T. Playne in his "History of Avening & Minchinhampton" says that
originally his family were refugees or "immigrants from the Netherlands" and
there was a further immigration in 1662, this entry appearing in the Dover
Register:  Came from France, by reason of the late troubles, Jean de las
Pllaigne, linen weaver.  Besides the persecutions he was probably attracted by
the prosperity of his namesake relatives.

France Lynch is commonly associated with the settlement of Flemish weavers.
But when the W.I compiled their "Story of France Lynch & Chalford Hill" in
1957, they pointed out that a facile suggestion that the "France" was
connected with the Huguenot settlers of Elizabethan times, is now generally
rejected.

Miss Mary Rudd’s "History of Bisley" states that the house known as "Grey Cot"
formerly known as "Gordon House" in France Lynch was occupied by Huguenot
weavers.  For a short period of time there was a Huguenot settlement in
Woodchester Park where, in the early seventeenth century, they manufactured
glass.  The Glass House was discovered nearly 100 years ago by Basil Marmont
who found scores of fragments of vases, shaped drinking glasses, and bottles,
etc.'

Clothiers buried in Woodchester Church in the 18th Century
1701 Thomas Deane
1703 Benjamin Cambridge
1717 Stephen Dudbridge
1719 Nathaniel Peach
1727 Thomas Shurmar
1736 Andrew Haynes
1744 Joseph Dudbridge
1747 John Shurmar
1748 Richard Rogers
1750 Aaron Weeks
1762 Thomas Churches
1770 Edward Peach
1774 Sir O. Paul
There are other tombs for the following families: Boulton, Bridges, Browning, Browne, Ball, Cambridge, Chomeley, Churches, Cooks, Collett, Cyde, Deane, Drew, Dunn, Fisher, Gough, Hawker, Heaven, Heron, Hillman, Howard, Iles, Jackson, Jones, Long, Pavey, Pierce, Radcliffe, Turner, Wade, Walker, Workman.

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Freeholders in 1776
The following is a list of freeholders in Woodchester who, at the County Election, voted:
Nathl. Beadles, Samuel Browning, Joseph Churches, William Clark, John Drew, Richard Hill, William Hill, Thomas Hodges, Joseph Hoddinott, John Harrison, Peter Hawker, John King, William Merrett, John Price, Nathl. Peach, Samuel Pearce, Thomas Pavey, Samuel Remington, William Rede, Thomas Rodway, Erasmus Rogers, Walter Smith, Thomas Shurman, Edward Sharpe, George Snow, James Tyley, William Webb, Levy Wood, John Wade and Robert Young.

Owners of The Priory, Atcombe Court and Pudhill
 

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Emmigrants
The following list of names of emmigrants from Woodchester to Australia has been kindly supplied by Kaye Purnell who is compiling a data base of emmigrants from Gloucestershire to Australia and who can be contacted by e-mail for further information.

BEARD   Edwin          Woodchester     c1812
BEARD   Emily           Woodchester     c1850
BEARD   Fanny           Woodchester     c1848
BINGLE  Samuel         Woodchester     c1823
BIRD    Edwin             Woodchester     3 Jan 1830
BIRD    Sarah               Woodchester     Dec 1807
BIRD    William           Woodchester     31 Jul 1806
BOYLE   Samuel          Woodchester     c1822
BOYLE   William         Woodchester ?
CLARK   John              Woodchester     c1807
DOW  Cornelius Gray  Woodchester     5 Feb 1826
HAINES  Hugh             Ashby Vale; Woodchester  c1805
HAINES  Mary E         Ashby Vale; Woodchester  c1804
HAINES  William B     Ashby Vale; Woodchester  8 Oct 1825
HALLIDAY  Thomas   Woodchester     4 Dec 1826
HERBERT Samuel       Woodchester     c1833
PEARCE  Mary            Woodchester     c1817

kayepur@ozemail.com.au

Selsley voters at the first Election under the Reform Act 1867
The election took place 18th November1868, Stonehouse Polling District:
Apperley John, Selsley Hill
Ashmead Charles, Stanley End
Browning Moses, Stanley End
Bushell George, Near Pecked Elm
Casey Enoch, Stanley End
Clifford John, Stanley End
Daniels Charles, Nap
Davis Alfred, Stanley End
Niblett John, Nap
Page Alexander Shaw, Stanley End
Roberts William, Stanley End
Vick Charles, Stanley Park Lodge

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Woodchester Census 1881
The data below has been extracted from the 1881 Census of Woodchester and Selsley as issued by the LDS on CD.
 

  *The Yew Tree closed in 1962.
**Ten Bells Inn closed in 1924. At that time the Latham family had held the license for over one hundred years.

In Stroud, the Union Workhouse had a number of inmates who had been born in Woodchester or King's Stanley:
From King's Stanley: Eliza Adam (15) Elizabeth Baglan (80) Elizabeth Bevan (72) Fanny Chapman (58) John Garney (81) Mary Harris (12) John Horwood (77) Mary Jackaway (60)
William Lamb (69) William Niblett (66) Mary Pearce (70) and Ann Wall (55).
From Woodchester: Thomas Burlton (32) Richard Harrison (71) Eli Smith (37) and Sarah Waite (63).

Woodchester had its own almshouses in Baspin Lane and in 1881 the inhabitants included Elizabeth Browning (58) Sarah Gabb (70) Fanny Jones (50) Sarah Shipwey (64) and Thomas Walkley (85). The houses had been bought in 1783 for sixteen pounds out of a sum left in the will of Richard Cambridge for poor persons in the parish. They were finally demolished in 1964.

An interesting observation is that at the two big houses in both villages, most of the servants were not locally born. Entering domestic service as a young teenager was the most common means of employment for working class girls. They would remain in service until married. Up until the mid 19th century, many didn't migrate far, but the growing number of girls looking for work meant that, as the century progressed, they had to be prepared to move some distance from home.
The 1851 census return in England recorded 1 million female domestic servants, a number that had swelled to 1.4 million by 1901.
 
 

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Woodchester Council Members 1894.
The Local Government Act came into force in November 1894 and Woodchester could elect 7 councillors. Seven were nominated and declared elected:
Rev F. Smith
F.W. Gillman
H. Hemmings
R. Holden
Alfred Perkins
James Turner
Henry Workman

Names on the Woodchester War Memorial
Remember 1914-1918
G. Archer-Shee, Charles. F. Boulton, W.J. Brinkworth, F.P.Click, W.J.Cook, E.J.Clift, W.A.Cox, W.J.Fruin, T.A.Horwood, M.J.Howell, Edgar Miles, Arthur Rigsby, G.H.Ricketts,
E.Wear, H.J.Wagner.
Remember 1939-1945
A.F.Clift, B.P. Cordwell, W.M.Graham, A.Hall, I.E.G. Hall, C.L.Harnden, E.Lee, E.H.Weaver.

The War Memorial is on the road between North and South Woodchester, halfway between the two villages. The cross is Ionic and is carved from Minchinhampton stone. The cost was raised by public subscription and it was unveiled at a ceremony on 31st October 1920. A large crowd was present in spite of the rain and the Stroud Military Band provided music. At 3pm. it was unveiled by W.Dillen Ricketts, a former schoolmaster at Woodchester. Prayers were led by the Rev. R.Nott of Ebley, a scripture reading was undertaken by the Rev. W.J.Fox of the Baptist church. The Rev. E.H.Hawkins read the solemn dedication and the Rector the Rev. G.E.Watton read the inscribed names.
A two minute silence was then observed.
There are also war memorial tablets for both wars in the parish church.

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Names on the Selsley War Memorial
The War Memorial for the Great War, 1914-1919 is both a tablet in the church as well as a stone cross a short distance from the lynchgate to the church.

"To the honoured men dear to Selsley who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1919

"There be of them that have left a name behind"

1939-1945
Joseph Charles Beale R.E.
Arthur Thomas Box RN
Lionel Frederick Brain R.A.C
Alfred Cecil Harrison RAF
Victor Harrison 3rd Hussars
(See photo')

Photograph of a Re-union celebration 1919
After the Great War a re-union was held annually with a supper being given by Mrs Clement Allen. It continued until the start of the Second World War.
On a photograph from the first gathering, the following names are recorded:
Oliver Aldridge, Mr Clement Allen, Mrs C. Allen, Percy Bartlett, Walt Bartlett, Sid Bert, Jack Boulton, John Browning, Ted Brunsdon, Charlie Bushell, Tom Chapman, W.Clayfield, Ted Click, Bill Clift, Charlie Click, George Clift, Harry Click, Herbert Click, Charlie Cordwell, C. Cuff,  Bill Dalby,  Percy Dangerfield,  John Dee, Harry Dowling, Harry Emblin, George Evans, Tommy Evans, George Greening, Bert Hall, George Harding, Horace Higgins, G. Ireland, Percy Harrison, Harry Herbert, Clifford Higgins, Jack Hitchcock, Fred Horwood, Bert Ind, the Kings, Tom King, Herbert Kirby, Arthur Latham, Joe Latham, Lionel Latham, Reg Latham, Marmaduke Laver, Jimmy Long,  Bill Miller, Jimmy Mills, Fred Mills, Peter Mills, Bill Old, Harold Palmer, Vic Payne, Percy Randall, Cyril Randall, Tom Rawlinson, Dinger Risby, Ted Risbey, Alan Rubber, Harry Saunders, Frank Turner,  Dick Turner, Tiley Turner, Rev.Watton, Ralf Wasley, Lionel Wiseman, Charles Woodward, Harry Woodward.

Fire Wardens, 1938
D.C. Baines, A.R. Cornock, J.C. Haynes, C. Higgins, R.P. Kitcat, G.H. Mynett, T. Sadler, F.H. Weaver, B.W. Workman, E. Light, L.M. Verry.

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Links
Below is a link to both external and internal pages to more data of interest to the family historian for both parishes and the immediate surrounding area. Often, names from Woodchester and Selsley will appear in the adjacent parishes (Avening, King's Stanley, Minchinhampton, Nimpsfield, Rodborough and Stroud) and where I have found this I have added the record below. Some of these already appear on the web but this list of links provides an easily accessable one-stop means of tracing records. In addition I have augmented this information with additional facts that have not, up until now, been published on the web.
 

GFHS Centre
The Gloucestershire Family History Society Resource Centre opened on Tuesday, 10th August 1999.  It is open, to begin with, for two sessions, 10am to 1pm and then 1pm to 4pm, on three days of the week; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The Resource Centre is in the Spread Eagle Court (was once the Spread Eagle Hotel) situated in Northgate Street, just before it turns into London Road.  It is upstairs but there is a lift for those who need it.

The building is within a few minutes walk of both the bus and train stations, about 5 minutes from the record office and a little further from the library.

Everyone is welcome.  Members of the GFHS have free entry, non-members will be charged 1.50 UKP or 1 UKP for OAPs.

They have the full 1881 census, the IGI for the whole country, all the GFHS indexes (including the 1851 census transcription and index), a collection of other fiche - too numerous to list, a library of genealogical and Gloucestershire books, a bookstall selling similar items, a collection of pedigrees, family stories and family trees from members, old exchange journals for most UK societies, old GFHS journals..... not to mention helpful assistants with much expertise.

Return to:

• South Cotswolds Genealogical Master Index
• History of Woodchester and Selsley Index

Contents:

• Introduction and Description
• Home Page
• A Brief History
• Neolithic History
• The Romans and Woodchester Villa
• King Arthur, Myths and Legends
• Anglo Saxon History
• History of  Woodchester's Churches
• 1999 Selsley Electoral Roll
• Woodchester Views (photographs)
• Woodchester Mansion
• Flora and Fauna
• Selsley Church and William Morris
• Pictures of Selsley Church
• Journals, Poetry and Literature
• Woodchester Village Statistics
• The Woollen Industry
• Genealogical Information
• Maps and Ephemera