William Shakespeare's grandfather - Richard Shakespeare - is recorded in written records as spelling his surname at least "five" different ways! As most people were either illiterate or semi-literate - it is probably far more accurate to state that five different scribes (working in various official capacities) spelt Richard's name in five different ways. This was common - as spelling was not yet standardised in the UK and scholars were expected to write with flare - spelling names, activities and concepts in vastly different (and entertaining) ways! William Shakespeare demonstrates this convention - sometimes spelling the same word (appearing on the same page) as much as three different ways! A fully literate scribe was expected - in the old days - not only to "read" a text but also "decipher" what was being said and conveyed by the author! A lack of standard language usage made this process a highly skilled event - arguably far more difficult than reading modern English! The type of officials we are discussing included "Church" and "Civic" representatives. Invariably, these persons wrote according to how words "sounded" - rather than by any associated convention. This was usually the case as their illiterate clients had no idea (or preference) as to how their surnames were spelt. Indeed, this difference in spelling the Bard's surname is one of the planks in the "Oxfordian" verses the "Stratfordian" debate - but is it a red herring? Literate individuals could (and did) often insist on a certain way of spelling their surname if they were given the choice. It is equally true that if such individuals wished to disappear - the waters might be muddied by placing the odd letter in a different place when signing their names! Of course, it could also be the case that some people like to spell their names differently at various times - seeing this as an essential aspect of their individual freedom and identity. Who could blame them? Today, of course, with the modern standardisation of the English language, there has arisen an almost Confucian obsession with spelling surnames in a specific manner (the Chinese people venerate their ancient surnames). Surnames, like DNA, have become an important part of an individual's identity. In the 1500s (primarily through Tax Returns) all the people of my family living in Duddington and King's Cliff spell their surname "Wyles" without exception. During the early to middle 1600s - two individuals (spouses) - have their name spelt as "Wiles" on their gravestones. During the middle to late 1600s - two individuals (spouses) - possess a grave-marker which spells their names as "Wyles". From there on in - around 95% of the Wyles family occupants of the graveyard of St Mary's Church (Duddington) spell their surname "Wyles". One couple in the 1800s use "Wiles" - with one or two on official records having their surname spelt "Whyles" - when their gravestones clearly state "Wyles". Anthony Holden, William Shakespeare - His Life and Work, ABACUS, (1999), Pages 52-54
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Dear John Thank you for your very interesting photograph (which I have attempted to 'sharpen'). I suspect this might be the earliest photograph taken of the Mill in Duddington - or perhaps any structure. The River Welland runs behind - driving the water-wheel - with the picturesque Duddington-Tixover Bridge nearby (to the right). Of course, today, there is a parking space to right of the Mill - that we use when walking around that area. If memory serves me right - I think houses have been built in-front of the Mill that prevent a similar photograph being taken today from that angle. Of course, I would have to check this when next visiting. I remember that on occasion there has been severe flooding in the area (an elderly relative in his 80s fell into the flood water and drowned according to local Press reports) - one of the reasons many of the 1600s Parish Records are missing (as the Church was flooded destroying the local paper records). Today, the flooding problem has been solved through various structural modifications of the bridge and the re-routing of the water, etc. The picture I took of the Bridge in 2009 (our first visit) show a very low water-level - revealing stone steps dropping down into the river - perhaps locals often slipped and fell off these objects in bad weather! Best Wishes Adrian Hello Adrian ; After months of frustration over using printer / scanner yesterday A friend finally helped and guided me through setting my equipment up.
I regret photo is not as clear as it might be ; depicts my Great Grandmother Charlotte Astin and her family outside the Mill House Duddington circa 1892/4. Eldest (tallest) boy is James Thomas Astin (1881-1938) ; Lottie (Charlotte Ann) is girl. (1882 - 1929); and other younger family include my Grandfather, George Astin (1886 - 1950) ; Alfred William Astin (1884 - 1972) ; and Albert Victor Astin (1887 - 1973). It was Gt Uncle Victor who once looked at this and identified everybody - one of the maids was one Rose Skinner - whom I only recently discovered married later in 1904 when she was a barmaid in Stamford. Hope this is of some interest to you. My father's late cousin Alfred Ronald Astin (Ronnie) gave us another photo - same period / vintage in an oak frame which depicts only the actual Corn Mill over the Road to the side of the River Welland - so cannot easily photograph this. My Grandfather George Astin whom I never knew was reprimanded for once falling in the " damned river " ! Regards John Astin ; Yorkshire. Dear C I accessed the National Archives - looking for evidence of a Duddington Home Guard - and I discovered the attached document. This ascribes the '2nd Huntingdonshire' Home Guard Battalion to a Sergeant recommended for a BEM - and who appears to have marched as a Home Guard representative in 1952 during the Coronation of QEII (this is described in the document). Was there a Home Guard contingent reformed this late after WWII just to take part in this march? Furthermore, if it is correct that the 1st and 2nd Peterborough Battalions of Northants were transferred to Huntingdonshire - as suggested in the standard Northants work - and if each kept its own number designation, then this would have meant that Huntingdonshire would have possessed two '1st' and '2nd' Battalions! Of course, you have pointed-out a contradiction in this. Best Wishes Adrian
I possess a number of booklets published by the 'Lincolnshire Family History Society' - and is entitled 'Extracts from the Minute of the Board of Guardians Stamford Union Workhouse - Part Three 1844-1847 - by Anne Cole and Derek Paine (2008). This extract is from Page 33. 'Mr Wyles' - lives in South Witham - which is around 15 miles 'North of 'Duddington'!
Believe or not, American in Utah (possibly Mormons) spend their time accessing British genealogical records - and presenting this data for sale in the public domain. Of course, as we - the British people - own this data, we are entitled to access it for free if we are prepared to visit Records Offices and Libraries and carry-out the research ourselves. As these places like to 'charge' us by placing a pay-wall between ourselves and our historical data - it is not always easy to access the information that defines our very being. Still, once one or two of us gains access to this data - we can (as a matter of duty) - place it in the public domain for free consumption. We may have used some of this data already in our family research - but there is much more general information to be gleamed! This may well be useful to "Wyles" people living in other areas! These four-county Parish Records include 'Births', 'Christenings', 'Deaths', 'Marriages' and 'Court Cases', etc. My partner - Gee - accessed this CD disc and what is reproduced here are the screenshots she carefully made:
Just a few books that look interesting. The second in the list seems to be equating the 'Socialistic' Home Guard of WWII with the Local Militias that the UK raised from time to time - but these were not 'Socialist' in anyway and were dependent upon status and income. As only the socially trusted and prominent could serve - providing they could afford their own uniform, weapon and ammunition - and were wealthy enough to have 'leisure' time to drill! Some UK authors are adopting the anti-intellectual language of the US - referring to the time-span 1945-1991 as being the 'Cold War'. Up until Thatcher abolished 'Free' and 'Universal' Education in the UK (and began the privatisation of the NHS and dismantling of the Welfare System and Social Housing) - the UK had far more in common with the USSR than America - but what we are seeing is the attempted re-writing of history and the establishment of a preferred narrative. The philosophy underpinning the British Home Guard of WWII grew-out of the Soviet-backed International Brigades (comprised of volunteer workers - male and female - from around the world) that fought the Hitler-backed (Catholic) General Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)! My suspicion is that Duddington might well have been in the 2nd (Soke) Peterborough Battalion on the Northants Home Guard between 1940-1942 - but was then transferred to the Huntingdonshire Home Guard (keeping its designation) between 1942-1944. This is premised upon data gleamed from the Northants Home Guard book you forwarded - but the even then the author states that this Unit was still considered part of Northants Home Guard even though it was officially associated with Huntingdonshire!
Dear Hunts Archive I am researching whether the village of 'Duddington' - listed as now being in 'Northants' - possessed a 'Home Guard' Unit between 1940-1944. Although nearby King's Cliffe possessed such a Unit in the Northants Home Guard - I have reason to believe that 'Duddington' may have been included in the '2nd (Peterborough District) Battalion' which existed in the 'Northants Home Guard' between 1940-1942 - before being transferred to the Huntingdonshire Home Guard - within which it served between 1942-1944. The '2nd (Peterborough District) Battalion' (also known as the '2nd Soke of Peterborough Battalion') possessed '4' Companies designated 'A'-'D' - and patrolled an eighty square mile area. Interestingly, it was the '2nd (Peterborough District) Battalion' Home Guard Unit which was responsible for guarding the RAF King's Cliffe Aerodrome - and not the nearby King's Cliffe Home Guard Unit. Today, all postal addresses in Duddington possess a 'Peterborough' (PE) Postcode, etc. Thank you for your time in this matter.
Yours Sincerely Adrian Chan-Wyles Northants Home Guard was comprised of 15 Battalions - with each Battalion being comprised of 3 Companies. Each Company was usually comprised of 3 Platoons. A Platoon should be comprised of around 30 men. Of course, these are ideal numbers not always followed due to local conditions. Incidentally, 3 Battalions usually form a 'Brigade' - with 3 Brigades forming a 'Division'. The book referenced below gives the exact designation of the King's Cliffe Platoon - although we do not know the exact number of the Platoon - which was part of 'A' Company of the 3rd (Oundle) Battalion of the Northants Home Guard. Oundle Divided into Six Companies The 3rd (Oundle) Battalion (Lt-Col FR Berridge) was well in step with the new regularization. It now divided into six companies, with the area reaching from Denford and Addington in the south to Easton on the Hill in the north, and from Lutton in the east to Brigstock and Deene in the west A Company (King’s Cliffe) was originally commanded by Major FJ Lenton, MC, who later became the Battalion’s second-in-command. He was succeeded by Major Simpson, a farmer, and a veteran of the 1914-18 war Chapter VII – The Battalions Reviewed, Page 75 Another interesting observation quoted below states that the 2nd (Soke Peterborough) Battalion of the Northants Home Guard also covered the King's Cliffe (and by implication - Duddington) area, Just what this means is open to interpretation - but it seems to suggest that some Home Guard Units 'overlapped' their defensive capabilities: Like other battalions, the 2nd also had its own special problems and responsibilities – among them being the Wittering, King’s Cliffe and Westwood aerodromes, the works of P Brotherhood & Co, the Royal Army Ordnance Depot at Walton, and the Wainsford viaduct on the Great North Road. Chapter VII – The Battalions Reviewed, Page 73 Quoted from: BG Holloway – Zone HQ Intelligence and Public Relations Officer (Editor) & H Banks A Company, (Northampton) Battalion (Collaborator), The Northants Home Guard (1940-1945) – A History of the Services of Men and Women of Northamptonshire Who in the World War of 1939-1945 Forsook Their Rest and Leisure to Rally in the Defence of the Homeland and Defiance of the Invader, The Naval & Military Press Lrd, (2019)
Dear Adrian
Your query to the Institute for Name-Studies about the name Daringold has been passed to me, as I am Hon Professor there, and you will remember that we corresponded about this name a couple of years ago. I’ve done a little more hunting, mainly online, and the only certain fact that I can come up with is that a daughter of Everard Digby of Stoke Dry in Rutland was also named Daringould in his will of 1508-9. This is transcribed in Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries, III (1893-5): 226, which can be read online at https://archive.org/stream/leicestershirea00unkngoog/leicestershirea00unkngoog_djvu.txt. It is said by the transcriber that she married Robert Hunt of Stoke Daubney, Northants. Apart from that will of 1508-9 I can only find unverifiable assertions on family history websites (accessible on ancestry.co.uk) that Daringould Digby was also named 1. Baringold and was the second wife of Thomas Robert Hunt of Stoke Daubney, 2. Darnegold and 3. Dervorguilla. The identification of Daringo(u)ld with Dervorguilla seems arbitrary and in the absence of any contemporary sources as evidence we could just ignore it. Dervorguilla is, however, a name well known to historians of medieval Britain. Wikipedia has this entry: Dervorguilla of Galloway (c. 1210 – 28 January 1290) was a 'lady of substance' in 13th century Scotland, the wife from 1223 of John, 5th Baron de Balliol , and mother of John I, a future king of Scotland. The name Dervorguilla or Dervorgilla was a Latinisation of the Gaelic Dearbhfhorghaill (alternative spellings, Derborgaill or Dearbhorghil). Dervorguilla was one of the three daughters and heiresses of the Gaelic prince Alan, Lord of Galloway. She should not be confused with her father's sister, Dervorguilla of Galloway, heiress of Whissendine, who married Nicholas II de Stuteville. In 1263, her husband Sir John was required to make penance after a land dispute with Walter of Kirkham , Bishop of Durham. Part of this took the very expensive form of founding a College for the poor at the University of Oxford. Sir John's own finances were less substantial than those of his wife, however, and long after his death it fell to Dervorguilla to confirm the foundation, with the blessing of the same Bishop as well as the University hierarchy. She established a permanent endowment for the College in 1282, as well as its first formal Statutes. The college still retains the name Balliol College , where the history students' society is called the Dervorguilla Society and an annual seminar series featuring women in academia is called the Dervorguilla Seminar Series. While a Requiem Mass in Latin was sung at Balliol for the 700th anniversary of her death, it is believed that this was sung as a one-off, rather than having been marked in previous centuries. I don’t know if the Digby or Wyles families had any connection with Balliol College. I should add that the name Derbforgaill alias Dervorgilla alias Derval was famous in Irish Annals as that of the wife of the king of Meath (she died in 1193). She was a significant actor in the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland. I wonder if the Digbys had property in Ireland. If Daringould really is an anglicized form of Dervorguilla, then a manuscript spelling of the name as Deruorguilla has been mis-transcribed as Dernoguilla. This would explain the spelling in the earliest antiquarian references that I can find to the wife of John Balliol. She is called Dernorgill in Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum (1655) p. 530, and in Crawfurd’s The peerage of Scotland (1716) pp. 155-6, accessible at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/Eighteenth Century Collections Online . I can see how Dernogill could be altered in late medieval English to Darnegold and Daringo(u)ld but the 1655 evidence for Dernogill is one-and-a-half centuries later than the birth of Daringould Digby. Where and how would Everard Digby (died 1509) have come across the name in that form? He may have been a very learned man, but I can’t offhand think of what written source he would have got the name from – or why it would have appealed to him. As for Daringold Wyles, whose tombstone dates her death as 17 December 1668, she might either have been named after a relative or a godparent descending from the Hunt family, or else was freshly named after the medieval benefactress of Balliol College. But this is only speculation, of course. I’m sorry not to be able to come up with something more definite than this. The name needs more research than I have had time to give it, I’m afraid. With best wishes Peter McClure, Hon Professor of Name-Studies Institute for Name-Studies University of Nottingham According to the memories of elderly people living in the Duddington area - and relayed to Diane Wyles through online communication - Volunteers from Duddington (probably men and women) DID participate in the Civil Defence of the area! I suspect this included the 'Home Guard', the 'Air Raid Patrol' and the 'Auxiliary Fire Brigade', etc! These volunteers would patrol the QUARRY area - which we now know was at Collyweston! High-points were produced overtime by hills being made from the debris involved through the quarrying process - where tonnes of rock and soil were displaced. From these vantage-points - enemy aeroplanes could be easily seen - and the alarm raised locally!
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