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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Nottinghamshire => Topic started by: Marathonman on Thursday 06 January 11 02:29 GMT (UK)

Title: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Marathonman on Thursday 06 January 11 02:29 GMT (UK)
Hi there

Those of us who have been doing this for more than a year have more than likely at some point had the urge to wander a few graveyards in the hope of finding a family plot with a stone clarifying the info we have.  And I like most have done this a couple of times in Beeston, Arnold and Long Eaton and discovered lost graves and relatives.

Last September after running the New Forest Marathon in Hampshire, a few days later I had organised a day trip with the agreement of my other half. This was to look for the widow of Thomas Sheldon (my Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle), Elizabeth Sheldon and her daughter Elizabeth Margaret who died in Blackawton, Devon in 1883 and 1914 respectively.

During my hunt through the graveyard I came across this memorial and just had to photograph it, sorry but I had to laugh at the unfortunate surname.  I just thought I'd share this with you all.

Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: LH35 on Thursday 06 January 11 17:55 GMT (UK)
Hello Mike , I too  walk round Grave yards   not come across that Surname before, I do wonder if its pronounce differant to how its spelt , Like with 
Hyacinth Bucket , (pronounced 'Bouquet')  :)
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Thursday 06 January 11 18:11 GMT (UK)
The surname Death is pronounced De'Ath.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Dizzifish on Thursday 06 January 11 22:17 GMT (UK)
Hello... :)

You come across some interesting finds when you lurk in graveyards......

It is a shame that some of the really old stones have been removed from lots of the ancient graveyards.

When I was looking at some of the books on offer on the Open Library site I came across this one:

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7004629M/The_churchyard_scribe

It has headstone inscriptions from various places and I was interested as it had some Nottinghamshire mentions.
This one is sad, particularly of someone so young and dying under tragic circumstances....No photographs in the book but I wonder if the stone is still there?

Bulwell Churchyard

"To GEORGE CARROTT, who was accidentally killed at Hucknall Pit, Novr 20th 1875, in the 14th year of his age"

"His life hung by a slender thread,
It was no sooner cut than he was dead;
Death unto him the blow did send,
The fatal accident brought on his end."
  ~ ~ ~
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Friday 07 January 11 16:08 GMT (UK)
Clayton churchyard Doncaster (in the next county) under this stone. "A pale consumption struck the final blow; the disease was fatal but the end came slow." He was a cattle farmer who died of TB from his herd in the 1860s, name John Smith, luckily he was well documented.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: cheshiremog on Monday 10 January 11 01:04 GMT (UK)
Hi
I have come across the surname Bastard before and yes of course - it is pronounced differently

B' Stard
Ber' Stard

I later came across an officer in the RAF called B'Stard and that is what we attempted to called him. "Ber'Stard" But he was a mean so and so so he replied - "The name's Bastard and I am one - so watch out!"

I also knew a Warrant Officer Devine who said she was Devine by name and nature and she surely was!

And a Corporal Death - who when he arrived on station informed us it was pronounced De' Ath. (Disappointing Really)

Have you ever noticed how many married women end up with an alliterative name?

Betty Berrisford, Sheila Shouler, Janine Jenkinson, Masie Moscoe - ghastly - keep yer maiden names girls!!

And how about Barry Cade, Lavender Basket and Ben Down

Worse one I ever came across was Hugh Janus

Mog is giggling now!

xxxxxx

Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Billyblue on Monday 10 January 11 15:55 GMT (UK)
Well I met a family once with the surname Aarsse - understandably they pronounced it air-see.
And my mother knew a family named Hogg - they had two daughters named Ida and Ima.  True!
And another friend of mother was Mrs Chambers and she got so sick of people telling her what to call her unborn baby that, when he was born, she called him Jerry - poor guy.
On the nice names, we have a Laura Lavender Blue in our family and I often wonder if she was as nice as her name sounds   :)
Dawn M.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Monday 10 January 11 16:11 GMT (UK)
I once knew of a person named Hugh Dick, and another whose surname was Towle, named Terry by his mother as she thought it suited him.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: liverpool lass on Monday 10 January 11 20:01 GMT (UK)
I have a friend whose MS was Jelly and another called Licorice.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: greyingrey on Monday 10 January 11 20:16 GMT (UK)
There was a girl at my school whose name was Ruth Titball.  She was very clever & won lots of prizes, so she was always being called up onto  the stage on prize giving day. Felt dreadfully sorry for her....she changed her surname as soon as she could. I think, if I had been her mother, I'd have insisted on changing the family name....it's one thing to decide to keep it as an adult but quite another to decide for your children.

As for women getting unfortunate names when they marry, I knew a Mavis who became Mavis Pavis & a Sasha who became Sasha Asher.

I also had a job where I had to regularly liase with a department of another company where they only seemed to recruit people with names that were alliterative....the 2 I remember were Larry Lamb & Shirley Starr.  Nothing wrong with them in themselves, but it did seem odd to have an department full of them.

There also used to be a well known Nottm solicitor named Rupert Bear, but he quite enjoyed having the name & playing it for all it was worth
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Chris in 1066Land on Tuesday 11 January 11 11:40 GMT (UK)
Hi

As a 13 year old at school in Nottingham, my very first serious girlfriend was Valerie DAFT

We parted after our school and i often wonder what happened to her

Chris in 1066
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Tuesday 11 January 11 11:51 GMT (UK)


There also used to be a well known Nottm solicitor named Rupert Bear, but he quite enjoyed having the name & playing it for all it was worth

Nutwood Forest instead of Sherwood then?
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: sunflower on Tuesday 11 January 11 12:57 GMT (UK)
When I first left school I worked as a telephonist at the GPO.  I picked up a call from a Mr Bastard who wanted a transfer charge call.  I was so embarrassed by having to announce the call and say his name that I told him the line was engaged.  I just hoped and prayed I didn't pick the call up later.

Carol
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: greyingrey on Wednesday 12 January 11 08:36 GMT (UK)
Those are all very good ones, (note for Redroger ....almost as much as the recent footie results). Daft is a pretty common nane in Notts.....I don't know about elsewhere. There was a boy at my school named  Douglas Daft.....I don't know if people have changed that name now.

When I was working in Nottm, we had a customer with the surname of Fischbein (German for fish leg) I only had contact with him by letter, so I don't know if he was German or of German origin
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Wednesday 12 January 11 15:08 GMT (UK)
You mean Derby County's result in the cup? Not quite as good as what my club, Boston United did to them in round 2 of the cup in 1955, and that was at Derby!
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: greyingrey on Wednesday 12 January 11 18:44 GMT (UK)
That & the 5:2 at the City Ground, Roger.

I think Douglas Daft's sister was named Valerie
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: evie30 on Sunday 11 September 11 19:33 BST (UK)
Those are all very good ones, (note for Redroger ....almost as much as the recent footie results). Daft is a pretty common nane in Notts.....I don't know about elsewhere. There was a boy at my school named  Douglas Daft.....I don't know if people have changed that name now.

When I was working in Nottm, we had a customer with the surname of Fischbein (German for fish leg) I only had contact with him by letter, so I don't know if he was German or of German origin

No, my family have retained the surname Daft....proud of it! We live in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire but the family originally came from Hickling, Notts. There have been Daft's in Gloucestershire since at least the 1600's!!
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: davidft on Sunday 11 September 11 19:54 BST (UK)
Last name: Daft
 

This is an English surname which is mostly associated with the Midland counties of the country. It derives from the Olde English word of the pre 7th century "gedaeft" meaning meek or mild, and as such it was a pre Medieval personal name of some popularity.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/daft#ixzz1XfhV8jyx
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Monday 12 September 11 16:28 BST (UK)
Last name: Daft
 

This is an English surname which is mostly associated with the Midland counties of the country. It derives from the Olde English word of the pre 7th century "gedaeft" meaning meek or mild, and as such it was a pre Medieval personal name of some popularity.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/daft#ixzz1XfhV8jyx

A possible connection occurs between the term meek and daft in it's modern meaning of simple. I had thought it probably suggested descent from a simple person in the medieval period.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: goff153 on Friday 21 October 11 12:27 BST (UK)
I think it's French.  There's a "Famille Bastard" tomb in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.  I have a photo of it if anyone wants a copy.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Friday 21 October 11 17:27 BST (UK)
The Bastard brothers were heavily involved in the rebuilding of Blandford Forum after the devastating fire of 1731, obviously this surname is widely travelled, or I think more likely, originated in several places. A surname which originally had no connotations is Crapper which acquired its repute after the developer of Water closets Thomas Crapper.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Wilkinson on Friday 28 October 11 16:24 BST (UK)
Had a family with the surname "Freak" in our village !!!
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Friday 28 October 11 16:41 BST (UK)
I once worked with a so named person many years ago. Strangely the entire office found him a bit odd, so possibly there was something ancestral about his name.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: 12thKnight on Monday 31 October 11 03:51 GMT (UK)
My wife's tree contains one Frances Scaling (known as Fanny) who married Joseph Dick. They had a son named John Thomas, so he was John Thomas Dick, son of Fanny Dick.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Deb D on Monday 31 October 11 05:15 GMT (UK)
I believe "Dick" is the real surname of the comedian Tim Allen.  Can't imagine why he felt a need to change  ::)
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Monday 31 October 11 09:53 GMT (UK)
My wife's tree contains one Frances Scaling (known as Fanny) who married Joseph Dick. They had a son named John Thomas, so he was John Thomas Dick, son of Fanny Dick.

I think the most unfortunate yet! Except that had Mr. Allen (Dick) acquired a partner surnamed Head would they have hyphenated their surnames?
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: cire on Saturday 05 November 11 18:02 GMT (UK)
I did some look-ups for a lady a week or two ago, which resulted in finding a man with the wonderful name --- John Twopenny Fright.
He came from Kent and looking at the area on Family Search showed a large number of people with that surname.

It must have been a "Fright full" place to live ;D ;D ;D    SORRY
Eric
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Billyblue on Saturday 05 November 11 23:40 GMT (UK)
I once worked with a so named person many years ago. Strangely the entire office found him a bit odd, so possibly there was something ancestral about his name.

 ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D  :P  :P  :P

Dawn M
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Sunday 06 November 11 16:09 GMT (UK)
I did some look-ups for a lady a week or two ago, which resulted in finding a man with the wonderful name --- John Twopenny Fright.
He came from Kent and looking at the area on Family Search showed a large number of people with that surname.

It must have been a "Fright full" place to live ;D ;D ;D    SORRY
Eric

A twopenny fright? Would a threepenny fright be more stressful?
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: lainie3961 on Saturday 19 November 11 21:00 GMT (UK)
Not strictly on subject - but thought I would share anyway! [sorry]  A solictor in Nottingham who is/was called Edward [Teddy] Bear and his brother who is called Rupert!!!

The humour of their parents never ceased to amaze me - and their humour for keeping their names!!
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: CaroleW on Saturday 19 November 11 23:45 GMT (UK)
If you'll pardon the expression - my paternal grandmother was a Dick

Thank goodness it wasn't my grandfather's surname
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Sunday 20 November 11 18:55 GMT (UK)
I knew a man now deceased who was named Richard Willey; and also another named Hugh Dick (think about it)
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Tuesday 29 November 11 17:35 GMT (UK)
Best I've heard of: Ivor Butt-Payne!! ;)
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: goff153 on Tuesday 29 November 11 18:47 GMT (UK)
How about Ivor Wetton, Minnie Minor or Isaac Hunt - all real people.
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Tuesday 29 November 11 19:13 GMT (UK)
Not heard of this Ivor; know of the surname minor, and know of both Isaac and his brother Mike, again, both genuine. Some people lead very sheltered lives!
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: tonyfebruary on Tuesday 29 November 11 19:26 GMT (UK)
I had to laugh when I was looking up a friends family tree and came across a marriage in the Rotherham district in 1871 of Fanny Roebuck to Alfred Smelt what a name Fanny Smelt.
Even my friend and Husband laughed at the print out.
 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
Tony
Title: Re: Unfortunate Surnames
Post by: Redroger on Tuesday 29 November 11 19:29 GMT (UK)
Two senior railway officers at Lincoln District Office in the 1950s; Mr. Fish and Mr. Smellie!