South Marston

Names extracted from the book:
"A Wiltshire Village" by Alfred Williams

Written & first published in 1912

Introduction
Book purchase opportunity
Main List
Nicknames and First Names
Simple List of Surnames
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Main links to other pages on this site

Introduction

Alfred Williams was born in South Marston in 1877 and lived there most if not all of his life, commuting (so far as I can gather, on foot) to Swindon daily to work. He died in 1930.

From his writing he clearly loved the village and hated the town (my home town!). The photos on my main South Marston page may help to explain why he liked it so much.

Many people are named in the book, almost all known personally to the author, most of them resident in South Marston, some from nearby villages, including Sevenhampton and Stanton Fitzwarren.

Here is a simple list of the names I have found mentioned in the book. Additional information is given in the book about many, but not all, of those mentioned, and can be passed on by request. Please be prepared for some delay in responding - my time is limited! No additional information is available for 27 names in the list - they were merely part of a list the author gave of people living in South Marston in 1912, whose names he thought were mildly amusing.

Where page numbers are listed, an image of the page is available by clicking on it. These are provided on request only. Each image is in the range 21-30 kilobytes. In some cases a few words at the edge of a page may be difficult to read; if this is a problem, please contact me for the missing words.

Most of the surnames are given in alphabetical order, where they available. Where only a nickname or first name is given, they are listed separately (also in alphabetical order) afterwards. At the end is a list of surnames which are merely listed in the book, with no other information given. Note that most women's names are their married names.

Book purchase opportunity

Copies of the book, together with a surname index derived from that below, can now be purchased on CD from Archive CD Books (a not-for-profit organisation devoted to making rare books available cheaply), using on-line secure ordering, or you can order by email, telephone (01594-829870) or by snail mail (Archive CD Books Ltd., 5 Commercial Street, Cinderford, Gloucestershire, GL14 2RP, England). If you order on-line, please be sure that your browser is set to accept cookies (they will be removed on completion of placing your order), that you have Java enabled, and that any firewall you use is not set to maximum security but to an intermediate level, otherwise the ordering process will fail.

Main List

B C D E F G H K L M N O P R S T W

Boulton, Jemmy p19, p202 (N.B. There are several other references to him)
Boulton, Martha (Jemmy's wife)
Bowles (husband of Nance) p176, p177
Bowles (son of Nance) p178
Bowles, Johnny p19
Bowles, Nance "Granny" p22, p175, p176, p177, p178.
Bowles, Tommy
Blunsdon, "Barley Nuggin" (an old woman) p70
Bridges (Jacky's mother) p177
Bridges, Elizabeth (wife of "Grandfather")
Bridges, "Grandfather" p157 (N.B. There are several other references to him)
Bridges (aka Dart), "Jacky" p19, p69, p202 (N.B. There are several other references to him)
Bridges, Letitia (wife of "Grandfather") p157
Brittin, Bill
Brooks, "Farmer"
Brooks, Robert
Burbage, "Farmer" p203

Chamberlain, Tom
Chaplin, "Farmer"
Chillingworth, Maria p67
Chillingworth, Richard p67, , p70, p71, p72

Dart (aka Bridges), "Jacky" p202 (N.B. There are several other references to him)
Davis, "Farmer" (of Sennington)
Davis, Sam

Eldridge ("Dad" Eldridge's father)
Eldridge, William p19 (N.B. There are two other references to him)

Ferris, Frank p229, p230
Ferris, John p229, p230
Ferris, Meshach p229, p230
Ferris, Phoebe p229, p230
Ferris, Shadrach p229, p230
Fisher, Mrs. (wife of Old George)
Fisher, "Old" George (my great, great, great, great grandfather's grandson)
Fisher, "Young" George ("Old" George's son)

Garret, Amy (wife of Johnny)
Garret, Johnny

Hawkins, Cissy p230-1
Hawkins, Henry p230-1
Horton, Betsy p22 (N.B. There are several other references to her)
Horton, Tom (son of Betsy) p178 and one other reference
Horton, "Vogger" (son of Betsy)
Hughes, Josh (Alfred Williams's grandfather) p73, p203 (N.B. There are several other references to him)

Keen, William p156-7
Kemble, "Master"
Kempster, Ellen "Nellie"

Lane, Joby p73
Lane, John
Lewis, Daniel p205 (N.B. There are two other references to him)
Lewis, Elizabeth (wife of Daniel) p205 (N.B. There is another reference to her)
Lines, William (from Bath, travelling)
Love, Henry p203 (N.B. There are two other references to him
Love, "Totty" (father of Henry) p203

Maisey, William
Maslin (a visiting preacher and agricultural labourer) p157, p158-9

New, Harry

Ody, "Farmer" p181, p182-183, p184, p243

Pewsey, "Madame"
Pinnegar, "Farmer"

Ryder

Salty "Mother" (visiting gypsy)
Sansum, Dudley p19, p202-203 (N.B. There are several other references to him)
Smith, Nell
Smith "Shepherd"

Titcombe, Mark
Titcombe, Patty p22
Trueman, Albert (from Highworth)
Tull, "Farmer"

Warneford, Sir Edmund (a hunting ghost!) p64-65, p66
Westell, "Farmer" p72 (N.B. There are two other references to him)
Westell, Peter (it is not clear if this is Farmer Westell)
Wheeler, "Farmer"
Whitfield, Launcelot
Wife and daughter of Whitfield, Launcelot

Nicknames and First Names

A blacksmith
Ann (the shoemaker's wife) p180-181 (N.B. these are the last 2 of a 4 page item referring to her)
"Billy" (aka "Willum") (a sexton, like his father) Gilbert
"Grubby"
Jemmy (Irish migrant labourer)
Jesse
Maggie
"The miller"
"Patsy"
Reuben (shepherd)
"Scamp"
A sexton (father of Billy/Willum)
The shoemaker p180-181 (N.B. these are the last 2 of a 4 page item referring to him)
"Smithy"
"Strawberry" (of Round Robin)
"Tommy" (a sexton, succeeded Billy/Willum)

Simple List of Surnames

No information about these people is given in the book, other than that they lived in South Marston:

Alder
Balls
Bell
Church
Clark
Cross
Grubb
Head
King
Large
Legg
Lee
Little
Parsons
Peapell
Pike
Sexton
Shakespeare
Sharp
Squire
Stone
Taylor
Thorne
Tubb
Turtle
Wall
Wildern