Duston's Surnames

Pre- enclosure parish of Duston including St.James' End and Gravestones in St.Luke's Churchyard Northampton

A comparison of the 17th and 18th Century gravestones against the 1674 Hearth Tax returns and the Lord of the Manor's tenants recorded on the estate map of 1722.

The clergy have been omitted from this analysis

Apart from those listed below, headstones give at least 9 other dates within the period, but the names are illegible. There are a further 60 completely illegible due to the use of local stone that has poor wearing qualities, many probably for the period under review.

Name  Died  Age  Grave Number  Relationship
 
Aish John  6/3/1700  74  106  
Caruthers Richard  26/11/1690  Unknown  348  
Chambers Richard  19/10/1700  71  569  
Hall John  2/?/1730  49  531 Husband of Ann Hall previously widow of James Arlbury
Harris Elizabeth  7/11/1694   16  536 Daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Harris
Harris Henry  21/1/1673   52  529 Husband of Sarah Harris
Harris Sarah  7/1/1685   Unknown  528 Widow of Henry Harris Senior
Haunch John  8/4/1669   Unknown  519 Husband of Ann Haunch
Lucas unknown  1694   48  213 Wife of William Lucas
Newcombe Alice  ?/7/1752   Unknown  109 Wife of Thomas Newcombe
Palmer Thomas  9/3/1748   2  331 Son of the Honourable Palmer and Elizabeth
Palmer unknown  1766   Unknown  336  
Spencer Robert  26/2/1749   42 347   
Stanton Ann  6(?)/11/1687  52  209  Wife of Samuel Stanton
Stanton Mary  6/2/1683  29  578  Wife of Richard Stanton
Stanton Samuel  21/1/1683  56  208  Husband of Ann Stanton
Vaughan William    1/11/1677  63   712  

 

Hearth Tax Duston 1674

Introduced in 1663 by Statute 13 and 14 of King Charles II on all who lived in houses other than colleges. In the Public Records Office there are hearth tax records dating from 1660 to 1689 the date of cessation.

Tax was 2/- per year per hearth from all residents who paid towards the parish "church and poor". There were 80 taxable hearths in Duston raising 160/- per year tax.

From a handwritten transcript of hearth taxpayers available at Northants Record Office, which is not in alphabetical order.

The opportunity has therefore been taken to start this section with nine surnames that may relate to the memorial record.

Hearth Tax records presumably ignore nationalities, religious denominations or political persuasion so may contain information not found in church records

Surnames in a few cases are "probables" - is Aish a misreading for Ash?

  1. John Aish
  2. Richard Chambers
  3. Thomas Hall
  4. Henry Harris
  5. John Harris
  6. Mary Harris
  7. William Palmer
  8. Samuel Spencer
  9. Samuel Stanton

The rest are as follows:

  1. Sara Barnes
  2. John Basely
  3. Nathaniel Basely
  4. Andrew Baxter
  5. Richard Carrill
  6. Thomas Carrill
  7. Mr John Coles
  8. Sara Collis
  9. Robert Cosby
  10. Joane Cranborow
  11. John Dasset
  12. Mr Ere
  13. Owen fflecknoe
  14. William fflecknoe
  15. Elizabeth Gasket
  16. Mr Samuel Goffe
  17. John Hanny
  18. John Harrison
  19. Thomas Hiller
  20. Edward Laundon
  21. John Linnell
  22. Henry Marritt
  23. Samuel Mason
  24. Thomas Meir
  25. John Mutton
  26. Sara Mutton
  27. William Mutton
  28. Mr Joseph Parker
  29. Obadiah Robins
  30. Samuel Rowe
  31. John Shephard
  32. Widow Silsby
  33. John Tarry
  34. Richard Tyms
  35. Margery Walker
  36. John Wattch(?)
  37. John Whiteing
  38. John Willis
  39. Agnes Willey

So in 1674, of the 48 taxpayers listed, we have nine women householders paying the tax, only one being termed "widow", and four entitled "Mr."

There follows a comparison with the names recorded by the Lord of the Manor of Duston in 1722, the Right Honourable Thomas Cook Esq. Vice-Chamberlain of his Majesty's household (King George I)

There are 38 residents listed, presumably all tenants of this landlord.

On the manorial map, about 20 unlisted village properties are also shown presumably belonging to other residents. There are also spelling differences that suggest the compiler may have recorded information phonetically in this list, e.g. Surname "Cook for Coke" plus the differences in surname spelling generally and fieldname "Berry for Bury"

Duston Residents 1722

From the Manorial Map produced by Malcolm Deacon, David Foster and Stephen Garratt in 1990.

The term "Duston residents" applies in this case to the old village only. Other names of residents of mills, the small settlement close to Westbridge and other scattered dwellings are not recorded on this map.

The most likely names common to the other records have been placed at the top, as in the hearth tax record, to make comparison simpler.

Names marked with an "m" are from Memorial List; names in brackets appear on the hearth tax list.

  1. John Carvill, previously Kilsby,
  2. Thomas Carvill (Carrill?)
  3. Anne Grandborow
  4. Widow Grandborow (Cranborow?)
  5. Samuel Hilliers (Hiller?)
  6. William Lucas (m)
  7. Henry Marriot (Marritt?)
  8. Palmer's Corner (William Palmer)+ (m)+(field name)
  9. Stephen Pasely (Basely?)
  10. Widow Shepard (Shephard?)
  11. William Spencer (m)
  12. Benjamin Willis
  13. Widow Willis (? Willy, Wilby?)

The rest are as follows:

  1. Thomas Althorp
  2. Francis Baulecoate
  3. Widow Bell
  4. Richard Blewitt
  5. Richard Botterrell
  6. Richard Burrows
  7. Elim (?) Cranfield
  8. Samuel Gasgoine, previously Hills
  9. John Glenn
  10. Richard Holyoke
  11. Mr Kent
  12. Edward Kent
  13. James Oliver
  14. John Roberts
  15. Thomas Smith

The three lists produced here provide interesting comparisons with each other in their varied content of surnames over a broadly similar period, with the spelling variations for what may be the same surname, and for the number of different surnames on the three lists for a small village population.

David Blackburn
Duston Northampton
2009

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