The earliest known event in my family’s history, a history which I have so far been able to trace, in an unbroken line, stretching back eleven generations from the present, occurred in the Village of NEWENT in the county of GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK, on Midsummer’s day, the 24th of June, 1689. On that day, over three hundred years ago, my ancestor, RICHARD GATFIELD married a young woman named ANNE CARTER.
ANNE CARTER was the daughter of THOMAS CARTER or TUCKER, and had been born in 1668, and Christened on the 30th of March in that year. Most probably, Richard would have been born between 1660 and 1670; however, I have, as yet, found no record of his Birth or Christening.
ANNE and RICHARD GATFIELD had a known family of 3 children in NEWENT. Their son WILLIAM was Christened on the 17 February 1696 and WILLIAM grew up and Married SUSANNAH HOWELL in NEWENT on the 2 July 1721.
Historically, the year of ANNE and RICHARD’s union had an importance for the United Kingdom far above that of the creation of my family tree, for it was during this year that the so-called “Glorious Revolution”, begun a year earlier in 1688, reached it’s ending. In ENGLAND, the Roman Catholic King - JAMES II had been deposed, and Parliament offered the throne to WILLIAM III of Orange and his wife MARY II.
At the "Battle of Boyne", WILLIAM III with 35,000 troops routed his rival JAMES II with only 21,000 men. FRANCE also declared war on ENGLAND and SPAIN in 1689, causing the formation of the "Grand Alliance" of the Habsburg Emperor, a number of European Countries aligned against FRANCE; the dispute concerned the question of who should succeed to the Spanish Throne.
Closer to home, in 1688, WILLIAM DAMPIER, a buccaneer aboard the CYGNET, and the first Englishman to write an account of AUSTRALIA, landed on the Northern coast of Western Australia, spending 3 months there, near King George Sound.
From parish records, we know that the name GATFIELD was recorded in the town of NEWENT as far back as 1640, when another RICHARD GATFIELD and his wife (name unknown) had their daughter ALICE Christened on the 22nd March.
At this stage, no definite link back to these even earlier generations has been established by me, but I am fairly certain that they will, in time, prove to be amongst my earliest known ancestors. While, at the town of ASHCHURCH, 20 km’s to the East of NEWENT, a GATFYLD Marriage was recorded as early as 1560.
For the study of Genealogy, having a name like GATFIELD, is a fortuitous circumstance. The fact that GATFIELD is not a very common name makes it far easier to trace, (imagine the problems facing someone called SMITH). So far, I have found records for approximately 900 GATFIELD events for all of ENGLAND, SCOTLAND and WALES, covering the period from 1550 to 1980.
In addition, in Queensland, I have found, besides my ‘known’ related family, records dating from 1857, when a family of GATFIELD'S immigrated to the state from LONDON. This other family, plus my own, adds another 100 Events to my collection. While, in the USA and CANADA I have records for an additional 150 Births, Deaths and Marriages, covering GATFIELD'S that migrated to the North American continent.
Thus far, I have found, extracted and recorded over 1,000 Births, Christenings, Marriages, Funerals, Deaths, or other Events for the GATFIELD family worldwide. All of this information is now stored on my computer for easy reference.
In recent years, I have corresponded with other GATFIELD family historians in AMERICA, NZ, and Queensland, but, disappointingly, only with one member of our branch of the family in the U.K.
I have been able to assist GATFIELD Descendants in Queensland trace their GATFIELD ancestors. However, they were from the unrelated family that migrated here in 1857.
In the U.K., Census data is not destroyed as happens in Australia, so we have been lucky enough to extract from the 1851 Census, information about 3 consecutive generations of my ancestors families.
In 1851, in the village of OXENHALL, it is recorded that GEORGE GATFIELD, born in nearby NEWENT, now age 84 and a widower, lives at No. 21 GREAT GORSELEY St, and his occupation is listed as a Land Proprietor.
WILLIAM GATFIELD and his wife HARRIETT are listed as living at No. 6 TOWN LIBERTY St, NEWENT, together with sons THOMAS and JOSEPH and grandson JOHN.
WILLIAM's occupation is listed as a Haulier/Carter, whilst THOMAS age 18 is listed as a Servant, and JOSEPH age 15 is a Labourer.
WILLIAM's son, HENRY and wife MARY are also recorded; they lived at No. 80 COLD HARBOUR St, NEWENT with children HENRY age 8 and ELIZA age 6. HENRY age 34 is listed as an Agricultural Labourer (pauper).
(This information may indicate that, whilst GEORGE is a well-to-do Landlord, one of his Grandsons HENRY, is living in abject poverty with his family).
At this stage we do not know the various occupations of all our GATFIELD ancestors, but they were probably rural related.
Of my branch of the family, then residing at ASTON INGHAM for about 50yrs, two brothers moved across the WELSH Border into the county of MONMOUTHSHIRE, probably seeking employment in the Welsh Guards. One of these two brothers was GEORGE GATFIELD and whilst residing at ABERGAVENNY, (the town popularised in a song some few years ago), he married EVA DAVIS, the daughter of a local Carpenter.
GEORGE's brother MILES, likewise married locally, in this case, in the town of RAGLAN, which is, incidentally, where a small ex-goldmining town near ROCKHAMPTON, Queensland got its name.
GEORGE and EVA were married according to the Rites of the Church of England, in St MARYS CHURCH, LLANFAIR KILGEDDIN, on the 30 Jun 1879, after which, he and his young wife, emigrated to the Great Lakes district of the USA.. In this new land, GEORGE chose work in the Lumber business, but died tragically, after only a few years, leaving his widow with two small children and no husband.
EVA, alone and near destitute in a new land, decided to return to the comfort of her family in WALES, where she stayed and reared her children in the county of GWENT. However, at the age of 52 and with her two children having grown to adulthood, EVA decided once more to migrate seeking a better life, this time to AUSTRALIA.
On the 27 Jun 1910, the ship ORONTES berthed in BRISBANE, carrying EVA GATFIELD and her daughter CLARA ODESSA and son GEORGE CLYDE. They left their home in PONTYPOOL, WALES and along with 166 other passengers from ENGLAND, SCOTLAND and WALES, arrived in QUEENSLAND.
Built in GLASGOW, SCOTLAND by FAIRFIELD SHIP BUILDERS & ENGINEERING CO., the ORONTES was a passenger ship with a tonnage of 9,028T., powered by a Twin Screw, Quadruple Expansion, Steam Engine.
From her maiden voyage on the 24 Oct 1902, until her trip to the English scrap yards in 1926 she sailed between the U.K. and AUSTRALIA, via the SUEZ CANAL, for the ORIENT LINE, (a brief respite from this journey occurring in World War I when the ORONTES was commandeered as a Troop Ship).
The combined fare for EVA and family was only ₤14, and they had been nominated for immigration by a Mr. EDWARD BRITON of Upper Roma St. BRISBANE, who is listed as a distant cousin on their Immigration Application.
On 27 Nov 1913, within 3yrs of their arrival, young GEORGE CLYDE GATFIELD had married MARION KIRKWOOD, at CREEK St. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH in BRISBANE.
MARION KIRKWOOD, had been born 5 Feb 1890 in GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, and used her Stepfathers name as her common name, despite actually being born MARION GRAHAM McMILLIAN.
She was herself an even more recent immigrant, having arrived in BRISBANE on the 27 Aug 1911, aboard the S.S. OSWESTRY GRANGE, which had left LONDON on the 5 July 1911.
MARION, who travelled with a female companion, was just 21yrs old and, in the ships log, her occupation was listed as ‘domestic servant’. Her voyage had taken just over 50 days on a ship, carrying a total of 334 passengers from ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND and DENMARK.
The village of NEWENT is, even today, a relatively small town, situated south of the MALVERN HILLS in a rural district, on the Northern edge of the valley formed by the SEVERN river.
My GATFIELD family remained in the village for at least 5 generations (over 150yrs), before moving to ASTON INGHAM, just over the county border, in HEREFORDSHIRE. However the total distance between NEWENT and ASTON INGHAM is only 5km, as the crow flies, so it was no great migration.
Of the towns so far mentioned, NEWENT is the larger, but none are big enough to rate a mention in the comprehensive MICHELIN Tourist Guide for GREAT BRITAIN. The population of NEWENT today is approx. 5,270 persons (Mid 2002 Population Estimate from National Statistics, NEWENT ).
The following is an extract regarding NEWENT from one Dr. James Fraser, taken from the "Report on Employment in Agriculture 1867-68". I think it conveys, and rather effectively so, the conditions existing in the district of NEWENT at that time, and offers a reasonable explanation for why the brothers GEORGE and MILES left to join the Welsh Guards.
"The Union of Newent (18 parishes, 45,000 acres, 12,500 population)”, Dr Fraser beings, “lies on the western side of the county, between Gloucester and Ledbury and includes two parishes in Worcestershire and two in Hereford.
The soil varies from a stiff clay to a workable sandy loam and a light drifting sand, the latter being known in the district by the name of 'rye-land'.
About 75% of the land is under plough. The holdings generally are not large; from 200 to 300 acres. Boys are wanted for the usual intermittent jobs, and women are largely employed but not young girls.
The rate of wages is low, 11s., 10s., and in some cases 9s. a per week, 10s. being the sum most frequently paid. In all cases there is an allowance of cider, which the men value at 1s.6d a week, and prefer to its equivalent in money.
The physical, social and educational condition of the labouring class appear to me to be low; many cottages which I saw in the parishes of Newent, Linton and Taynton are simply unfit for human habitation.
There are large areas nearly destitute of schools or only provided with inefficient ones; and in the wild tract of country around Mayhill there resides a population, probably upward of 1,000 in number, wild and almost savage in their habits, who seem to lie entirely out of the pale of civilisation.
I do not know when I felt more depressed, or more conscious of the difficulties that surround this great question, how to elevate the condition of the rural poor, than after my return from a drive of inspection which I had been taken by Doctor Cattle, a medical gentleman, whose practice lies in this district and in which I had seen type after type of social life almost degraded to the level of barbarism.
The houses of the people are widely scattered; the lanes and field footpaths in winter sometimes are ankle deep in mire; the schools are often inconveniently situated.
All these, of course, are hindrances and serious hindrances; but still, in spite of them, efficient schools prosper, and a determined educationist like Mr. Osmond Ricardo, who will tolerate no frivolous excuses for irregularities, finds no difficulty, I believe, in filling his rooms to their utmost capacity with a crowd of eager and punctual scholars.
But the soil of this district, socially speaking, requires more thorough and effective cultivation than it has received to clear it of weeds, and to produce the fruits of which it is capable.
With more combined energy on the part of all, a different tale might soon be told.”
This report is fairly typical of the conditions of agricultural labourers throughout the country, at this time and what a miserable picture this perhaps paints for the life of our ancestors.
But, perhaps their drudge filled days were relieved by a drink of cider, following their hours of back breaking labour, and by the entertainment of the many county festivals which marked the passing of yet another monotonous season.
The word "field" is a common ending for town names in this rural district, so it is not unreasonable to assume that GATFIELD is similarly derived. The accepted derivation of the GATFIELD Surname is as a locational name, meaning "a dweller at the gate by the field" from the old English "geat-feld".
Within a radius of 40kms of NEWENT, the following towns are named - HASFIELD, ELDERSFIELD, ASHFIELD, MADRESFIELD, HATFIELD, OLDFIELD and BRIMFIELD. I have even been able to find a small hamlet marked on a 19th Century Survey Map, called GATFIELD ELM, located 10kms Northeast of NEWENT.
The area of origin of the GATFIELD family itself is not entirely definite so far, but there are records of sizeable enclaves of the family, in the counties of WORCESTERSHIRE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE and HEREFORDSHIRE, as well as LONDON.
There are smaller numbers recorded in the counties of BERKSHIRE, ARWICKSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE and SURREY. In another 14 counties, just a few individuals appear in the records, whilst in SCOTLAND, IRELAND and WALES, only one family appears in each.
Thus out of a total of ?? old counties in ENGLAND, the name appears in 23 and just 4 of these account for over 70% of all known GATFIELD's in the U.K.
Hence I feel, we may presume at this stage, that the likely area of origin of the name GATFIELD - is the district around the MALVERN HILLS within the county borders of GLOUCESTER, WORCESTER and HEREFORD -precisely where we have traced our branch of the family as originating from.
The GATFIELD name has lengthy ties to LONDON as well. However, with the gradual movement of the rural population from country to city, over many centuries, that is to be expected.
In the records so far perused, I have noticed over 30 spelling variations for the name GATFIELD. However, the spelling of our family line has remained fairly constant back to 1640.
I have also come across some rather quaint given names, mostly biblical, like BRITTIN (F), GEDALIAH, GYD, KEZIA (F), LYDIA (F), NATHANIEL, NOAH, OTHO BALMERINO,SELAM (F), SETH, TOWNSEND and TOBIAS.
The most common given names in our family line appear to be WILLIAM & GEORGE and ANNE & ELIZABETH.
This is a list of spelling variations of the name GATFIELD, which have so far been found:
GATEFEILD GATESFIELD GATEFEELD GATTFEILD GATEFIELD GADFIELD
GATTFEILDE GATEFOULD GETFILD GATEFOLDE GATTFOLD GUTFIELD
GATTFYLD GATEFEYLD GATTFIELD GOTFIELD GATFOLD GETFIELD
GATFILDE GATTFILDE GATFILD GAITFIELD GATSFIELD GARTFEILD
GATSFEILD GATFFIELD GATFIELDE GATESFEILD GAYTFELD GADFIELD
© Copyright: Garry Gatfield 1994, (ed. Cassandra Gatfield 2004).