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WHITE/WHYTE - Badsey top ten 1600s; Wickhamford top ten 1600s-1700s

The name White, or its variant Whyte, appears in the top names for both Badsey and Wickhamford in the 17th century.  As early as the 13th century, there were people by the name of White living in Badsey.  The lay subsidy roll of c1280 list a Willielmo le Wyte, though it is unlikely that he was a direct ancestor of the Whites who lived in Badsey three centuries later, as the name does not occur in lay subsidy rolls of the 14th and early 16th century.

The name first appears in Badsey parish registers in 1568 with the baptism of Richard Whyte, son of William.  The last baptism record for this branch of the family was 1691, though there were a few burials in the succeeding decades.  It was not until the latter part of the 18th century that the name reappeared in Badsey records. There were Whites living in Wickhamford from the mid 17th century for over a hundred years. Whilst not achieving top ten status in other centuries, the name continued to feature in records for both villages until the end of the 19th century.

Family 1 – William White (?-1590) of Badsey and his descendants

William White (?-1590), a yeoman, was married to Joan and had a son, Richard (1568-1625), baptised at Badsey in 1568.  He may also have had the following children, baptised before they moved to the parish:  John (?-1638), Robert (?-1620), Francis (?-?) and Elizabeth (?-?).  Joan died in 1568.  William married again in 1572 to Elizabeth Pyrkes.  William was churchwarden at Badsey on five separate occasions between 1568 and 1585.  William died in 1590; it is not known when Elizabeth died.  William left a will which was proved at Worcester in 1590 and included an inventory.

  • John White (?-1638), thought to be the son of William and Joan, was, according to the Churchwardens’ Accounts, a Supervisor at Badsey Church for the year 1591-1592.  He had three children baptised at Badsey:  Mary (1586-1586), Elizabeth (1588-1588) and Emanuel (1591).  He is thought to have been married to Magdalena, who died in 1594 and was described as “elder daughter of Master Simon Gelaynge, Senescallus Philip Hoby, militis venerabilis [steward of Philip Hoby]”.  It is thought that John married again in 1612 to Elizabeth Brooke.  They had four sons and two daughters:  Moses (1613), John (1614-1659), Thomas (1617-1617), Mary (1618), George (1621-1644) and Margaret (1625).  Elizabeth died in 1630 and John in 1638. In 1592 his name appeared in the churchwardens’ presentments for not receiving the sacrament at Easter (see A Brief History of Badsey and Aldington, p 18).
    • Moses White (1613) married Dorothy Greene at Badsey in 1663; he is then thought to have left the village.
    • John White (1614-1659) had one son and three daughters:  Mary (1642), Elizabeth (1646-1649), George (1648-1648) and Elizabeth (1650).  John died at Aldington in 1659.
  • Robert White (?-1620), thought to be the son of William and Joan, had a son, John (1595-1597), who was baptized at Badsey and buried there two years later; Robert then appears to have left the village.
  • Francis White, thought to be the son of William and Joan, married Jane Smith at Badsey in 1590; he then appears to have left the village.
  • Elizabeth White, thought to be the daughter of William and Joan, married William Bidell at Badsey in 1593.
  • Richard White (1568-1625), the son of William and Joan, married Joan Tandy in 1593 at Badsey.  They had four sons and one daughter:  William (1593-1665), Thomas (1596-1636), Mary (1598), Edmund (1602-1602) and Steven (1603).  Richard died at Badsey in 1625 and Joan in 1628.
    • William White (1593-1665) married Margaret and had three sons and two daughters:  Ann (1622-1651), William (1624-1689), Francis (1626), Richard (1628) and Edith (1636).  Margaret died at Badsey in 1651 and William in 1665.
      • William White (1624-1689) married Mary and had three sons:  Benjamin (1658-1658), Thomas (1660) and Daniel (1665).  Mary died at Badsey in 1682 and William in 1689.
        • Thomas White (1660) had two sons and five daughters baptized at Badsey:  Ann (1680), Thomas (1682), Margaret (1684-1684), James (1685), Jane (1686), Elizabeth (1687) and Mary (1691).  These were the last of this branch of the family to live in Badsey.
  • Thomas White (1596-1636) married Mary and had five sons and five daughters:  William (1617), Richard (1618), Mary (1619), Joan (1621-1628), Thomas (1623), Margaret (1623), Marian (1625), Dorothy (1627), John (1630-1672), Elizabeth (1632) and Joseph (1634).  Unlike all her siblings, Elizabeth was baptized at Wickhamford.  Thomas White, yeoman of Badsey, is mentioned in the Quarter Sessions records of 1620.  Thomas died at Badsey in 1636 and Mary in 1670.

Family 2 – William White (c1637-1699) of Wickhamford and his descendants

William White (c1637-1699) was born about 1637, the son of Richard White.  He may possibly have been born in Broadway.  The Whites moved to Wickhamford in 1650 when the Manorial Court record for 30th April 1650 states:  “The surrender is presented of Francis Knight and his wife and son of their whole estate to Richard White and son William for the sum of £300. The parties are in court and the Lord grants the estate to Richard and William White who are admitted.”  William married Elizabeth in about the early 1660s.  They had one son and five daughters:  Mary (1664), Margaret (1665), Anne (1669), Elizabeth (1673), Alice (1677) and William (1681-1767).  Elizabeth died at Wickhamford in 1692 and William in 1699; the gravestone of William White still stands in Wickhamford churchyard.  The inventory attached to his will gives some indication that the Whites were living a large house and that William was a farmer of some substance.

  • William White (1681-1767), only son of William and Elizabeth, married Elizabeth.  They had three sons and five daughters, all baptised at Wickhamford:  William (1718-1760), Elizabeth (1720-1720), John (1722), Anne (1724), Thomas (1725-1770), Elizabeth (1726), Mary (1731) and Sarah (1735).  There is no indication in the manorial court records as to whether William took over his father’s lands.  William died at Wickhamford in 1767 and Elizabeth in 1777; their gravestone still stands in Wickhamford churchyard. The gravestone of their son, William, who pre-deceased them, is also in Wickhamford churchyard.  Probate of William's will was granted to his eldest surviving son, John, and his son-in-law, Michael Fisher.
    • Thomas White (1725-1770), son of William and Elizabeth, is recorded in both the Badsey and Wickhamford marriage registers as having married Mary Cotterill on 16th December 1754.  It was a stand-in Clerk who performed the ceremony, which was by licence, and was the start of a new register.  It is most likely that they married at Badsey, as their first four children were baptized there:  Thomas (1755-1807), William (1757), John (1759) and Mary (1761-1761).  A daughter, Jane (1765), was baptised at Wickhamford.  Thomas died at Wickhamford in 1770.  Probate was granted to his widow, Mary.  In 1772, Mary married widower, William Collett, at Wickhamford.  They moved to Badsey where they had a son, John Collett, in 1775.  Mary Collett died at Badsey in 1825.
      • Thomas White (1755-1807), son of Thomas and Mary, married Ann Smith at Badsey in 1781.  They had two children:  James (1781) and Mary (1787).  It is likely that they lived at Vicarage Cottage which had been in Ann’s family for some time as the Smiths owned the Mill.  Thomas died in 1807 and was buried at Wickhamford.  Ann still owned Vicarage Cottage at the time of the Badsey Enclosure Act in 1812.  It is not known when Ann White died.
        • James White, son of Thomas and Ann, married Elizabeth Gibbs (daughter of John Gibbs of The Wheatsheaf) at Badsey in 1808, but they then moved to Bretforton where James was a farmer and they had six children.   

For further information on this branch of the family, see The White Family and 17th century Wickhamford.

Family 3 – Daniel White (?-1659) of Lavington and Wickhamford

Daniel White (?-1659) married Alice Ballard at Wickhamford in 1653.  Daniel is thought to be totally unconnected to the other White families.  He spent most of his life in Lavington, Wiltshire, and only moved to Wickhamford late in life when he married for a second time.  By his first wife, Jane, he had five children:  Thomas (who was Member of Parliament for Wells, Somerset), John, Margaret, Mary and Magdalen.  Daniel died at Wickhamford in 1659 but was presumably buried at Lavington.  In his will, made in 1658, he describes himself as “Gentleman”.  Samuel and Mary Sandys of Wickhamford Manor were two of the witnesses to his will.  There is no mention of having land in Wickhamford, only in Lavington, but the poor of Wickhamford were beneficiaries, as well as the poor of Lavington.  Alice White died in 1659.

Family 4 - Stephen White (1774-1855) of Badsey and Bretforton and descendants

In 1800, Stephen White (1774-1855) married Mary Pain at Badsey.  Stephen was born at Bretforton in 1774, the fifth of eleven children of Francis and Celia White (Francis was from Broadway originally, marrying Celia Careless in 1768 and then moving to Bretforton).  Stephen and Mary had five sons and three daughters:  Elizabeth (1800), Sarah (1803), Thomas (1805-1865), Mary (1807), James (1809), John (1811), Samuel (1812) and Richard (1815).  Elizabeth, their first child, was born at Badsey but the other children were born at Bretforton where Stephen and Mary remained for the rest of their lives.  Stephen was a Slater and Plasterer by occupation.  Mary Pain died in 1825 and was buried at Bretforton, but the burial service was conducted by Charles Bloxham, Curate of Badsey.  Stephen White inherited property in Badsey from his father-in-law, Thomas Paine, as there were no other Paine survivors.  These were “two messuages or tenements adjoining together with the gardens and appurtenances to the same”, known at the time of enclosure in 1812 as Payne’s Cottages and Gardens (site of the present-day Poplar Court in the High Street).  In the 1830s, Stephen White took out mortgages on both the Badsey properties and his house in Bretforton.  He sold the cottages in 1842 to Joseph Knight (ref:  Worcestershire Record Office).  Stephen died at Bretforton in 1855.

  • In 1828, Thomas White (1805-1865), a mason, eldest son of Stephen and Mary, married Mary Bingley at Badsey where they lived for a few years.  They had three sons and two daughters:  William Greenway Bingley (1829), John (1831), Margaret (1834-1835), Martha (1836-1838) and Stephen Jesse (1840).  William and John were born in Badsey, but the others were born in Bretforton, although the two girls were baptised at Badsey.  Thomas died at Bretforton in 1865.

Family 5 – Reginald White (1847-1902) and Cornelius White (1856-1943)

In 1874, another family of Whites lived in Badsey and Aldington, believed to be totally unrelated to previous Whites.  Reginald White (1847-1902) had been born in Stanton, Gloucestershire, the son of Solomon White of Dumbleton and his wife, Sophia, from Stanton.  Reginald married Frances Ann and was living in Aston Somerville in 1871 next-door to his parents.  Their first two sons, Charles and Reginald, were born at Aston Somerville in 1871 and 1873.  They had moved to Badsey by 1874 when their third son, Cornelius Henry, was baptised; Reginald was working as a groom.  By 1878 they had moved to Charlton.  Reginald died at Harvington in 1902.

By 1880, Reginald’s younger brother, Cornelius White (1856-1943), had moved to Badsey.  Cornelius was married to Elizabeth and had a daughter, Florence, born at Cleeve Prior about 1879.  They then had five sons and one daughter whilst living in Badsey and Aldington:  Ellis Reginald (1880), Harry (1882), Geoffrey Swinton (1884), Ernest William (1886) Gertrude Nellie Sophia (1888) and Cecil John (1891); Ernest was baptised at Wickhamford as Badsey Church was being restored at the time.  In 1881 they lived in Badsey at The Alley, but by 1882 they were in Aldington.  They had moved to Aston Somerville by 1893 when their last child, Hilda Frances (1893-1969) was born.  They later moved to Evesham.

Family 6 - Adelaide Appolina White (1867)

Adelaide Appolina White (1867) married Richard Smith at Wickhamford in 1889.  Adelaide was the illegitimate daughter of Dinah White.  She was brought up by her grandparents, Robert White, an agricultural labourer, and his wife, Hannah.  They lived next-door to Richard Smith, a farmer of 280 acres.  Adelaide’s husband, Richard, was “the boy next-door”, as he was the son of Richard Smith.  After their marriage, Adelaide and Richard went to live at Pebworth.

20th century

White is a fairly common surname and, during the 20th century, people with this name have come to live in the village, but are not necessarily related to earlier generations of Whites. 

Strays

  • Eleanor White, widow, was buried at Badsey in 1570.
  • Ann White, widow, was buried at Badsey in 1628.
  • Sarah White, wife of John White, buried at Badsey in 1692.
  • Eleanor White of Aldington, buried at Badsey in 1729.
  • Thomas White, son of Robert White, buried at Badsey in 1743; Elizabeth White, wife of Robert White, buried at Badsey in 1756.
  • Joseph and Ann White had a daughter, Sarah, baptised at Badsey in 1763.
  • Hannah White married Edmund Davis at Badsey in 1775.
  • Esther White married John Widdows at Wickhamford in 1796.
  • Mary White, aged 80, buried at Badsey in 1825.
  • Alice White, widow, was buried at Wickhamford in 1548.
  • Thomas White married Anne Arrowsmyth at Wickhamford  in 1682.
  • Ann White married Thomas Marshall at Wickhamford in 1697.
  • Ann White had an illegitimate son, William White, at Badsey, in 1750.  Six years later she married Richard Winkfield of Wickhamford at Badsey Church.

  • John White, mentioned in the Wickhamford Manorial Court records of 1646 and Eleanor White in 1650.

Statistics

  • Position in League Table:  3 (Badsey top ten 1600s); 7 (Wickhamford top ten 1600s); 9 (Wickhamdord top ten 1700s)
  • Name variants:  White; Whit; Whyte
  • Name origin: The early name referred either to a baby, one who was “unblemished”, or it may have been for some name-holders an ethnic term given to a Viking or Anglo-Saxon, who were pale in hair and complexion compared with the original native Celts, who were dark. Another possible origin is residential, to describe somebody who lived at a "wiht", generally regarded as being the bend of a river, but in some areas of the country could describe a stretch of land suitable for grazing.
  • Total number of Badsey baptism records:               64
  • Total number of Badsey marriage records:             16
  • Total number of Badsey burial records:                   40
  • Total number of Badsey census records:                  19
  • Total number of Wickhamford baptism records:    17
  • Total number of Wickhamford marriage records:   11
  • Total number of Wickhamford burial records:         10
  • Total number of Wickhamford census records:          2

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