Gladwell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancient roots of the Gladwell family name are in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The name Gladwell comes from when the family lived in the region of Gledhill in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The name is a habitational name from the Old English gleoda which means "kite" and hyll which means "hill." 1

Early Origins of the Gladwell family

The surname Gladwell was first found in Yorkshire near Halifax where they held a family seat as Lords of the manor of Gledhill from very ancient times.

Barkisland in the West Riding of Yorkshire was home to another branch of the family but has since been lost. "Barkisland Hall, the ancient seat of the Gledhill family, is a stately mansion in the old English style of domestic architecture, and has long been the property of the Bolds of Bold Hall, Lancashire. The grammar school here, an ancient structure, was endowed in 1657 with £200 by Mrs. Sarah Gledhill" 2

Early History of the Gladwell family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gladwell research. Another 127 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1300, 1600, 1638, 1677, 1702, 1707, 1719, 1730 and 1735 are included under the topic Early Gladwell History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gladwell Spelling Variations

One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Gladwell has appeared include Gledall, Gledhill, Gladhill, Gladhall, Glanville and others.

Early Notables of the Gladwell family

Distinguished members of the family include Samuel Gledhill (1677-1735), lieutenant-governor of Placentia, Newfoundland from 1719-c.1730. Born at Horbury, near Wakefieid, Yorkshire, he was the youngest of the 13 children of Robert Gledhill, a cloth-dresser and educated at Wakefield Grammar School. He joined the navy but was kidnapped in Spain to be sold as a slave in the West Indies. After gaining his freedom he made his way to Spain and was commissioned a...
Another 73 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gladwell Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gladwell migration to the United States +

At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Gladwell arrived in North America very early:

Gladwell Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Aymes Gladwell, aged 16, who arrived in New England in 1635 aboard the ship "Increase" 3
Sarah Gladwell, who landed in Maryland in 1668 3

Gladwell migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Gladwell Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

James Gladwell, English convict from Lancaster, who was transported aboard the "Andromeda" on October 16, 1826, settling in Van Diemen's Land, Australia 4

Gladwell migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Gladwell Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Amelia Gladwell, aged 13, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Lloyds" in 1842

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2016, October 27) Andromeda voyage to Van Diemen's Land, Australia in 1826 with 147 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/andromeda/1826