Show ContentsWhiteway History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Whiteway family

The surname Whiteway was first found in Dorset, where Whiteway was and ancient hundred that included the parishes of Cheselbourne, Hilton, Ibberton, Melcombe Horsey, Milton Abbas, Stoke Wake and Woolland.

Another source claims the name is from neighboring Devon: "The Whiteways or Whiteaways bear an ancient Devonshire name. John de Wyteweye, of the Teignbridge hundred in the reign of Edward I., is referred to in the Hundred Rolls. An ancient estate in Kingsteignton, near Chudleigh, is called Whiteway, and a family of Whiteway resided in Chudleigh in the 16th and 17th centuries. The name was established in Ashburton in the 16th century, Whytewaye being the name of Ashburton churchwardens in 1539 and 1578. The name is still represented in Chudleigh and Ashburton." 1

Another source agrees that the name is from "Whiteway House, Whiteway Barton (Devon) where the name was Whythaweye in 1335." 2 The name literally means "from a residence near a white road."

Early History of the Whiteway family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Whiteway research. Another 145 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Whiteway History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Whiteway Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Whiteway, Wyteway, Wightway, Witway and others.

Early Notables of the Whiteway family

Distinguished members of the family include

  • Whiteway of Hampshire

Whiteway Ranking

In Newfoundland, Canada, the name Whiteway is the 409th most popular surname with an estimated 115 people with that name. 3


Canada Whiteway migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Whiteway Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century
  • Silvester Whiteway who was a boat-keeper in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1682 4
Whiteway Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century
  • William Whiteway settled at Western Bay, Newfoundland, in 1771 4

Australia Whiteway migration to Australia +

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

Whiteway Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. James Whiteway, (b. 1810), aged 33, English agricultural labourer who was convicted in Wiltshire, England for 15 years for house breaking, transported aboard the "Cressy" on 28th April 1843, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), he died in 1892 5

New Zealand Whiteway 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:

Whiteway Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Thomas Whiteway, aged 23, a labourer, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bebington" in 1872

West Indies Whiteway migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 6
Whiteway Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century
  • William Whiteway, who settled in Barbados in 1694

Contemporary Notables of the name Whiteway (post 1700) +

  • Sir William Vallance Whiteway KCMG, PC, KC (1828-1908), English politician from Littlehempston, Devon, three-time Premier of Newfoundland (1878-1885), (1889-1894) and (1895-1897)
  • William Tuff Whiteway (1856-1940), Newfoundland architect from Musgrave Harbour, best known for his work in the early 1900s in Vancouver
  • Dean Whiteway (b. 1944), Canadian politician from Shelburne, Nova Scotia who served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1974 to 1979
  • Douglas Whiteway, Canadian journalist and author

Halifax Explosion
  • Mr. Thomas Patrick  Whiteway (1865-1917), Canadian resident from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who died in the Halifax Explosion (1917) 7


  1. Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
  2. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  3. The order of Common Surnames in 1955 in Newfoundland retrieved on 20th October 2021 (retrieved from Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland by E.R. Seary corrected edition ISBN 0-7735-1782-0)
  4. Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
  5. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 21st May 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/cressy
  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
  7. Halifax Explosion Book of Remembrance | Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. (Retrieved 2014, June 23) . Retrieved from https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/halifax-explosion-book-remembrance


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