| ![Show Contents]() Gawthorp History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
England
Etymology of GawthorpWhat does the name Gawthorp mean? The Gawthorp surname was derived from any of several place names in West Yorkshire. The place names are thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "gaukr," which meant "cuckoo bird." 1 Early Origins of the Gawthorp familyThe surname Gawthorp was first found in the West Riding of Yorkshire at Gawthorpe, also known as Gawthorp, a hamlet in the Kirklees district. Gawthhorpe is also a village to the north of Ossett, in the Wakefield district and an electoral ward in the non-metropolitan district of Burnley in Lancashire. 2 Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire. Sifting though archival materials, we found few early entries for the family. Crystofer Gawthorp was a Freeman of York in 1541 and later, William Gawthropp was listed in Yorkshire in 1672. 3 Early History of the Gawthorp familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gawthorp research. Another 83 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1455, 1487 and 1730 are included under the topic Early Gawthorp History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Gawthorp Spelling VariationsSound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Gawthorp family name include Gawthorpe, Gaythorpe, Gathorne, Gauthorpe, Gawthrop, Gawthropp, Gawthrup, Gawthrupp, Gawthrope, Gathrope, Gaythorpe, Gathorn, Gorthorp and many more. Early Notables of the Gawthorp familyAnother 45 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gawthorp Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Gawthorp familyFor political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Gawthorp surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Gawthrope, a bonded passenger who arrived in America in 1763.
| Contemporary Notables of the name Gawthorp (post 1700) | + |
- Ron Gawthorp (b. 1947), American columnist and novelist
- Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
- Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
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