Wagstaffe History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Wagstaffe family

The surname Wagstaffe was first found in Derbyshire where the name is generally thought to have been an occupational name for someone who could brandish a "wag" or "staff" with great effect. 1

Early History of the Wagstaffe family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Wagstaffe research. Another 66 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1612, 1618, 1633, 1642, 1645, 1655, 1662, 1677, 1685, 1697, 1712 and 1725 are included under the topic Early Wagstaffe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Wagstaffe Spelling Variations

Sound 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 Wagstaffe family name include Wagstaffe, Waggstaffe, Wagstaff and others.

Early Notables of the Wagstaffe family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

John Wagstaffe (1633-1677), an English writer on witchcraft who held an estate at Hasland in Derbyshire; and John Wagstaffe (1618-1697), of Ladybellegate House, Longsmith Street, Gloucester, an Englis...
Sir Joseph Wagstaffe (fl. 1655), English Royalist, born about 1612, was probably the seventh and youngest son of Richard Wagstaffe of Herberbury in Warwickshire. "Joseph was a soldier of fortune, and...
Thomas Wagstaffe (1645-1712), was an English nonjuror, who belonged to a family long settled in the county of Warwick, born on 13 Feb. 1645 at Binley in Warwickshire
William Wagstaffe (1685-1725), was an English physician, born at Cublington in Buckinghamshire, of which his father, a younger son of the ancient family of his name, seated at Knightcote in Warwichshi...

Wagstaffe migration to the United States +

For 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 Wagstaffe surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Wagstaffe Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Francis Wagstaffe, who arrived in Maryland in 1660 2
Mary Wagstaffe, who landed in Maryland in 1673 2

Wagstaffe Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Richard Wagstaffe, who settled in Annapolis Maryland in 1750

Wagstaffe migration to Australia +

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

Wagstaffe Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Richard Wagstaffe who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Elizabeth" on 3rd October 1831, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 3

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. 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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 9th March 2022). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/elizabeth