Wapshott History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Wapshott family

The surname Wapshott was first found in Surrey where the family historian claims they have held a family seat from the times of King Alfred, (890 A.D.,) the great Saxon King, who granted Reginald Wapshott, his armour bearer, the lands known as Almners Barns near Chertsey in that shire. This would make Wapshott one of the oldest recorded names in English history. 1

Early History of the Wapshott family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Wapshott research. Another 105 words (8 lines of text) covering the year 1250 is included under the topic Early Wapshott History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Wapshott 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 Wapshott family name include Wappshot, Wapshott, Wapshot, Wopshot, Wopshott, Wapshatt, Woplott and many more.

Early Notables of the Wapshott family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

Wapshott of Surrey

Wapshott 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 Wapshott surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Wapshott Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Wapshott, who arrived in Maryland in 1672 2

Wapshott Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

James Wapshott, who landed in New York in 1774

Wapshott Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Harry Wapshott, aged 31, who immigrated to the United States, in 1917
Thomas Wapshott, aged 47, who landed in America from Carsta, Vancouver, in 1924
Clara Annie Wapshott, aged 56, who settled in America from Carsta, Vancouver, in 1924

Wapshott 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. 3

Wapshott Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Jane Wapshott, who settled in Barbados in 1674

Contemporary Notables of the name Wapshott (post 1700) +

Nicholas Wapshott (b. 1952), British journalist and writer, editor of The Times Saturday edition as well as the founding editor of The Times Magazine

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)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies