Web hosting Custom Email SiteBuilder

General History of the Springbatts

Urchfont

The first reference to the family is 1557 at Urchfont Wiltshire when Elizabeth (Yelsebeth) Springbed married Wyllyam Heward. The parish registers for the sixteenth century so far reveal the following entries:

It is fair to say that the early parish registers are incomplete but looking at all of the entries for Springbat(t) and Springford it appears to indicate that the surname was new in this period. If it wasn't where are the cousins, second cousins, third cousins etc and why is the surname only found in a few neighbouring villages?

A family using the surname Spring lived in Urchfont at this time. Urchfont was a small village and the liklihood that this family was unrelated seems remote. In 1577 Isaac Spryng a tailor from Urchfont is mentioned at the Lent Assizes. In 1588-9 William Springe is given as an Erchfont freeholder. In a paper titled 'Bells of the County of Wilts' published in the Wiltshire Archaelogical Magazine in 1855 William Springe is listed as a name inscribed on one of the eight bells at Erchfont along with William Barnes, Churchwardens in 1658. So to trace the Springbats beyond 1557 may mean looking simply for people using the surname Springe or Spryng.

Beechingstoke

At the start of the 17th century the parish records show that Thomas Springbat and his wife Elizabeth nee Burry raised their family in Beechingstoke about three miles north east of Urchfont. The children born between 1595 and 1604/5 were Margery, Gilbert, Edward and Elizabeth.

Wilsford

In 1604 John Springbat married Cicley Knight at Wilsford which is about four miles to the east of Urchfont and just over one mile to the south east of Beechingstoke. Wilsford begins to feature prominently in the records and until 1629 the three villages mentioned (Urchfont, Beechingstoke and Wilsford) were the only Wiltshire locations where Springbats have been found.An isolated marriage of Joanne Springferd has been found at St Katherines in 1600. St Katherines is just to the east of the Tower of London. If the phonetic spelling of Springford is really as it appears then this is the earliest reference to the name and must surely indicate that Joanne left Wiltshire to marry in London. The Springbats in Wilsford held the mill. In the Victoria County History of Wiltshire mention is made of the successive generations of Springbatts at the mill. The Mill House still remains at Wilsford. In 1707 Mary Springbat married Thomas Twinning MA at Wilsford. The entry says that Mary was great grand-daughter of Mr Samuel Quintin, sometime vicar here. An earlier entry of Samuel Quintin's is dated 1641. Thomas Twinning was the vicar and part of the family which gave its name to Twinings Tea. A packet from the kitchen says that (a) Thomas Twining set up as a tea merchant in the Strand, London and the firm has traded ever since. The company is based in Andover Hants not too far from Wilsford. The Church Plate of Wilsford is inscribed: Willisford 1733. Thos Twinning Vicar. Sam Springbatt, William Holloway Churchwardens. The family dispersed in the early nineteenth century and moved on to Rushall and Upavon, Tilshead, Smallbrook and to Pewsey Vale in South Australia. The Springbetts and Wiltshire emigrants to South Australia are responsible for the Vale of Pewsey names in that part of the world and for the Pewsey Vale vinyards which now exports wine overseas. In 1860 John Edwin Springbett who was descended from the Wilsford family went to Korah Township, Ontario, Canada where he started his family.

All Cannings

In 1629 Richard Springfoote married Jane Bartlett at Etchilhampton near All Cannings. The Beechingstoke parish registers show the births of Jane Springbat in 1630 daughter of Richard and in 1631/2 Richard son of Richard Springbat. Jane died in 1630 but a Richard married in All Cannings in 1657. This suggests that Richard Springfoote may have been related to Thomas Springbat of Beechingstoke and moved to All Cannings where his son later married, and where it seems the family continued to flourish. Barbara Fowle was the sister of Sir Thomas Fowle, Knight, Goldsmith, Alderman and Sherrif of London.

Stanton St Bernard

The next village in which Springbats appear is Stanton St Bernard. This village is about one mile east of All Cannings and about three and a half miles north of Wilsford. The entries in this parish begin with the marriage in 1657 December 28th to Martha Fowle. This family stayed in Stanton for two centuries, owned land and were carpenters which seems to relate more closely to 'building' than to 'joinery'. In 1793, 2nd August Thomas Springbatt is mentioned in the Coroner's Bills for 1752-1796. He was moving and lifting ash timber with a lever and was killed by a violent blow from the lever on his forehead. Later in 1826 Nathaniel Springford of Wilcot ran a public house called the Green Man at Oare which he leased together with three cottages. Nathaniel is buried in Wilcot Church, a photograph of the gravestone is in the photograph section of this site. Nathaniel is believed to be descended from the Stanton St Bernard Springbatts. The family began using the name Springford and by the 19th century in common with families in Rowde, Allington - All Cannings, Devizes etc the name Springbat(t) was replaced. Only in Wilsford was this not the case. In Wilsford at about the same period the Springbat(t)s adopted the variant which they had come to prefer: 'Springbett'. Later members of the family were millers at Stoniford Mill (also known as Upham Mill and from 1920 known as Stanton Mill, the site of which is on Mill Farm). In a publication title Stanton St Bernard and it People (1986) by Naomi and David Corbyn the millers of Stoniford are shown to include Thomas Springford in 1885 followed in 1890 by William and George Springford.

Melksham (Erlestoke; Seend; Rowde; St Johns Devizes & Allington)

In 1695 William Springford married Sarah Harding in Melksham. His family included Isaac and William Springford alias Springbatt. Isaac's grave is in the photograph section of this site and an extract from his will in the Wills Index page. His son Isaac was an overseer of the poor mentioned in 1799 and 1800. In 1799 the Calendar of Prisoners reveals that Mary Abbott was committed for 12 months on the oath of Isaac Springford one of the Overseers of the poor of the parish of Melksham, with being a lewd, idle and disorderly woman and having letely been delivered of the third bastard child.

One of William and Sarahs' sons John Springford married Elizabeth Bishop at Erlestoke and moved to Seend where their family was born.

They later moved on to Rowde where they both died, Elizabeth dying of smallpox. The Calendar of Prisoners in 1816 records that James Daniels aged 25 was committed at the Assizes with having stolen a shirt from Margarett Perrott also charged on the oath of Elizabeth Springford with having feloniously stolen two shirts, her property, at Rowde.

The family spread out from Rowde and a family which prospered in the St John's Parish of the town of Devizes descends from the Rowde family. A son of John and Elizabeth: William baptised in 1747 at Seend is believed to be William Springbatt or Springford who died in Allington - All Cannings in 1828.

Allington near All Cannings (West Ham - London; Eton & Windsor; west London & Ontario, Canada)

A family known variously as Springbatt or Springford lived in Allington near All Cannings. They were William and his wife Hannah Rose and their children: John 1773, Martha 1774, Richard 1776, Elizabeth 1778, William 1780 and finally Hannah 1786. John completely vanishes without trace but could well be the John Springford who lived in Upton Cum Chalvey near Eton Berks and died in December 1849 at Slough. Martha and Elizabeth both married. Richard married Mary Fowle in 1806 and lived and died at Allington seemingly without offspring. William moved to Woodborough where he had a family which spread out to Collingbourne Kingston, Allington near Amesbury, Highworth (see War Memorial) and Sevenhampton. He had a son called Richard born in 1823. All this leaves puzzle: who were the parents of Richard Springford born circa 1798 at Allington. It seems fairly safe to rule out John, Richard and William. This leaves the possibility that he may have been illegitimate but no answers are forthcoming as no baptismal entry exists. We can be fairly sure that he is related to William and Hannah, presumably their grandson. Was he perhaps the son of Hannah Springford jnr. who died unmarried in 1855. Richard's wife Letitia was present at the death of Hannah and the cottage of Hannah was very close to Richard's. From this family all Springfords with West Ham (east London) connections descend. Most of Richard's children went to south West Ham the area then known as Plaistow Marsh in Essex now known as Tidal Basin or Canning Town E16 in the Royal Docks area of east London. However one son Charles became a policeman and lived in west London; another Richard went to Ontario, Canada.

Somerset Springfords (New Zealand and Vancouver Canada)

The Springfords in New Zealand and Vancouver descend from a family which in the early 19th century lived in Oakhill Somerset. Before that they were in Bath and Bristol and were strongly involved in trade: as landlords of inns and taverns and worked for The Oakhill Brewery or with drapery businesses. A seperate section will be devoted to this family as its connection to the Wiltshire families has not yet been discovered.

Click here to return to Home Page

Springford & Springbett Family History Site

© Gordon Springford
www.springford.co.uk