Brothers meet during wartime

Its amazing how things just crop up when you are researching family history, during a chat about something totally different it was mentioned that my granddad, James, had managed to meet up in India with his brother, Herbert, during the war whilst both in different forces and low and behold a random search a few days later found the front page of the local paper from May 20 1944 which made mention of the very event!

James and Herbert Wankling meet in India after not seeing each other for 2 years

So from a story I had never heard to finding proof in print within 3 days, if only everything in family history was this easy to prove.

A few figures - A Census sumamry

Just to see how the numbers in my family name has grown in the last couple of hundred years i did a summary of the census data held by findmypast.co.uk and a couple of the main variations and misspellings of the name

Surname	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
WANKLIN	109	129	132	156	118	153	137	143
WANKLING	34	41	46	69	75	91	103	114
WANKLYN	34	51	56	63	90	93	142	174
TOTAL	177	221	234	288	283	337	382	431
MOVEMENT		+44	+13	+54	-5	+54	+45	+49

Interestingly the numbers havent changed much since 1911, infact a look at a report done by the Office of National Statistics (link) show that the number is approximately 428 for the same 3 surnames allthough the mix has changed quite a lot with about 70 Wanklin's becoming Wanklyn's.

Surname	Count
WANKLIN	77
WANKLING	101
WANKLYN	250
TOTAL	428

Whats in a name?

To say the least by modern standards the name Wankling is rather strange, when I was growing up I always thought that the name came from Germany or some other foreign land and would sound nothing like the way we where pronouncing it. What it meant I had no idea, a quick search on the internet recently gave me this

Surname:Wankling
Recorded as Wank, Wanck, Wancke, the diminutive Wankel, the occupational Wankmuller (Germany), and in England as Wanklin, Wankling, and Wanklyn, all diminutives, this is a surname of pre 7th century Anglo-Saxon and early German origins. It has two possible meanings in its base forms, although as a compound such as Wankmuller, meaing a miller by a path, the options are greatly increased. The base form translations are either topographical and describe person who lived by a path or bye road (wank), or the same word used in a transferred sense as a medieval nickname for a person regarded by his friends or peer group, as having a fickel personality! In most countries in Europe, surnames from nicknames form one of the largest groups in the surname listings. Those surnames considered overly robust or obscene, of which there were many, have now disappeared, or have been replaced by gentrified versions. In this case early examples of the surname recordings in both countries include Haintz Wankmuller of Hindelang, Germany in 1451, Hans Wank in the charters of Kempten also Germany, in 1454, Dorothie Wanklyn who married Robert Davies at the church of St Benet Fink, in the city of London on May 16th 1585, and Ambrose Wanklin christened at St Pauls, Covent Garden, on August 27th 1713.

So the question is did my ancestors have a fickle personality or live by a path! Of course I assume there are many such websites trying to tell the history of a name with a differing amount of credibility for example the next link i clicked on gave me a slightly different, but who is to say less correct, view.

The surname of WANKLING was an ancient personal name 'the son of Walkelin'. The name was originally written Gwanklin and was brought to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066. Early records of the name mention Walchelin, 1273, County Yorkshire. Isabella Walkelyn of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Mrs Wakling, mother of the landlord of the Hop Pole, Swanley Junction, Kent died on January 13th 1887, aged 103 years. The name has many variant spellings which include Wanklyn, Wakeling and Wakelin.

The book - The General Armoury of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales by Bernard Burke (published 1864) gives support to the above information, although it is probably the original source, regarding Gwanklin but also provides a little insight into the counties where the name and heraldry came from, and also provides a little on the heraldic imagery

Wanklyn (cos Hereford and Worcester This name was originally written Gwanklin as appears from an ancient Latin MS in the library at Avranches) Per pale gu and sa a lion ramp in sinister supporting a tree eradicated in dexter or Crest - A lion's head erased ppr

Which if I am translating correctly mean’s – A vertically split (pale) with the left half (sinister) of the shield red(gules) showing with a lion rampant (lion ramp) and the right half (dexter) is a tree with no leaves (tree eradicated) on a black (sable) background – but that is just a brief look at a few heraldry websites. I have little understanding of heraldry but i believe the coat of arms are given to a specific family and not a name how it passes on through generations i have no idea!

The Wankling Name in History

I have always looked for information about my surname and when i saw this

it was a must have, of course i knew it would be just a cookie cutter book with odd bits of information thrown in but with a name as rare as mine it would probably be usefull for me.

The book is quite a good read with bits about the general history of the UK at the time, the facts about the family name are pretty much pulled from Ancestry.co.uk (including the fact that the Wankling family disapear from Nottingham in 1861 due to census transcription errors!) but its good to see my name in print as one of the only Wanklings married between 1986 and 2005. Overall i think if you have a rare name and are just getting in to geneaology or you are looking for a neat gift for someone then looking on amazon for the Name in History series of books is a good idea.

World War 1

After reading an article asking for personal stories about the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire regiment in our local paper my granddad made contact with the researcher providing pictures of his dad, Henry Herbert Pottinger (who had died when my granddad was about 3), it also meant I got to see a photo I hadn't seen before of his funeral with a horse drawn gun carriage.

Whilst looking for information on any Wankling family members involved in World War 1 I came accross a J Wankling also enlisted with the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire regiment.

So I got in touch with Gary at therobinhoods.org.uk to ask for a little information on both services records (or at least where i could find it because i havent really looked at military records), he was pretty sure that this was James Wankling and that it was my Great Granddad and that both Henry and James both served with the 7th Battalion.  Henry Herbert was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal and gets a mention in "Robin Hoods" a book written by the officers during the war.

So perhaps my Great Granddads knew each other 2 generations before my parents met.

Thanks to Gary for the information and good luck to everyone with the website and book about the men of The Sherwood Foresters.

Names in my family tree and research

Was quite suprised to see over 150 surnames in my family tree research, over 1000 people included but mainly Wanklings, but if you want to look up any name in my family tree the website will be coming soon :-)

A
Allsopp, Annis, Ashfield, Astence, Astill
B
Berridge, Birch, Bird, Boaker, Booth, Bourne, Bradley, Brailsford, Bromhead, Brown, Bull, Bullock, Burlton, Bush, Butterworth
C
Canham, Carnall, Carodron, Castledine, Cawthorne, Chambers, Cole, Collins, Cooper, Cottrell, Crowder, Curtleton
D
Davies, Davis, Dawkes, Dodd, Downes, Dransfield, Dring, Dun
E
Eaton, Eddington, Eines, Eldershaw, English, Evans
F
Fidoe, Flatters, Fletcher
G
Gardner, Gibson, Glanfield, Glover, Goldingay, Gough, Gould, Green, Gregory
H
Haines, Hall, Harding, Harrison, Hedeshaw, Henton, Hewitt, Hickinbottom, Hickling, Hillman, Hind, Hodnett, Holford, Hollis, Hopkins, Hopwood, Houghton, Howarth, Howes, Hughes
I
Ingles, Ivons
J
Jamieson, Jardin, Jones
K
Kemp, Kimberlain, Kitchin, Knight
L
Lane, Lawley, Lewis, Linton, Lloyd, Lowe
M
Mander, Marriott, Marshall, Matthews, May, Miles, Millman, Mills, Milward, Moore, Neate
N
Nixon, Norman
O
Osemon, Oswin
P
Pallett, Palser, Parker, Patterson, Pearson, Peel, Peet, Pettener, Pierce, Pilsworth, Pinfield, Poole, Pottinger, Purvis
R
Reeves, Rist, Roberts, Roc, Roper, Rowbotham, Ruth
S
Sanpe, Savage, Seandrett, Sevage, Shaw, Short, Simpson, Smith, Snape, Spec, Spendlove, Storey, Stubbs
T
Tilly, Towle, Turner, Twigg, Tyler
U
Uncher
V
Vines
W
Wade, Waldron, Walker,Wanklen, Wanklin, Wankling, Wanklyn, Wanklin, Ward, Warren, Wells, Went, Whitehouse, Wiggins, Wilcock, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilson, Wolten, Wombell
Y
Young

Back to 1771 in Bewdley

On my own family tree i have been stuck  for a while (and i mean years!) at Edward Arch Wankling born in Bewdley/Ribbesford in 1792, back then i found that Edward Arch was baptised in Bewdley and the only person on the record was a mother Phoebe Wankling and that was where i left it and went off searching on my own again.

Having moved on to other branches of the family tree i had put this on the back burner for awhile until recently i found a Phoebe Wanklyn baptised in Pembridge, Hereford in 1778 and being the only Phoebe Wankling/Wanklyn i had found thought that she could have been the mother at an early age that i was looking for.

It just didnt seem right though, while Pembridge was close and Phoebe could have been sent to relatives to cover up the pregnancy I had nothing to tie it all together.  I  came accross the Bewdley Historical Research Group and emailed them with my new bit of information to see if they had any information on the Wankling family in Bewdley and within a couple of days I had recieved the piece of Information that a Phoebe Wanklin had been baptised in Bewdley in 1771 which would make a lot more sense, During my one name research i had already found a Richard & Elizabeth Wanklin (recorded parents) with a son James which is still a family name in our line (me being Chris James) and a possible brother.

So many thanks to Charles of Bewdley Historical Research Group for his efforts and the response i received.