Families of Gloucestershire
Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Cotswolds, and the upper Severn, cathedral city, spa, and the wool-merchant villages.
Tap a region of the map to see who held it.
Families seated in Gloucestershire
- HillOn the hill, and the Penny Post and the National Trust.
- WhiteThe fair one.
- AdamsSon of Adam.
- BaileyThe steward of the bailey, castle administration in one syllable.
- PhillipsSon of Philip, Welsh ap Phylip and Norman patronymic under one spelling.
- CoxThe cock, youth and pride.
- PayneThe villager's joke, worn with honour now.
- LongThe long one.
- DavisSon of David, one spelling among England's commonest.
- MartinThe saint's name, English and Norman registers alike.
- HarrisHarry's son, the West Country spelling, and the Welsh chapel surname of Howell Harris.
- StevensStephen's line, southwestern -ens spelling.
- JenkinsLittle John, Welsh thumbprint on English registers.
- PerryPear-orchard or Peter's kin.
- FordThe crossing, stamped on Shakespearian country.
- StoneThe stone, boundary-mark name.
- FoxThe fox, nickname that stuck.
- SaundersAlexander's son, Cornish and Wessex thick.
- HopkinsLittle Hodge, border favourite.
- HarveyBreton battle-name, English orchard now.
- MatthewsMatthew's son, March and Welsh edge.
- LaneThe lane, hedge-bottom dweller.
- HuntThe hunter, chase and warren.
- ColeCoal-black or Saint Nicholas' pet form.
- WestonThe western farm, toponym epidemic.
- LawrenceLaurence of Rome, England's Registers repeat him.
Historic ties to Gloucestershire
Families with historic but not core ground here.
Champions made here
Famous bearers whose lives or work root in Gloucestershire.
- William MarshalThe landless knight who became the most celebrated soldier of his century, served five English kings, witnessed Magna Carta, and as Regent for the boy Henry III won the war that saved the English crown.
- Herbert HowellsThe Lydney-born composer whose 1938 Hymnus Paradisi, written in private grief over the death of his nine-year-old son and not performed publicly until 1950, stands at the centre of the twentieth-century English-language choral tradition, and whose long teaching career at the Royal College of Music shaped two generations of British composers.