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Wigram's


alan_fincher

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Last night David Schweizer questioned how long Napton Junction has been alternatively known as "Wigram's Turn".

 

I thought I had seen references at least 50 years old, but can't now find them in connection with the Junction.

 

However in Tim Wilkinson's "Hold on A Minute" the Calcutt locks are indeed known as Wigram's, so it's not a newly invented name on the canal.

 

So does anybody know where the name came from, and did it initially only apply to the locks, spreading later to be applied to the Junction you took to access the locks.

 

Was "Wigram" a keeper at those locks, at some date, I wonder, or is it a local place name ?

 

(Incidentally in "Idle Women" Susan Woolfit(t) manages to both call it "Knapton Junction" and also apparently confuse which junction she is talking about.)

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Last night David Schweizer questioned how long Napton Junction has been alternatively known as "Wigram's Turn".

 

I thought I had seen references at least 50 years old, but can't now find them in connection with the Junction.

 

However in Tim Wilkinson's "Hold on A Minute" the Calcutt locks are indeed known as Wigram's, so it's not a newly invented name on the canal.

 

So does anybody know where the name came from, and did it initially only apply to the locks, spreading later to be applied to the Junction you took to access the locks.

 

Was "Wigram" a keeper at those locks, at some date, I wonder, or is it a local place name ?

 

(Incidentally in "Idle Women" Susan Woolfit(t) manages to both call it "Knapton Junction" and also apparently confuse which junction she is talking about.)

Oh (I think) I know the source of the name Wigrams, Alan. The house on the Juction is called "Wigrams" and according to the owner of our mooring (who used to live in the house) it was named after a former GUCC employee who lived there a long time ago. Apparently the Calcutt locks were sometimes also known as "Wigrams three"

 

Until recently (well since the new Marina was named Wigram's Turn actually) I had never heard it called that. Whether it was an old Boatman's name for Napton Junction, or whether it is anothe piece of invented history I do not know. I had always assumed that the new Marina was named Wigrams Turn after the house, instead of Napton Junction Marina to avoid confusion with Napton Marina.

Edited by David Schweizer
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I have always known Napton Junction as Wigrams and have thought it was the boaters variation of the name of the original toll keeper who was one John Wiggenham .

 

That would be Wiggenham, pronounced 'Wigram' in the same way as Featherstonehaugh is pronounced 'Fanshaw' and Alnwick is pronounced 'Annick'! :lol:

 

No wonder many of the old boaties didn't learn to spell . . .

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I have always known Napton Junction as Wigrams and have thought it was the boaters variation of the name of the original toll keeper who was one John Wiggenham .

That is possible, but Wiggenham is a very very unusual and rare name. There was only one peson with that name recorded in the 1881 census, a spinster Mary Wiggenham born in 1825 in - Guess where? Napton on the Hill. She could have been the daughter of John Wiggenham except that her older older sister born 1823 was born in London. If John Wiggenham was the tollhouse keeper in 1800, Mary could have been his grand daughter but that still does not explain the older sister being born in London, unless John's (un-named) son moved to London and then returned to Napton at a later date, perhaps to take over from his father? Unfortubately genealogy is often about speculation, rather than fact.

 

Interestingly the Toll house at Napton Junction was not given a name in the 1881 census, just "House on the Canal" and there was no record of a house or lock Keeper at Calcutt Locks, However there were several men emoployed as Lock keepers living in the Village of Napton on the hill. Perhaps one of them worked the Calcutt locks.

 

I shall be down to the reference library next week to look at the earlier Census records.

Edited by David Schweizer
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I have always known Napton Junction as Wigrams and have thought it was the boaters variation of the name of the original toll keeper who was one John Wiggenham .
Probably John Wiggerham.

 

The 1851 census lists...

 

in Aston

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

John WIGGERHAM Head M 48 M Grocers Agent Napton-War

 

in Coventry

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

William MERCER Head M 47 M Ribbon Manufacturer Coventry-WAR

Harriett MERCER Wife M 45 F --- Napton-WAR

Margaret MERCER Daur U 17 F --- Coventry-WAR

Louisa MERCER Daur U 14 F --- Coventry-WAR

Theresa WIGGERHAM MotL W 82 F --- --- (British Subject)-FRA

Theresa WIGGERHAM SisL U 38 F --- Napton-WAR

 

The Coventry Herald & Observer on 19/6/1857 reports the death of the elder Theresa...

 

WIGGERHAM 17i at residence of son-in-law Mr W.H. MERCER at advanced

age, Theresa Elizabeth relict of John Wiggerham, Napton on the Hill

 

These are the only Wiggerhams, with Napton connections, recorded in the census, so it's more than likely that her late husband was the toll keeper.

 

<edit> I just saw David's post. As he wrote, this is speculation rather than hard facts!

Edited by Dorlan
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I have access to all the UK censuses from 1841 to 1901, via Ancestry.Com

 

Admittedly their indexing can be suspect, but the only reference to anybody called "Wiggenham" in any of those 7 decades is the one you have pulled out.

 

Looking at earlier censuses she seems to be enumerated as "Wiggerham".

 

So I think the 1881 spelling is an aberration, and don't think there were actually anybody with surname "Wiggenham" in England in the latter part of the 19th century.

 

Alan

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Probably John Wiggerham.

 

The 1857 census lists...

 

in Aston

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

John WIGGERHAM Head M 48 M Grocers Agent Napton-War

 

in Coventry

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

William MERCER Head M 47 M Ribbon Manufacturer Coventry-WAR

Harriett MERCER Wife M 45 F --- Napton-WAR

Margaret MERCER Daur U 17 F --- Coventry-WAR

Louisa MERCER Daur U 14 F --- Coventry-WAR

Theresa WIGGERHAM MotL W 82 F --- --- (British Subject)-FRA

Theresa WIGGERHAM SisL U 38 F --- Napton-WAR

 

The Coventry Herald & Observer on 19/6/1857 reports the death of the elder Theresa...

 

WIGGERHAM 17i at residence of son-in-law Mr W.H. MERCER at advanced

age, Theresa Elizabeth relict of John Wiggerham, Napton on the Hill

 

These are the only Wiggerhams, with Napton connections, recorded in the census, so it's more than likely that her late husband was the toll keeper.

 

<edit> I just saw David's post. As he wrote, this is speculation rather than hard facts!

More information - I love this stuff. Assuming that John Wiggerham died after 1837 there should be a record of his death in the National Registers, that will tell us where he died and hopefully lead to a record of his (former) occupation,

 

One last thing - You state 1857 Census, did you mean 1851, or was there an interim census for that area? I ask because there were some, but they are difficult to access except at the relevant Records Office.

 

Am now off to look for more Wiggerhams.

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More information - I love this stuff. Assuming that John Wiggerham died after 1837 there should be a record of his death in the National Registers, that will tell us where he died and hopefully lead to a record of his (former) occupation,

 

One last thing - You state 1857 Census, did you mean 1851, or was there an interim census for that area? I ask because there were some, but they are difficult to access except at the relevant Records Office.

 

Am now off to look for more Wiggerhams.

I meant 1851, I got it confused with the newspaper date! :lol:
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Probably John Wiggerham.

 

The 1857 census lists...

 

in Aston

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

John WIGGERHAM Head M 48 M Grocers Agent Napton-War

 

in Coventry

Name Relationship Mar Age Sex Occupation Birthplace

William MERCER Head M 47 M Ribbon Manufacturer Coventry-WAR

Harriett MERCER Wife M 45 F --- Napton-WAR

Margaret MERCER Daur U 17 F --- Coventry-WAR

Louisa MERCER Daur U 14 F --- Coventry-WAR

Theresa WIGGERHAM MotL W 82 F --- --- (British Subject)-FRA

Theresa WIGGERHAM SisL U 38 F --- Napton-WAR

 

The Coventry Herald & Observer on 19/6/1857 reports the death of the elder Theresa...

 

WIGGERHAM 17i at residence of son-in-law Mr W.H. MERCER at advanced

age, Theresa Elizabeth relict of John Wiggerham, Napton on the Hill

 

These are the only Wiggerhams, with Napton connections, recorded in the census, so it's more than likely that her late husband was the toll keeper.

 

<edit> I just saw David's post. As he wrote, this is speculation rather than hard facts!

 

Wiggerham (pronounced Wigram) sounds more feasible than Wiggenham but in those days variations in the spelling of the same surname were not unusual - it rather depended on the presiding minister's interpretation at the Christening! This still happened in more recent times and as an example Jane's family surname had an 's' added to the end at sometime during the last century.

 

Pity I hadn't seen this thread earlier - we were ringing the bells at Napton church yesterday and I could have examined the gravestones.

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More Info on John Wiggerham - married Therasa Elisabeth Vintrignier on 21 MAY 1799 at Saint Mary's Church St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London, England

 

Mary Therasa Wiggerham - Christened: 18th MAY 1826 at Napton On The Hill, Warwick, England Father: John Wiggerham, Mother: Eunice (?)

 

There is more but it is getting too complicated to keep on switching programmes and transferring Data. I will get on the case properly tomorrow.

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Alan Faulkners book "The Warwick Canals "states in a passage relating to the opening of the Warwick and Napton Canal in 1800 quote "At the beginning of March Edward Pratt was appointed lock keeperand toll clerk at Warwick at £1.05 per week and John Wiggenham toll clerk at Napton at £42 per annum. Four other lock keepers were appointed soon after and the canal was opened for trade on Monday 19 March 1800 .

 

Unfortunately I cannot remember where I got the original spelling from although I know it wasnt from Alans book and Wiggerham would seem to be more likely.

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Well for the census years (1841 to 1901), I can find very little to link anybody with the name Wiggerham to that area of Warwickshire, (other than that Napton on the Hill birth).

 

There are Wiggerhams and Wigrams about, but not living near Napton/Southam/Calcutt as far as I can tell.

 

Similarly GRO birth marriage and deaths recorded for Wiggerham in the 19th century are not in that part of Warwickshire, and there are no GRO events for Wigram in Warwickshire before the 20th Century.

 

The only recorded death I can find for a John Wiggerham is in Aston, Birmingham in 1855. Tantalisingly he appears to have been born in Napton, but in the 1851 is a grocer's agent, (in Aston) with no apparent canal connection.

 

The surname Wiggenham is almost certainly a misrecording of Wiggerham, as it does not seem to appear elsewhere.

 

If we are talking somebody who had ceased to be in the role of "toll keeper" (or whatever) before 1841 (say), would that name still have stuck in regular use a century or a century and a half later ? I guess it might, although I kind of assumed it might relate to someone more recent. Either way, I think we are either talking of somebody dead by about 1839, or not in role until the 20th century.

 

Discuss !

 

(I am on the Canal World Forum, not British Genealogy, aren't I ?? :lol: )

 

Alan

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Amazing the discussion and interest that a (not so old) old photo can provoke (sorry - I'm assuming the thread is as a result of my photo).

 

I have nothing to add as to how the junction became known as Wigram's Turn, other than that if the name was in use heavily back in the 1800's then it would be more than possible that the name will have stuck with all those working the canals ever since - without them knowing why it was so called. Kids will have called it Wigram's Turn because their parents and everyone else did...

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Alan Faulkners book "The Warwick Canals "states in a passage relating to the opening of the Warwick and Napton Canal in 1800 quote "At the beginning of March Edward Pratt was appointed lock keeperand toll clerk at Warwick at £1.05 per week and John Wiggenham toll clerk at Napton at £42 per annum. Four other lock keepers were appointed soon after and the canal was opened for trade on Monday 19 March 1800 .

Ah finally - some indication of the date we are looking for.

 

The John Wiggerham listed in the 1851 as a Grocer's Agent in Aston, Birmingham, was aged 48, and therefore not even born in 1800.

(This is likely to be the one dying 4 years later).

 

So it sounds like the one we are seeking will have died before full censuses were taken, or before the start of civil registration.

 

My guess (no more) is that he is the one in the marriage that David has found, and that the John in the 1851 census is his son, born at Napton, whilst John (senior) was the toll clerk there.

 

It's so much harder to find things out quickly, once the dates involved are before 1837.

 

Alan

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Ah finally - some indication of the date we are looking for.

 

 

Alan

 

OK, now you collectively seem to have that one sorted -

 

Rump's Lock just above Middlewich is also known as Joe Lowe's lock.

Who was Joe Lowe?

 

It might be a name from recent memory, I've not tried asking the locals.

 

Tim

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Ah finally - some indication of the date we are looking for.

 

The John Wiggerham listed in the 1851 as a Grocer's Agent in Aston, Birmingham, was aged 48, and therefore not even born in 1800.

(This is likely to be the one dying 4 years later).

 

So it sounds like the one we are seeking will have died before full censuses were taken, or before the start of civil registration.

 

My guess (no more) is that he is the one in the marriage that David has found, and that the John in the 1851 census is his son, born at Napton, whilst John (senior) was the toll clerk there.

 

It's so much harder to find things out quickly, once the dates involved are before 1837.

 

Alan

From my searches Theresa Elizabeth Wiggerham died in the June Quarter of 1857 in Coventry, it is probably John Wiggerham (junior) who died in the June quarter of 1855 in Aston, as there is no subsequent record of a John Wiggerham dying. There is no record of John (senior) in the 1841 census, and no record of his death after 1837 so we must assume that he died earlier, and possibly whilst still working at Napton, That shopuld be quite easy to find out. It would appear tha after John (senior)'s death Theresa moved to Coventry to live with her daughter Harriet (Mercer)

 

There are several other Wiggerhams listed in the burial and marrige records in Coventry and Birmingham all with family first names, and interestingly a Thomas Ventrignia Wiggerham marrying in St Neots in 1862 remember Theresa's maiden name was Vintrignier.

 

There is more but my head is hurting.

 

 

 

Edited because I got dsome of that wrong first time

Edited by David Schweizer
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As a thought in looking for other corroboration does anyone know if the minute books from that period for the Warwick and Napton Company have survived ?

 

Going slightly off topic I suppose the tradition of calling a place after a well known canal employee who worked there will now die out with the change in Bw work practice . I know I still refer to certain places in that way . For example Autherley will always be "Sams" to me after the toll clerk Sam Lomas who worked there ( I have also been known to refer to it as "Teacup's" and for anyone who never had the pleasure of meeting Sam that is because he was the possessor of the largest tea cup I have ever seen) , Frankton Locks will always be "Colins" , Saul Junction will always be "Jack's" and in deference to another forum member Parkend Bridge will always be "Wilkies".

 

Do we really need a starting point for this name?

 

Nicknames are always localised and err towarda the tangential.

 

Napton / Wigram's Turn is a fantastic place to be. That's all that matters.

 

Probably not but personally it gives me a better understanding of the history of a place and therefore a deeper appreciation of what is there today.

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Probably not but personally it gives me a better understanding of the history of a place and therefore a deeper appreciation of what is there today.

Fair enough. I dunno why I said that really. I just like the place (particularly the climb out of Napton on the Oxford). It's a nice part of the world and I have good memories there, so don't go changing the name(s), ok?

 

Tom.

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Rather quaintly the 1871, 1881 & 1891 census record David Tolley (born about 1835 in Kirtlington, Oxon) as the Tollkeeper at the canal junction at Napton. The 1881 records his son (another David Tolley) as his assistant, whereas by 1901 David (senior) is still living at the Junction, but recorded as Farmer.

 

Prior to that the 1861 census records David as a Wharfinger on the canal in Oxford.

 

Should I have posted this in the "surname related to occupation" thread ?

 

Alan

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Fair enough. I dunno why I said that really. I just like the place (particularly the climb out of Napton on the Oxford). It's a nice part of the world and I have good memories there, so don't go changing the name(s), ok?

 

Tom.

So do I, I moor there. You can see my boat thrugh the bridge hole as you pass on the Oxford towards Napton, so I have a particular interest in the history of the place.

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I've been through there twice on Nb The Boat (of Evesham). My exes' parents own her, say hello if you see them. As for me, I hope to take Nb. Amanda through there soon.

 

Last time I went up the Oxford, BW were out to repair a culvert because "the farmer keeps complaining about his field getting flooded". His water buffalo didn't look upset, though - in fact they were looking particularly smug :lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Answer to a question raised by one of your members Mr Alan Fincher and Mr David Schweizer concerning the above.

 

John Wiggerham of Napton on the Hill was my great, great, great, grandfather. He was born in 1772 and died in 1818. In 1799 he married Theresa Vintrignier a wealthy French lady who fled to England to escape the French revolution. Previously Mr Wiggerham had worked for the bishop of Durham as secretary or personal retainer. After his marriage to Theresa the bishop interested himself to obtain for my ancestor a lucrative position with the newly formed Oxford Canal Company.

He was responsible for accounting for the monies for the tonnages for the boats that passed through the lock. He had to put up £300 of his own money as surety to obtain the job, a fair sum in those days. From 1799 they lived in the junction house at Napton on the Hill, and the house was soon filled with their eight children.

Apparently some time earlier John had been up to London to study medicine and set himself up as amateur doctor for the area. He procured medicines and vaccines and operated on his own family before helping many for miles around. At the time of his death in 1818 he had vaccinated approx, 1000. This is probably the reason why the area was named after him (although unfortunately spelt incorrectly.)

 

In 1818 his son Henry was sent home from school, feeling very ill. It soon became clear he was suffering from typhus fever which spread through the house like wildfire, killing Henry, his father, and two of his other children.

John Wiggerham’s son (also named John) was born in 1801. He survived the epidemic and took over the duties for a short time as toll keeper at Napton lock. Not sure how long he actually worked there for. He is the one that is mentioned in your discussion forum, I believe someone found him in the 1851 census.

The Wiggerhams that died from typhus are all buried in Napton Church (St Lawrence) in 1818. They were buried at night as the disease was so contagious!

 

The junction house where they lived is still standing and the owner a Mr Kaye was writing a short book about the house and all the lock keepers / toll clerks that lived there. He may be able to help you with further information.

John Wiggerham also had a surviving son named Thomas born 1803, my great, great grandfather.

Incidentally although I know quite a lot about my toll clerk ancestor, I have no idea where he was born or where he came from. Quite annoying, as I have reached a dead end in try to trace my family tree back further.

Hope this clears things up a little as I could see from all the forum replies that were tagging on, you were almost there but not quite. I would really love it if it could be named Wiggerham’s and not Wigram’ s which is wrong but obviously sounds the same.

 

Best wishes

Laurence Wiggerham aged 58, living in Welling, Kent.

  • Greenie 1
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