The Ghinn family of South East England Bryan
W. Evershed 23 Jan 2009
For some years I have collected
information on this Ghinn family and thought it may be of some interest to
others
Two brothers born as Ginn changed their
name to Ghinn:
- the first use of Ghinn found
so far, was in 1854 by Henry G(h)inn (1819-1892)
- and then in 1855 by his
younger brother Thomas G(h)inn
(1822-1889)
They both had some children born as Ginn
which was later changed to Ghinn
Henry was born in Sussex, trained as
architect, travelled to Australia and back several times, for some years he was
Clerk of Works in Port Philip,
Victoria.
He was married twice and had several children born in England and
Australia, and he died in Australia
No present-day Ghinn descendants of his
are known, a Mr Ghinn was living in Australia in 1923 who may well have been
one of his descendants
Interestingly a descendant of one of his
Australian families, married a descendant of
brother Thomas
For more details of Henry G(h)inn, see ...http://www.geocities.com/ghinntree/HenryGhinn.htm
Thomas was born in Sussex, became a
Chemist and lived in Mitcham, Surrey, and for many years in Bromley, Middlesex
as a Rubber Factory Manager.
He died in Bromley
He was married twice and his second wife
was a Lack, a family in the drapery/clothing business, and although the sons'
father was a chemist, and uncle and grandfather both
surveyors/architects, three of of
Thomas' sons surprisingly worked in the drapery/clothing business, presumably
influenced by the Lacks
Only two sons, Ernest Ghinn (1865-1923)
and George Ghinn (1875-1941) have present-day Ghinn grandchildren
For
more details of Thomas G(h)inn and his family, see ... http://www.geocities.com/ghinntree/ThomasGhinn.htm
Ernest was born in Bromley, Middx,
started a drapers business under the name 'E. Ghinn', in Peckham, South London
where
he lived for many years having six sons and three daughters.
Two sons died as babies, the other four sons
all worked in the drapery/wool
business
For more details of Ernest
Ghinn, see ... http://www.geocities.com/ghinntree/ErnestGhinn.htm
George was also born in Bromley, he was a
grocer and provisions merchant in the Friern Barnet area and later had a
greengrocers shop at New Cross around 1930. He had two sons and interestingly, one
of them also went into the clothing/drapery business
Thomas and Henry's father:
Their father was Benjamin Ginn 1781-1835,
born in Ware, Hertfordshire, he became a surveyor living in Sussex until his
wife's death, then in Coventry as a surveyor/builder and finally in Portsmouth
as the Clerk of Works, where he died
For more details of Benjamin Ghinn, see ... http://www.geocities.com/ghinntree/BenjaminGinn.htm
The change from Ginn to Ghinn:
The reason for the change is not clear, as a child I had been told it was to distance the name from the drink Gin,
which had been a scourge of the 1800s
However other stories are, because a 'Jinn' is a derogatory Australian term for an Aboriginal (Margaret),
and another that a 'Djinn' is a mythical Muslim being (Rowland)
These would suppose a change from a soft
to a hard 'G'. A least two of Thomas' sons, Harry and George and their families
adopted the hard 'G'
pronunciation, however Ernest and family adopted the soft 'G'.
Also I understand that by far the
majority of Ginns use the hard 'G' pronunciation. Hence the confusion
Other Ghinns:
I have seen references to other Ghinns
around the world, who are presumably of other families
The Research:
My interest in the my mother's Ghinn
ancestors was probably started by a handwritten note she possessed, this I
later
realised was copied
from Thomas' family Bible
Since the 1970s I have made many visits to various County Record Offices, etc
found many names , dates, etc.
from various older members of the family,
in particular Jim and Phyllis
Ghinn, Hilda Ghinn, Amy Ghinn and others
Thomas' Family Bible is now with Alistair
Karl Ghinn
Web site address: http://www.geocities.com/ghinntree/